Neighbours Ring doorbell

[Mumz3]

So I live in a block of flats and noticed earlier my neighbour has installed a Ring doorbell which directly faces my flat door. There’s a fire door between our flats so unless it’s open she won’t be recording my actual door all the time but as far as I know these doorbells record any motion they sense for 20/30 seconds? So she’s recording the communal close area whenever someone passes her door (which is very often because her flat is directly to the left of the main door) and I do have to walk past her door to get to the letterboxes or to take my bins out. She’ll inadvertently record anyone that comes to my flat thru the main door as well (so that’s everyone that visits me) and my son at primary school age will be recorded every time he goes to school and back. There is a back door to the flats that I can use but it means a detour round the car park to get to the letterbox or to go to the bin shed. Am I being unreasonable to want her to take the doorbell down?

You can view the camera at any point, my DP has one. He doesn't pay for the recording option, but he can log on the app at any point and view the area outside his front door. It alerts him to movement via push notification.

I understand what you’re saying but if someone was standing watching who was coming and going from your home then would you not be a bit creeped out? I get that anyone could see who was coming to my flat as it’s not like a secret door but the point is she could actually keep track of who was coming and going and that’s what bothers me. Several other neighbours have to walk past her door to go to the letterbox etc as well so it would capture them passing too but whether they’ve noticed yet I don’t know. It’s obviously less intrusive for them tho as it doesn’t capture their actual door.

Personally I'd find it invasive..
We had a ''Nutty over-the-back- neighbour'' who set up large CCTV camera facing the backs of our houses {also the front of hers} and she had a large TV screen facing the upstairs window so we could see it was being monitored constantly.

25 yrs ago I rolled a spliff with a friend in what I thought was a secluded spot in Bristol...
A security guard came over and said ''It's not safe to do that here, love...Let me show you why''.... He was working from a portacabin, and zoomed in on two women, one of whom was fishing Wrigley's chewing gum out of her bag... She was so far away in RL..but the camera zoomed in closely to her hands.

I've just had this with new neighbours in my flat (directly opposite so it's pointing at my front door). I waited until I saw him and asked him about it, said I wouldn't really be happy for someone to be recording all my comings and goings. He assured me that he'd turned off all the motion sensors and that it is only recording if the blue circle flashes. He's disabled so needs to be able to talk to people at the door as he can't get there quickly so totally understandable reasons. I was happy with his reassurances and he's aware of my concerns, just have a nice chat stating your concerns, I'm sure your neighbour will understand.

If she is recording ever time the motion sensor goes of because of you going about your business she will soon get fed up of it, I had to set my ring camera which points at the back gate and drive very carefully to avoid the neighbours path as it kept going off all the while annoyingly if the neighbours came out of their house, the ring camera has zones on it that you can turn off to stop this

@Nottherealslimshady I highly doubt we’d get broken into because the dog barks as soon as he hears anyone walking through the close and the burglar would have to be daft to still try our door after he heard him 😂. She also has dogs who do the same.

You are way over thinking it.
I highly doubt she wants to sit in her flat watching her app waiting for you to take your bins out or your son to go to school...

Think about how useful it could be if you ever lost a parcel or had an issue with a cold caller etc.

Unless there is a whole ton of history between you both that may give her any reason to film you then i think you are being slightly paranoid. Im sure she doesnt really care what you are doing every time you leave the house.

If it bothers you that much still, ask her to angle it so it catches her visitors and not yours? Can that be done?

@Elderflower14 if the other neighbours are happy with this then that’s fine and good it works so well for him 😂

I highly suspect she's not planning on using the footage, and anyway you have to pay to have it recorded.

I live in a terrace both myself and my neighbour who's doors are a couple of inches apart have Ring doorbells. However we've agreed to both capture full area out the front as it give us both better protection. But obviously that's an agreement between us.

All the info is here, she is subject to data protection laws. It would be easier for her to change the camera angle or use a shield to limit its range;
ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/domestic-cctv-systems-guidance-for-people-using-cctv/

I would not be happy with this at all. Clearly reading this some people don’t mind, but that’s not the point. The point is YOU mind. I would speak to the neighbour in the first instance, but if she’s got it set to record everything, or is vague about it, I’d speak to the landlord about it personally.

I don't know how this works in our case. We have a Ring doorbell and live in a ground floor maisonette. The front garden is ours but the path, which obviously has to be covered by the video, is shared. Ours records and is stored for a month. This is hypothetical as our neighbour knows we have it but could she object?

@PinkSparklyPussyCat I think they can object but what the ultimate outcome would be I don’t know. From what I’ve read so far although you’re breaching their privacy by recording communal areas it seems that if u comply with data protection laws then u might be able to get away with it. Where I live it’s all rented accommodation owned by the housing association anyways. If the housing association wanted to record the communal car park and the main door for security purposes then I wouldn’t object to this it’s the fact my neighbours doorbell is basically directly facing my own front door.

I literally couldn’t care less, if anything like others I’d see it as an additional security measure / deterrent and therefore positive.

Why don’t you have a chat with them- it does sound from what others have said that there are settings that could be adjusted and that might lead to a compromise you’re happy with. Maybe look on the Ring website and get an idea of what can be done?

We have a ring doorbell and you can set the perimeter it notifies for (e.g. to include your driveway but not the pavement). However, if your doors are very close proximity she probably can't stop it from recording your door.

It does notify each time someone/thing moves within the cameras perimeter automatically, but this notification can be turned off so it only notifies when someone rings the doorbell. So you could ask her to do this?

My neighbour has one , it can definitely record my front door as we're in a block of flats. I was bothered when I first noticed it , but I haven't complained as his footage might be useful if something happens on our floor.

I would hate this and specially if its recording children. Ideally a motion camera should be placed on your door so that it is covering her door and not yours.

It’s awkward to explain. Our doors aren’t directly across from one another as in facing each other but the doorbell is face on to my door because of where it’s positioned. I think it probably could be set so that you can’t see my door but unfortunately I have to walk directly past her door to go the letterbox etc so the motion sense capabilities would still annoy me 😂😂

I wouldn’t like this at all and I’m as boring and unexciting as they come 😀

Well you could view it as extra protection for your front door without any £ outlay for you.

Having a Ring doorbell in place has been proved to be really effective as a burglar deterrent. You'll benefit from that extra security.

Does it really matter if occasionally your neighbour sees footage of you going in or out of your door? It's no different than if they opened their door at the same time surely? Just don't pick your nose or scratch your bum as you go past the camera.

I would leave her to it. Maybe she has previously been a victim of violence and wants the reassurance. Maybe she is just nervous.

*It could also be a good thing, in that anyone coming to your door who's uninvited will be spotted and recorded.

Privacy is a funny thing, what's good for one, isn't for another. You obviously aren't happy with it, wouldn't bother me.*

X2

It wouldn't bother me at all but if I had one and my neighbour wasn't happy, I would be mortified and change the position/settings to make sure they were happy.

I am convinced you are having an affair now OP

Why does it matter unless you are doing something shifty?

Hello OP

Ring devices are pretty sophisticated. You can set the distance at which they trigger. If it's on the minimum distance, you and/or your visitors would need to get within 1 metre before it would trigger.

You could also ask your neighbour to create a privacy zone, which would ignore any activity in front of your door.

I was originally given an alarm which was linked to the police (abusive ex). After speaking with my DV liaison officer, we switched it over to a Ring.

If it puts your mind at rest at all, I've had mine for a couple of years and have only spooled through the recordings once. I was able to provide proof that a delivery company had not left a box on my doorstep! I'm not interested and wouldn't have the time to watch each recording.