Cameras in Condos

“I have as much privacy as a goldfish in a bowl.”

Princess Margaret

Guy buys a new car. Wants to make sure no one damages it, so he installs a camera in his home that looks out over the condominium association parking lot where his car is parked, and he turns it on from his home computer and records it every time he's home.

While out chatting with a neighbor one day about his new car he mentions he records the area around the car via a camera in his unit to make sure no one damages it. The neighbor has a bit of a concern because she walks by his Unit frequently, while walking her dog, visiting neighbors, and sometimes just walking. But it unsettles her somehow that someone is recording her, so she writes to the Board of Directors and asks it if this is okay.

We live in a society where, because of the internet, Instagram, Facebook, etc., our privacy is really neither ours, nor private anymore. But shouldn't it be? At least where we live? The answer depends on the circumstances.

Boards have the right to place surveillance cameras on the common area; owners don't. But be careful. Once an association installs a camera it raises other issues.

Do owners get to view the film? A policy should be adopted to state that because of privacy concerns, only board members or its designees, such as a management company or the police, will be allowed to view it.

There is also the concern that if you are monitoring, how often should it be monitored? If you do so once a week, and on the first day after the last viewing a crime was committed, an association can be held liable if the criminal gets away or commits other crimes as, by reason of having a recording, the association could have prevented another crime if it had been regularly monitoring.

And never have a camera focused on a pool. It can, and likely will, lead to charges, real or imagined, of an owner, board member, manager, watching videos of scantily clad boys and girls, men and women for reasons other than security.

And never place signs that say the property is monitored by cameras and then don't have working cameras, i.e. using “dummy cameras.” By doing so, you have just given a false sense of security to owners, and if something happens that could have been prevented by capturing something on the video, an association can be held liable. Simply put you are not securing the area as you have promised which can lead to problems.

And now back to the car guy. As noted, boards have the right to control the common area, so if an owner wants to put a camera on their limited common area, which is, of course, part of the common area, a board would have the right to determine where it can be placed, what it can record, and when it can be on … and even whether an owner can have one.

But if the camera is inside a unit and is recording a portion of the common area, then the issue becomes a bit more narrow. If an owner is points a camera at another unit or into another unit, a board certainly has the right to put a stop to it, so long as it has some type of language in its declaration, bylaws or rules that outlaws such things as nuisances.

If someone wants to install a camera, such as the new car guy, the proper response would be to ask a few questions. If they claim a fear of vandalism, contact the local police department and see if there is a high crime rate in the city or town, in the neighborhood and even in the condo association. Has there been a rash of car break-ins or car thefts? If so, then, it might well be the association itself is not doing its job and, perhaps, should install its own surveillance cameras. If not, however, the board might consider denying the request. Paranoia or an inherent distrust of people is not a valid reason to install a camera and watch everyone.

One final caveat. If you allow surveillance cameras, make sure there is no audio taken. As a general rule, pursuant to NH RSA 570-A: 2 it is illegal to audiotape someone without their permission. And as a condo association, at best you are to use video surveilling to see if someone is doing something improper (or to show that something someone claimed happened never did). There's really no need to hear what someone is saying.