Neighbour’s security cameras overlooking bedroom, bathroom and garden: any advice?

[Julysunshineishere]

Has anyone experience of being overlooked by their neighbours security cameras?

Our neighbour has installed cameras which record visual and audio in the soffits of his detached house. One of the cameras is directly opposite my daughter's bedroom window, and an other is 16ft directly across from our bathroom window. (I have hung voiles in her bedroom for privacy, but frustrated I've had to do this! We already had a blind for nighttime, she just felt 'spied on').

I feel I'm being watched constantly daily and the neighbour refuses to show me the camera footage, and denies it records audio. It isn't possible to converse with him, we have tried.

I have spoken to a local supplier of the make and model of the camera that is installed and it is a top of the range camera for audio and image.

Having tried to speak to the neighbour and being completely dismissed I just feel like I have to accept the unwanted intrusion into my daily life.

He has also installed sensor lights on the front of his house that light up as soon as I go onto my drive and get in and out of my car or go to my gate.

The legal department of my home insurance say that other than asking him to show me footage , which he won't, I can write a letter requesting any footage of myself and family as he has a responsibility to produce it. I doubt he will do this as it relies upon the neighbour being responsible and honest about what he is recording.
I'm looking into installing a pergola to give us privacy in our garden, as the rear camera is directly over our patio. I did ask that a camera at the rear was repositioned to not look directly onto our property, I was told it focused purely upon his gate and vehicle and he walked away.

We live in an area that, thankfully hasn't a high crime rate and no history of burglaries or car break ins etc.

Any suggestions? Moving isn't an option!
I love my home, I just don't love feeling constantly watched and my comings and goings illuminated at night and captured 24/7.

I can’t picture the set up - can you do a drawing to show where the houses and cameras are?

Worth Googling this. Seems - Neighbour is contravening your privacy. You can escalate to a regulating body and ultimately the police as harassment.

Have you contacted the police for advice ? If he is recording your daughter in her bedroom I would think they might pay him a visit.

I'd probably call him out loudly in the street 'why are you filming my daughter ?'

Just to add, we have got a ring doorbell and put up a couple of camera in our garden to watch our dog when he's out. These were installed after the neighbours cameras. He seems to take a particular dislike to our doorbell camera and glares at it when it's recording, ie if I'm at the bins, he can't see me but obviously triggers our camera.

I find him extremely difficult to deal with. I have tried countless times to engage in a friendly manner. It's pointless. He walks away and is extremely dismissive.

I believe security cameras should not be capturing neighbours like this. You could try contacting Information Commissioners Office for advice.

Of course not! Could you talk to the police? Ask them the legal position and get them to go round and ask the neighbour to show them footage/where the back garden camera films? Sounds horrible.

I’d be tempted to put up a screen on your boundary so the camera can’t see you.

If he’s filming into your bedroom and bathroom windows, I think you need to go to the police.

ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/home-cctv-complaints/home-cctv-complaints/shared/results/a8/

A sketch, N - neighbours house. Both properties are two storeys.

I think a chat with the police too.

Can you put that reflective film on windows, so you can see out but he can’t see in? I don’t know if that also works with cameras.

Also, at the risk of being a MN pariah, I did Google and got:

”Most cameras utilize infrared (IR) night vision. Placing strong, motion-activated floodlights facing your boundary line can overwhelm the camera's sensor, effectively "washing out" their night-vision footage”.

Can you contact your community police officer - I’d particularly be concerned about the camera facing DD’s room, and I think they would be too.

I was hoping to discuss matters with him , he has a young family too, but it's not possible. His wife is not willing to even chat.

The police are an option, it's just I can't actually prove he's filming us, and I didn't want to start a dispute that had to be shared when selling. It just feels completely overkill on surveillance given it's a quiet residential area.

The ICO has information about how to approach this.
I'd also speak to the police as it is recording into a child's bedroom.

Install more and more cameras pointed directly in the direction of his living room front rooms and every room in his house.

You don't need to prove it - he's pointing a camera into your DD's bedroom, that's enough.

You have two choices - ignore or do something. There's no middle ground. He's not going to become reasonable.

If you're planning to move then I can see the point of ignoring. But if not, speak to the police.

Thanks for all the advice. We had contacted the ICO about this initially after speaking to legal department and it is particularly difficult to change anything he's done.

Window film for the kitchen window is actually on order! I dislike the stuff but needs must.

I hate being made to feel like I have to hide in my home.

I think a call to the community police is in order. I didn't want to but I just want some privacy back.

We have got more cameras and recently put them up, primarily for a fast moving puppy!
We have repositioned one higher above our kitchen window and when sorting out the privacy screen and setting up the solar panel , the neighbour went to his bins and was staring at it.

Yes, he won't become reasonable.

Thanks for all the advice. I feel that I'm not overreacting and will speak to the community police.

why do you need cameras for a puppy?

And why does he need cameras?

I think a lot of of us are going to want to know what area you live in that doesn’t have breakins and so on to worry about - it seems really strange to put up a camera if there’s nothing, no issues at all

the only way I know to complain about this is the ICO It sounds like a really intrusive set up.

Our cameras were installed on the advice of the rescue centre we got out puppy from, as they were incredibly nervous, to help us see what our dog is responding to in order to try to correct the behaviour. It got to the stage of watching him constantly, which wasn't possible.

As for the no break in comment, of course there are incidents locally, however I wrote that sentence to illustrate we fortunately don't live in a high crime area and after I had a conversation with my neighbour asking if they had had any break ins etc.

I understand your comment about ICO, however, their advice depends upon him being honest and trusting he is keeping to privacy screening.

Unfortunately things aren't that simple in real life. The height of his cameras is what makes them so intrusive, yet he denies it's an issue. It isn't for him and he has made it very clear my option is completely irrelevant to him.

You could put a similar camera up to see how he feels being watched?

That's what my other half wants to do, but we just can't justify the cost and really, I don't want cameras up in my soffits. Completely unnecessary in a residential area.

Get cameras to stare into theirs, and get black out blinds in each room

Some people are cunts op, youll never change em

If it made him reconsider it'd be worth the money!