Do I legally need to point out we have cameras?

[abstractplantpot]

I had a workman booked to do some jobs round my house today. He said he would be here at 8am which he was. We have a camera at the front door and one at the back door. The one at the front door alarms of the internet drops out.

I was getting my kids ready for school run, workman was in hall and front door camera alarmed. (It's a series of beeps not sinister) he asked what it was and I said don't worry it's just the front door camera blah blah blah.

He had a right go at me. Accused me of secretly filming him! Said I'm legally bound to tell everyone who comes in about cameras and he packed up his tools and left. He was changing doors for me so the two doors he has taken off are sitting outside and he's away with the new ones. (I haven't paid anything yet)

Am I bound by law to point these cameras out? They have been there for years and I have never had this issue?

It’s good practise but you could just put a small sticker on your door.

Bit of an extreme reaction though!

Yes you are.

Wow. What an overreaction on his part. Loads of people have those Ring doorbells now. I almost take it for granted that I'm in camera these days.

I thought it was weird too! We forget they are there most of the time. I'll get a wee sign for the front door then.

Loads of people have cameras.

He totally overreacted!

Isn't it pretty obvious that it's there? You weren't recording him in the house, but anyone who approached the house, is that right?

You are supposed to have a sign up informing people of you have cctv or cameras yes. But a very extreme over reaction on his part.

You might want to check the law, OP. He doesn’t know what you’re going to use the footage for because he doesn’t know you.

I believe you have to tell someone if you’re recording a phone conversation - hence why you always get the disclaimer if you phone the bank, etc.

Wow! Huge overreaction from him. I would assume he isn’t trustworthy to be left alone in your house tbh.

I’d put a sticker by the doorbell.

I’m a cleaner and year ago I was a bit taken aback to find a camera recording in one house without the owners having told me but since then I’ve just assumed there’ll be cameras sometimes, somewhere.

Here is the government guidance on this.

The camera is attached to the glass of the window beside the front door. There is a light on it too and it is very obviously a camera. There are none inside the house. It is simply there as security.

Thanks Hollowtalk.

Yes it’s good practice to let people know if you are recording on your property or inside.

If your camera catches people or vehicles before they enter your boundary then you are into data protection, gdpr etc

Did you employ him through a company or is this cash in hand? For him there may be a very big reason he doesn’t wish to be recorded.

Yes, technically, you do, but it's not a major deal unless you're recording anything which is 'public space' i,e off your property (that's not okay - there's a whole load of rules) and you can't record other people's property at all, without a whole load more issues - so not your neighbours drive etc.

For you sort of setup, the easy thing to do is:

Make sure your camera only captures your space.
Put a small sign or sticker in obvious sight line by the door or window which says, 'CCTV in use on this property.'

Then, forget about it, because there are loads and loads of people with similar systems and absolutely no-one is going to care about a tradesman having a paddy.

The caveat is that it's very much different if you're a business or an employer, btw (i.e. a nanny in the house/garden with your children needs to be made aware she's being recorded!) but a front door camera on a private house... get a sticker and stop worrying.

I would have asked him why he's so paranoid. Dodgy if you ask me.

I sometimes wear a body worn camera and I was trained to tell our customers it is on and recording.