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.

Someone I know had a camera pointing at their house from across the road. The Police came and informed the people opposite they were breaking the law and had to remove the camera. They were told that they could only record their own property.

Definitely report to police. He is recording in your garden without your permission. I'm 99% sure that isn't legal!

I'm not sure if your DD is underage, but if she is, I would potentially be contacting SS about your neighbours cameras. Possible safeguarding issue!

There may well be a good reason for having it - someone in the house might do a job that puts them at risk of harm or something. You wouldn’t necessarily know if that’s the case.

We have a lot of security at our house, but the people who installed it knew what they were doing and made sure cameras don’t pick up anything beyond the boundaries of our property and it’s only movement within our property that triggers security lights.

we have a console where all the security camera footage can be seen, and if our neighbours had concerns I would have no issue at all with inviting them in to see that we are not filming on their property.

It's difficult to deal with as I can only go by the angle of the camera lens that is visible above me and it's obvious field of vision. The camera obviously does have privacy screening available, the guidance for security camera presumes the owner of the devices follows this guidance.

As I can't have a discussion with my neighbour about this , he won't engage, is very arrogant and high handed with his comments about my valid concerns, I cannot know for sure if he used the available privacy screening or not, and if he does if this is done consistently.

I cannot however start accusing him of prying as I have no proof, other than the angle of the camera.

I have followed advice given and I was told that it's a very grey area and basically almost impossible to inforce the guidance.

For my own piece of mind I am therefore taking all other steps available to me to prevent any potential 'spying' on us in our garden with the cameras that feel very intrusive in our space. I strongly feel I shouldn't have to do this, as he is being unreasonable, however he will not change.

I think the only way round is to request frequently our images as he is a data controller and hope he gives up and alters the position of the camera at the rear.

A wind chime has been hung outside our bathroom window and above our patio.

It's just very frustrating, but I don't want to appear the unhinged one for trying to keep our back garden private. Our cameras will stay as they capture footage fully within our fences and we use them to help manage our dogs behaviour.

It's sad to hear other people having similar issues, and I'm pleased to hear of police enforcement of common sense guidance on some cases, sadly not all.

CoffeeBooksRats

Very true. It's just hard to equate this with the response that I get when I approached him regarding the cameras. I was very matter of fact and focused on the changed position of the camera lens. If he was installing it for such reasons, why not just show me his phone to proof this? Would instantly allay my concerns. Instead I'm spoken to very abruptly, before he walks off. Not very reassuring.

Not sure what the ICO told you but this is a breach of the Human Rights Act, GDPR and a whole bunch of laws. You have a right to privacy in your home and garden and they should only be recording conversations and images on their own property. Cctv is classed as recording data which may belong to you. As the data controllers, they must provide you with the footage on request. They also have to have a good reason for filming outside of their property and an equally good reason to keep any footage for any length of time. The same will apply to your cctv if you are recording outside of your boundaries. I suggest you write to your neighbour and ask what audio/video content he has of your property and how long he keeps it. Audio is particularly intrusive. Here's details of the test case that established the precident.
Fairhurst v Woodard (Oxfordshire, 2021): A landmark case where a homeowner was ordered to pay a neighbour over £100,000 in damages and legal fees. The judge ruled that his Ring doorbell and shed camera processed personal data (both audio and video) unlawfully because they captured the neighbour’s property and driveway. The judge specifically highlighted that the audio recording capability made the devices significantly more intrusive.

Police will not help you and the ICO won't do much about cases like yours as there are hundreds of complaints each week. Council cannot help as neither they nor the police have the power to intervene in civil cases. I suggest you speak to Citizens Advice or consult a solicitor. Police won't charge for harassment on the basis of the these occurances as there's not enough going on to meet the threshold for prosecution. It's solely a civil matter.

Khayker

Thanks for your measured response. I was told it was a civil matter and ICO rarely helpful in cases like mine. I was told that a pergola and radio underneath was my best bet for privacy, rather than expecting anyone to enforce guidance.
Sending regular requests to the data controller was advised too.

Our neighbour snapped at me if doesn't record audio, however I find this difficult to believe given his attitude and behaviour.

Just screen your garden from his cameras as much as you can, go ahead with the pergola and anything else that will do the job, such as planting a hedge as high as allowed.

Ive had a similar type incident with a strange man in his 60's whos garden backs on to the side of our garden. Initially not an issue as the fence was covered in ivy so there was good privacy in most places. But then he decided without notice to replace his fence and cut through the ivy (my side) so it all died then the wall of ivy collapsed. I paid someone to clear the ivy leaving the new fence which it turns out was only 4ft plus 1 foot trellis topper. The lack of privacy was horrid plus every time I was in my garden he also appeared and strutted around. I noticed a red light in his kitchen on constantly and I suspected he had a camera trained on my garden though I cannot prove it. On another occasion he was spotted by my friend crouching at the bottom of his garden apparently listening in to our conversation on the pretence of doing something to the fence. I propped up a bamboo screening section with stakes and it mysteriously kept falling forwards. I spoke to him and he would not let me paint the fence or grow anything up the fence and he said he wanted the screening removed and my bush removed as didnt like it - its like he wanted no privacy between us. So I have planted 5 foot standard bushes and am slowly doing my own blockades to create privacy. I am introducing a water feature as background white noise, wind chimes, bamboo for the rustling leaves and coverage. Ive added a robina twisty baby tree which is a great small garden tree that gets up to 10 feet tall and spreads out with lovely twisted branches and leaves and grows quickly. Ive added shade sails too so that the patio is now surrounded by the trees and then covered overhead with shade sails. If he does use the cameras then it must be very boring for him.

I also added my own camera and sent him a christmas card with a friendly neighbourly note letting him know not to be concerned about the video camera ive fitted as ive made sure it only covers all of my garden (so he knows if he tampers with things in my garden I will see it). Ive also fitted my own camera at the front but it is only trained on own driveway and I know from checking at the time you are only allowed to have the video cameras up to film your own land not other people or properties and not even the road tho many probably pick this up. Its strange as surely he would not want to be accused of spying on a teen girl - thats voyeurism surely or worse? There are probably websites for that kind of footage though surely anyone wouldnt be stupid enough to risk it. But it is for these reasons that you are right to challenge him. Surely if he was a decident honest guy he would go out of his way to assure you he was not spying on a teen.

Tho TBH I would not even bother with the legal letters unless you are willing to take him to court (and then you would need to report the neighbour dispute when selling the house). Instead I would make it impossible to film your property doing all the things you can to block him - plants, large containers for plants if needed to add them where there is no garden, pergolas, water features, wind chimes, get a portable speaker you can play white noise with whilst you are in the garden, use the reflective window flim and blind him with reflected light, get garden mirrors positioned to do the same thing, pergolas you can grow things over, trellis you can grow things up, plant fast growing trees like the ones I mentioned where needed. Use wondergrow on them during growing season so they put on a rapid growth spurt. He will then only have a boring view if he is filming your property and residents, and if he did have dodgy motives you have effectively stopped it without needing a legal route.

I agree - I think he should just show you what it’s filming and then if it’s fine, the problem goes away!

I'd put some bright lights shining out from the back of your property but nearer to his. The glare from the lights will stop his camera being able to see past them. It will also annoy the he'll of him. Usually wouldn't suggest causing further problems but as he is being such an unreasonable knob and isn't going to budge then he's not giving you many options.

White noise machines
You can get outdoor ones too

Reflective film on windows, you’ll still be able to see out

Cameras on your property might make him realise how intrusive his are

My parents have security cameras that covers the next door neighbours property. Neighbours caused property damage in the past so they decided to have cameras installed. The company that installed them blacked out areas on the cameras which picked up any windows or doors so when viewing the camera footage you cannot see into any windows or doors. Think you need to speak to the police and see if they can go round to check. My parents neighbours complained to the police as they thought my parents cameras could see into the windows but my parents showed them that they couldn’t and the police were okay with it. If your neighbour hasn’t done this then could he be done for voyeurism ?

You can ask for the footage he holds on you daily as a information

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

I would record the requests to see/hear any data, make sure you know what he's storing it for. He doesn't have to acknowledge it, just record it on your phone being put through his letter box (make sure you record the contents of the letter before you post it through his letter box). You won't get a response but the ICO may contact him if you've requested a response and haven't had one. Book an appointment with a solicitor or citizens advice but make sure your cameras don't have audio on and are only recording your property as no doubt he will claim your cameras are invading his privacy. Good luck with it hopes it works out. Stand your ground and hopefully he will back down.

I suspect he's a difficult neighbour and if you get this issue sorted he'll find something else. People who thrive on conflict don't back down, they escalate. They like to feel like the victim.

Regarding the audio recording, I'd be putting speakers directly under the cameras, as near as possible, and blasting out loud music to cover your private conversations.

I have two security cameras on my garage overlooking a rear alley. They are located in the eaves of the garage. I thought it might be useful for you to see the field of vision from one.
I think it's highly likely that you are clearly in view of his cameras.
In my opinion this is unacceptable. I sincerely hope something can be resolved.

SB2527
Thank you for taking the time to post. I take it the garage is a single storey?

I have spoken at length to a local supplier of the camera being used next door and it was after that that I felt we were definitely in his cameras field of vision for recording. It has the widest angle for cameras on the market and the clearest images available currently. It also captures night time images as if it was daylight. The images are very sharp on the promotional video on line too.

The camera obviously has privacy screening capabilities, but as this relies upon the user setting them up and acting in compliance with guidance regarding what can be recorded, I'm not reassured it will be done properly.

It's the audio footage that compounds the issue. I'm hoping that the wind that is funneled between our houses is muffling conversations to some extent.

A pergola and planting with radio etc seems the most sensible way to proceed with frequent letters through to him in his role as data controller.

Such a ridiculous carry on for neighbours. Sad. However, his lack of any neighbourly courtesy leaves me with no opinion. He cannot be allowed to record us in our back garden and home , intruding in such a way.

Wooky073

Sorry you had to deal with such awful behaviour from your neighbour. I can't believe the lengths some people go to, to intrude into the lives of their neighbours.

It sounds like you've handled the situation very calmly and tried to minimise any repercussions and escalation.

I'm sorry I'm responding to posts in a haphazard way, it's just been a long day and my brain is rather frazzled!

I do appreciate hearing other peoples experiences and perspectives. It has helped.

francy99

I'm sorry to hear of your parents problems. Thankfully the police sound to have been helpful. I hope everything has settled now.