Problem neighbours - Recommend me a CCTV kit please?

GeckoGirl1985

Having had an ongoing issue with an aggressive neighbour who lives in the flat above my mum (he has a history of violence, has been in prison for GBH and the police have already had to warn him off as he previously threatened to slash the tyres on our cars), we are now thinking of installing a small cctv camera outside our front door in the communal hallway. This area belongs to my mums flat as shown on the property lease so we are legally able to do this without contestation from them upstairs. We have decided we really need to do this now as the neighbour aggressively confronted my mum in the hallway again last week over a minor issue and we have decided we need to be able to record these incidents in case we have to get the police involved again.

So, can anyone recommend us a user-friendly CCTV system, not too expensive and that also records sound? We are looking at a budget of around £100 ideally.

Desperado99

Try asking here:

http://www.nfh.org.uk/forums/forum.php

They have a specific CCTV forum, and are well clued up on the legal issues etc.

Hope your mum stays safe

cootuk

I would imagine anything on your door that's visible would be ripped off. If you have a fisheye door viewer then that could be replaced with a camera and is a bit more secure from vandalism if they don't know about it.

moromir

Hmm have you had anyone independant read your mum's lease and checked the legal position?

It would be //extremely// unusual for a communal hallway to form part of the 'demised premises' i.e. forms part of the property that your mum owns.

Provided that can be established, you need to look in to the legalities - I could have this completely wrong but I think on private land you have to make sure the cctv only covers your property and there may be a requirement for adequate signage highlighting that there is CCTV.

j.e.j.

If you're careful about the legalities it may be a deterrent. You have to make sure you follow the rules to the dot, though, otherwise any evidence gathered may not be allowed in court.

jackyann

I would discus with the police (usual procedure would be that your mum has a contact) as they can tell you what would be acceptable or otherwise.

pulliptears

cootuk wrote: »

I would imagine anything on your door that's visible would be ripped off. If you have a fisheye door viewer then that could be replaced with a camera and is a bit more secure from vandalism if they don't know about it.

You'd be surprised, most people are to focused on ill intent to notice. I have one at head height by my garage, average sized cctv camera that does display a light at night. Next to it is a 10"x10" sign that says "cctv operates on these premises". Did that stop someone from stealing parts from our car at 3 in the morning? Nope.
The camera itself was inches from the fools head which nicely gave us perfect pictures. He was caught and prosecuted within the week.

OP,have a look on overclockers. Co.uk, we had our system from there with 2 cameras and a hard drive. Worth every penny of the £180 or so we spent.

bitemebankers

Definitely get yourself tooled up - sounds like your mum needs it. Just one IMPORTANT caveat. Bear in mind that if it does come to a prosecution, the police are an effing nightmare for removing the entire recording machine in the case of hard drive recorders, not just the drive inside, leaving you without CCTV for months or years afterwards. Don't buy a system you can't afford to replace.

pulliptears

bitemebankers wrote: »

Definitely get yourself tooled up - sounds like your mum needs it. Just one IMPORTANT caveat. Bear in mind that if it does come to a prosecution, the police are an effing nightmare for removing the entire recording machine in the case of hard drive recorders, not just the drive inside, leaving you without CCTV for months or years afterwards. Don't buy a system you can't afford to replace.

Really? The came to our home, downloaded the content of the drive on to memory stick and prosecuted from that....

bitemebankers

pulliptears wrote: »

Really? The came to our home, downloaded the content of the drive on to memory stick and prosecuted from that....

You're lucky, then.