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.

Sorry just measured and it’s actually 1m50 long

Its the audio recording aspect that feels even more intrusive, given that the cameras are directly over a patio we use daily and opposite our bathroom window. The bathroom couldn't be captured visually, due to the position of the camera on the front of the house, it's the audio recording that feels intrusive, especially given the closeness of the houses.

Leave a radio going near the cameras in question, set at a the level that triggers the recording and no higher. Hours of listening to inane chat or Radio 3 should put them off.

I have a friend who has a wisteria and a jasmine which cover the whole of a 4x4 pergola growing in one like this

planters.co.uk/products/pre-rusted-corten-steel-straight-edge-long-trough-planter?variant=44681472114863&msclkid=79b692a9637c1c06d548f8f646727e75&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Planters.co.uk+Shopping&utm_term=4577747952323341&utm_content=Ad+group+%231

CatherinedeBourgh
Thanks so much for the details. I'm going to make some planters to fit the space so that information is really useful 💐

I love wisteria and we have Jasmine lower down the border.

Sereine
I did think about this, however it has the potential to spoil my other neighbours quiet enjoyment of their garden. They potter outside from 6 watering and tending their plants and often hear them chatting as I close windows late at night.
I don't want to become an annoying neighbour myself!

If you can make them long enough to reach the ground in your garden, there is pretty much no limit to what you can grow. I've been amazed at how far horizontally roots can grow to find soil.

I think it will look lovely, as well as protecting your privacy. Think of it as an excuse to spend what you need! (I am always looking for excuses to earmark money for the garden...)

CatherinedeBourgh
Yes, I'm trying to focus on our garden and enjoy it. I just need to resolve camera issues as I'm sat out on the patio now with a cuppa and as I look up I see the camera! Getting the parasol out is my next job!

Have you sent him a subject access request?

So they can hear every word of your convos when you are using your patio. That’s even more intrusive than the video. At least you can use the privacy screen/blinds/shades etc to block the view. You can’t do anything for the noise privacy.

DeterminedRat
That's what we are going to do.
Itsthewoluff
Yes, I presume so as our patio is below the cameras. Legal advice was to request audio and video footage on a monthly basis. Its absolutely ridiculous given we are sitting outside our own home. All onus is on us to act and ask for information from the data controller, rather than any one being able to tell the neighbours how to position his cameras. Privacy screens can easily be added and removed at his will. This was admitted by everyone we have spoken to.

The police aren't there for that

Sounds like a sad old git who has nothing better to do with his retirement. But then I read about the work van, he'll get more anal as he gets older then, his wife probably goes along with it because he's 'the man of the house'. If she's tutting she's going the same way as him.

Your neighbour sounds like an absolute dick. Why should you have to spend money on pergolas and extra curtains for privacy in your own property?? I never get how some people can be so ok with the constant bad-feeling and hostile atmosphere day in day out, that comes with being a dick to your neighbour. It seems suspicious that he’s even installed the amount of cameras he’s installed in the place you say you live. If it was me I’d go onto the local fb page for the area and post a warning about a predator in the area that has installed a camera facing your daughter’s bedroom. That’ll teach him not to mess with you maybe! Otherwise he’ll keep doing what he likes if he thinks they’ll be no consequences

Might a fountain/water feature help with the sound privacy? The sound of running water plays havoc with recordings...

This is what is above where I'm sat. If it was tilted towards their house wall and focused upon their driveway and gate it wouldn't be an issue for image capturing. He just won't talk about this though and as it is positioned, it has the potential to capture all the rear aspect of our house and trigger when we leave our back door.

CatherinedeBourgh
This weekend we have just added a water feature to put garden, near to his rear camera.

I’d be sticking the V’s up at the camera every time I went into the garden😂
He might eventually become so enraged at you doing that that he will talk to you about it.
Then you will know if he can see into your garden.
He sounds awful.
Hope you get it sorted.

Sparklesbigtoe
Exactly. We shouldn't have to spend money on such things, however the law isn't in place to deal with incidents like this. However, we want our privacy back.

If your neighbor’s camera captures your home or garden, they act as a "data controller" under UK GDPR. By law, they must be transparent, stop recording you if you object, and delete footage regularly. You can report non-compliant setups to the ICO Home CCTV Complaints portal.

This is so bad I can't believe it is allowed

all this money on stuff to try to hide from
the camera - cant see how most of it would work

better off spending that money on a solicitor maybe. Tell your local MP office they might have had this before

Try your local neighbourhood watch. Our guy is brilliant and would be able to advise and or put you in contact with the pcso.

Have your put a pergola up now? I’ve got grapevines on mine. No way a camera could spy on me in that part of my garden.

I'm not in the UK but presume it is similar there but I know someone who gave their neighbour a subject access request every week. Eventually the neighbour got so sick of it that they turned the cameras.

I was just about to post that. 🤣

If you want to be even more ballsy, hold a piece of paper up with 'stop looking you perv' each time.

If he complains about the sign or you making the V sign, then tell him you can do what you want in your own garden. For him to see that it proves his cameras are recording your house. If he doesn't want to see those things then move the camera.

I would want to know why your neighbour is so invested on spying on you.
Probably pissed off now your d has covered windows now. He sounds a bit of a pervert and a controlling Billy big bollocks with his dismissive attitude towards you.