Ring camera communal area

[Unsure001]

Hi all,

My parents are elderly and live in a flat on the ground floor and have happily lived there all their lives. There has been two attemped break ins the last week, police called and reference number given. But no one bothered to check any CCTV nearby (not one at the entrance). So I have installed a ring camera, and have set it up so that it detects motion close to the door (you can limit the area it detects).

Anyway a family moved in a few years ago, and my parents had a few problems as they would make so much noise late into the night and this was not resolved. So they are not on speaking terms.

Now the said neighbour is complaining about the ring camera, no one else has an issue. And hasn't come and spoken to us directly of course but had it reported to the landlord. The landlord has not contacted us yet, we are aware from another neighbour about what he has done.

I have checked online and I can see we are allowed to make improvements to home including CCTV (for our building). Does not specify that this is limited to indoors. I am worried now as I do not want to take the ring down, we had a horrible few days getting the locks changed and getting over the anxiety of a possible break in. Anyone experienced anything similar and could advise if I do recieve a letter?

It’s not a home improvement or maintenance issue. It’s a data protection issue. You can’t have recording devises over communal areas like this.

if the building has a security issue you should’ve approached the landlord. If the landlord didn’t provide a solution then you could’ve called a residents meeting and asked about people’s concerns and would they mind you installing one of these devices? But you need neighbours agreement as you are recording all of their comings and goings.
you Say you have permission for cctv? What exactly does the cctv say, is it within your property only for example? Or is it live monitoring but no recording?

No you cannot record communal areas like this. Other residents have the right to come and go from their homes without being recorded by you.

Is it a social housing tenancy?

Probably worth reading the guidance on the ICO website

.

https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/domestic-cctv-systems/

This is helpful thankyou

You can, aee the ICO link. As long as it adheres to the rules

It is not illegal to record communal areas and there is no requirement to take it down just because the neighbours don't like it. I doubt the landlord will get in touch as it's a complete non-issue.

Thank you, the ICO website was very clear as well