Well, I don't know what to think!

This is of real concern, there are well documented cases of people obtaining information from the land registry and using it to sell houses that do not belong to them. There was a programme on the TV a while ago highlighting the rise in people offering rental properties, when the person (often students) turned up they found that the occupants of the house knew nothing of what was going on and their large deposit was long gone.
I would talk to the police and see if anyone else has had this happen to them.

No matter how lovely and genuine the couple seemed I would have detected a scam so would have taken a photo of them and recorded their car registration and, if possible, got their fingerprints on something and said 'joking', 'if you are going to burgle me later, I've got tabs on you!'

This is really creepy, isn't it. Scam artists know how to appear genuine and charming. I honestly think the Police need to be informed.

Check with your bank and authorities that your identities are not being stolen.

Yes I echo the others, speak to the police ASAP as this is a classic case of “ casing the joint “.

If anyone views your property, they have to make an appointment. Nobody turns up unannounced. If they said that they had an appointment to view, they are the victims of a scam. If they just arrived, then they are the scammers. The fact that it was not on Zooplankton when you looked was probably that the scammer realised that you were on to them.

Zoopla. Love predictive text!

Sounds like an attempt at burglary artifice. I agree with other people saying notify the police. They are probably doing the rounds of the area, either trying to find out who is in or to talk their way in.

You have informed the Police, and I feel that you have been fobbed off.
Were you given a log number or recorded the identity of the person you spoke to?
There is no information that you have provided that would be of interest to Action Fraud. Have a look on their website.
Ring the Police again, record the time and the identity of the person you spoke to and request a visit from the local Police Community Support Officer. They will record your info and decide what to do with it.
As a matter of interest you could ask them if they are aware of your original call.
If nothing else your info will be recorded for intelligence purpose.
Have a look on Google for crimes committed in your area.
Enter your location followed by crime.
The actions of the couple are suspicious. Can you be certain that no one else had checked out the rest of your property, albeit from the outside, whilst you were chatting to this couple?
It could be innocent but the fact they had the photo, references to Rightmove and Zoopla suggest that it could have been an attempt at a Distraction Burglary, though there is absolutely no physical evidence of this and it would not be recorded as such.

Personally, I love QuizQueens input on this one - taking a photo and joking about evidence in case they burgled you later.

As an aside, I had someone run into my car while in town one day, I wasn't in the car but saw the young girl and her friends who did it. I approached and looked at the damage, and she asked if she could take a picture of the car to prove to her employer, whose car she was driving, the amount of damage. This prompted me to take her picture. As it turned out, it was the best thing I could have done, as when it came to the insurance claim, she denied even being there. The minute I sent in her photo, it was a done deal, so if in doubt about anyone these days, take their picture, it will either make them think twice about committing any planned crime, or failing that, be vital evidence to hand to the police.

Alert the police as this may not be an isolated incident.

Having only sold and purchased through an agent would hesitate letting any one in other than previous confirmation from the agent.
I had two experiences when selling my last one when a neighbour brought her alleged sister into view as she was thinking of moving to be by 'sis' I found out later from another neighbour this wasn't her sister they were just being plain b******y nosey. The next incident was when I saw a person staring through my window and asked what were they doing 'They wanted to see what it was like' 'Why not arrange a viewing I asked The reply was 'Oh well if you don't want to sell that's your problem' As I live in a popular seaside resort I can only believe they were holiday makers with nothing better to do.

NudejudeWelldone.
Don't you just get a kick knowing you are one up on these what are clearly 'not so bright as they think they are' fraudsters.

Could the photo(s) have been taken from Facebook or other social media?
Definitely call the police. You will be out through to a call centre. Explain what has happened and they will take it from there. You will be given an incident no as well.

Definitely dodgy, contact police.

Bathsheba don't know where you live but have you checked Airbnb for your property? There are numerous scams about at the moment connected with that site. And is it possible that whilst they were showing you the picture on their phone they could have been taking pictures?

Ring the police. You be amazed the sort of people that are dishonest. I hope you didn’t let them in.

Bathseba - these days anyone who is good at using photoshop or a similar computer program can probably update an older photo to look brand new. Either this couple have had access to your house at some time, or to one very like it and have doctored some photos to fit their fake add. Have you ever uploaded photos of your house to Facebook or other media?

This is some kind of scam, so I hope you got some help from the police. Please do follow the advice to update your security, both locks on windows and doors, alarm and internet security.

You ought to let Zoopla know as well.

granny
Predictive text changed my comment on my friend's bunions to 'minions'! Says something about popular culture.

I would definitely warn the police as the couple might try it on with someone less on the ball.

My thought was that they were casing your house with a view to a later burglary! A possible other explanation is the property rental scam of which these may have been victims. The scenario here is that a fake agents website is set up with properties listed for rental and the then would be tenant is conned into handing over a large holding deposit and of course never sees their money again! This was highlighted recently in scams awareness week and is now a common scam especially in areas of high housing demand due to lack of housing stock and desperate would be tenants!

I really don't know what to think other than it does not sound right. Having a picture on their phone when the property doesn't show up any where else doesn't make sense.
Rental property scam may be, but I do wonder if this pair (may be even part of a larger gang) photograph houses and hope to find elderly alone and use photos of house to make it seem legitimate to gain access and some how con/rob them. Who knows what their plan might be. Hopefully, you've called their bluff and they wont bother you again, but do feel the police should take more notice of this as it may be part of some larger scam.

All very good advice for you Bathsheba (I'm certainly going to start taking photos of any incident that's out of the ordinary).
So glad you informed the police - hope they're pursuing it.

Very mysterious about the interior photos of your house which were over 6 months old with no one giving quotes for the work your DH did ??? What other strangers visited before that time ? And weren't they patient .......

To everyone, I recommend putting your postcode into the website NextDoor (used to be called Streetlife) as a very useful 'virtual' notice board (and it's free).
It has many varied local messages ranging from lost cats to community events and in my area people are very quick to spread the word about thefts, car break ins etc. Quicker than the local police could inform us all.
We've also had a few posts of home security camera footage showing prowlers in peoples gardens trying back door handles in the middle of the night - thankfully they were all unsuccessful.

A few years ago I found out that my details were being used to rent out very expensive properties in and around London. Doing some digging there were several apartments advertised on Gumtree using my details and people were paying rental deposits (not to me I hasten to add) and obviously when they turned up the owners were oblivious. Be very wary.