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Home CCTV and Smart Doorbells

If you are installing CCTV or a Smart Doorbell (e.g. Ring Doorbell) on your property, you need to ensure you are following the regulations and respecting the privacy of your neighbours.

What you need to consider

The cameras should only record within the boundaries of your home and garden. If your record images outside of the curtilage of your property, the CCTV laws and regulations will apply to you.

Data protection laws means that if you have installed CCTV that films beyond your property, then those that are being filmed need to be informed of this (e.g. using signage) and are entitled to ask for the footage in which they are identifiable, and to ask for personal information to be deleted.

If you do not comply with the regulations and someone makes a complaint, you could be faced with a formal letter from the Information Commissioners Office, who are the regulatory body for this, as a means to resolve the matter. Or you could pursue a civil complaint.

The District Council and Police do not deal with general complaints in respect of home CCTV systems, and breaches of the regulations. The Police can be contacted but only when your neighbour is breaking the law by being violent or is harassing you.