A high-flying estate agent is making use of a quadcopter to capture aerial images of homes on its books.

M&M Properties in Windmill Street, Gravesend, purchased the £1,000 machine last month which is able to soar above the roofs of properties to capture location details.

Director Nigel Miller said: “I had to learn how to fly the thing because it was a bit worrying flying it over people’s houses, but it’s quite easy and it’s a very clever thing.

"It locks on to the GPS signal so wherever it takes off, it remembers that so if the battery goes flat, it will fly itself back to where it started.

“We use it for doing the shots of larger properties and it also shows the extent of the property.

"The vendors love it. I probably spend more time showing them the camera than I do taking the pictures.

“Although it’s expensive, it’s not unaffordable and the response so far has been positive."

“Technology is constantly changing for us.

"Twenty years ago there was a company down the Thanet Way who would come and pick up the films, process them overnight and deliver them back to you the next morning.

“It was a big operation but then digital cameras came out and we could do our own.

"Then there was the internet and we could upload them ourselves – this is just another of those things that is seeing the business changing as technology moves forward.”

Over the next few years drones are expected to become a more common sight in UK skies.

Last year online retail giant Amazon began testing delivery drones designed to drop parcels off on doorsteps.

And commercial photographers have also been quick to take advantage of the low cost aircraft that can provide aerial shots for a fraction of the price of a helicopter flight.