Neighbours CCTV Cameras pointing at our Property

TELLIT01

LouiseAH said:

dickibobboy said:

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

I know for an absolute fact the cameras are recording are property.

If they are unapproachable how do you know 'for an absolute fact' that they are recording your property?  People here are trying to be helpful but need accurate information in order to do so.  My understanding is that this is a civil matter so police will not generally get involved.  If you can't speak to the neighbour you will need to speak to a solicitor.

Mojisola

LouiseAH said:

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.

Can you fix something up to give you privacy in at least part of the garden?  I know you shouldn't have to but it would be solution.

Have a look at things called Garden Sails or Shade Sails.

Apodemus

Well....World Naked Gardening Day is on Saturday, so that might be one way of finding out if the cameras are on your garden! 

ciderboy2009

OP - if you're any good with a soldering iron then you could do what I did with one of my neighbours some years back and set up an array of infrared led's.  Mind you, it helped that I had access to the led's free of charge.

Try pointing a remote control at your phone camera and then imagine how a number of blocks of 20 IR led's dotted around the garden would affect what their camera see's.

In my case the camera was taken down a week or two later and never put back up.

Phil4432

Have a close mate who went through something similar.

In this case, the neighbors had a security system which had cameras recording several other gardens as well as their own plus a shared path and the front of the street.

From the NCO website and other info I've looked at, a neighbor can in fact legally do this.  They can't however, directly point a camera towards your bedroom window but if the filed of vision of a camera takes up part of your garden also, its not illegal as such.

However, they are then regarded as 'data providers,' and must provide a copy of the recordings, and delete them, upon request.  If they fail to do this, theoretically the NCO could step in.  But as with many of these things, enforcement as such seems unclear.  If the owner of the cameras as such says the data is already deleted, perhaps its doubtful whether the NCO would do anything.  I really don't know.

In my friends case, she got a look at the live feeds and saw that the areas of her garden were blacked out.  She spoke with the security company who assured her that the black outs could not be accessed by their clients, and the security company themselves could not access the feed.

Its still not nice to have cameras pointing in your direction though.  In my friends case, she let it go at that point.

I think that if you felt the recording devices were set up with the intention of recording you in your home, then the police would step in.  But if they are security cameras which partially have you in the filed of vision, it gets trickier.

Its not a great situation for any of us, the laws need to change really.

I've installed my cameras to view nothing but my own property.  That's perfectly adequate as a security measure.

Have a chat with the NCO, see what they say.   

dickibobboy

cymruchris said:

Ant555 said:

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.

Not necessarily - security cameras have lenses like regular cameras - and come in different focal lengths - although the two most popular are 2.8 and 4mm - there are many that are varifocal and can be up to around 12mm (or more) - the lower the number - the wider the field of view. Many basic cameras are 2.8 or 4mm, but any more specialist camera could easily be 12mm - which would be quite a zoom - so they may be pointing for example at the front garden gate - or the drive entrance. Without seeing what's exactly on their screen or knowing the exact spec of their system - nobody here can say what they can or can't see - and shouldn't assume otherwise.

Absolutely, without the OP actually seeing the live camera feed there is no ‘absolute fact’ they can see their garden. As you’ve described the cameras may have specific lenses which any reputable installer would have suited per location when installing. 

Just to note also OP - If they are the typical lens size that has a wider view it’s often the case the cameras are pointed more away from the house in some cases in order to help eliminate any IR white wash against the wall they are on for the night vision. Not doing so will often see the house wall very bright and anything further away in pitch black. Doing this along with privacy masks of any neighbouring properties will give the optimal night footage which is possibly the case in your situation

bris

A balaclava and an air rifle will do the trick.