Neighbours CCTV Cameras pointing at our Property

LouiseAH

Our next door neighbours moved into their property 3 months ago. 1 month ago they decided to install 9 CCTV cameras all around their property. 4 of the cameras are pointing at our property. Has anyone else had a similar problem, if so I would really appreciate some advice on the quickest way to resolve the problem.  

sand_hun

In a way, perhaps it's not such a bad thing - if you were to have unwanted visitors on your property maybe the footage from the neighbour's CCTV could come in useful. 

However, if it bothers you in terms of privacy maybe you need to take some action. Are they approachable? i.e. could you perhaps politely ask that they point the cameras within the boundaries of their own property?

edgex

Are they pointing AT your property, or do they catch it whilst properly covering their property?

LouiseAH

sand_hun said:

In a way, perhaps it's not such a bad thing - if you were to have unwanted visitors on your property maybe the footage from the neighbour's CCTV could come in useful. 

However, if it bothers you in terms of privacy maybe you need to take some action. Are they approachable? i.e. could you perhaps politely ask that they point the cameras within the boundaries of their own property?

If we had unwanted visitors on our property and it was captured by their CCTV cameras I dont think they would even tell us. They are not approachable so can not ask the politely to re-position the cameras. 

LouiseAH

edgex said:

Are they pointing AT your property, or do they catch it whilst properly covering their property?

The 4 cameras I mentioned are recording their property and our property. 1 of the cameras is recording our rear garden which makes me really annoyed. You should be able to have privacy in your own garden. I am not bothered about the cameras if they are only recording their property.  

Andy_L

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-cctv-using-cctv-systems-on-your-property/domestic-cctv-using-cctv-systems-on-your-property

https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/domestic-cctv-systems-guidance-for-people-using-cctv/

LouiseAH

Andy thanks for the links but it would be good to get some feedback from some of the other forum members who have been in a similar position and have managed to get it resolved.

benson1980

LouiseAH said:

Andy thanks for the links but it would be good to get some feedback from some of the other forum members who have been in a similar position and have managed to get it resolved.

I'd just try and relax about it. They've obviously done it to protect their property rather than annoy their neighbours, and there'll be a knock on effect on your house in terms of visible deterrent. We had neighbours previously who had loads of CCTV cameras. In terms of impact on our day to day lives there was none. If they felt inclined to watch us via their CCTV cameras, realistically it was no different to being able to view us from various other vantage points and I generally assumed/hoped they had better things to do with their time. Plus, if we were ever burgled they would have probably been more than happy to review their footage.

dickibobboy

Apart from you seeing the physical camera how do you know they can see your garden/property area?

cymruchris

Cameras come in a variety of focal lengths which give them different fields of view - like lenses on a camera - if you only see the camera but don't see what's on the screen - you have no idea what they're actually seeing. Additionally, most modern recorders have built in privacy masking, and if the system was installed professionally, there's a good chance that any part of your private property would have been masked off if the installer was worth his or her salt.

They wouldn't put their cameras up to 'watch you' - they'd put them up for the security of their property. Unless you're planning to run around naked in the garden all summer - it wouldn't bother me much that they had cameras (and if you were planning on running around naked all summer - you'd probably soon find out if they really were watching you.)

Without speaking to them - you won't know exactly what they are and aren't recording, and won't know if the privacy masking zones have been set up or not. We're all different - but if it were me - I wouldn't bat an eyelid. 

What makes them unapproachable? Have you had 'words' about anything?

Ant555

dickibobboy said:

Apart from you seeing the physical camera how do you know they can see your garden/property area?

If the houses are quite close together then its quite likely.

my post 6 of this recent thread (the one with the screen grab) shows a field of view from my CCTV camera when pointing along a side wall.  Luckily for me the neighbours have a garage but if it was their back door, I would be capturing them coming in and out all of the time.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6249066/neighbors-cctv-intrusion/p1

One of the cameras at the front which is pointing away from the house towards the cars on the driveway can see the front doors of the people opposite.

Having said that, I hardly ever look at the cameras - in fact I have only looked at the footage a couple of times this year and that was lying in bed to check if it was snowing outside!

At night, if I can see the red glow of the IR lights on my cameras where I am stood then I am probably in the field of view of my system.