, I am outraged by the stance taken by your flat management company. Surely the safety and wellbeing of the residents should be paramount . It is correct that only the interior of your flat is in effect 'yours' to do as you wish and even that will of course be subject to certain rules in the lease of each flat to ensure you do not do anything to imperil the structural integrity of the whole building. I understand the management company wishing to assert the fact that the outside of the building (including windows) is their domain and perhaps their collective noses were put out of joint because you did not seek consent before installing your CCTV on 'their' structure. But they need to get over themselves and reach a compromise with you. And in my view, there are several ways to approach this and get them on board. Installing any kind of domestic CCTV system does raise issues of privacy law and data protection. These issues can arise even with something as seemingly innocuous as a ring doorbell or similar device that captures images. The key question is the extent of the area being captured by the footage. If it is just your flat then fine, there are no complications. But if (more likely) you are filming public areas, then as the owner of the CCTV you become a 'data controller' because you hold images which can identify private individuals (including nefarious ones) and so you are then subject to rules under the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). These rules are not insurmountable and include putting up signage, deleting images regularly and not capturing more footage than is needed. The Information Commissioner's Office can provide full guidance. However, all of this makes me think that a collective approach with the management company is best. You mention that historically there was CCTV under the control of the committee, and it would be optimal to revive this blockwide system. P){kind=link}
Ask a lawyer: how to upgrade your home security while staying within the law
Dear Gary,
I am a young single woman living in a ground floor flat in a mansion block. I bought the flat in 2021. A year later a burglar broke into the flat next door, was disturbed by the owner, and then climbed up the outside pipes to the flat above and burgled that instead.
I was traumatised by this event and shocked to discover the CCTV at the rear of the building is no longer functioning.
I went back to my parents for a while after the break in and only returned after I had installed two small CCTV cameras on the outside window frames of my own flat.