Surveillance on private property. Is the neighbor’s consent required? The law leaves no room for doubt

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Cameras installed on a private property are often the first step taken by the owner after building a house. Thanks to this, he always has control over what is happening in the yard and in front of the entrance gate. Nowadays, devices transmit the image to the phone, so you can control the situation, even when you are at work or on an e-mail. The mere sight of the surveillance system can deter a potential thief.

Cameras on private property. This must be remembered

Not only cameras installed on the building are gaining popularity, but also car cameras. Many times it was possible to catch a thief or reconstruct someone’s route thanks to camera recordings. Monitoring on a private property can work 24 hours a day or activate the motion sensor when someone appears in a given area. It is fully legal, but may only cover the property and, in justified cases, a fragment of the public road in front of it. It must also meet the specific requirements of the GDPR if it is to record people standing at the gate or gate. In such a case, information about having a monitoring system should be placed in a visible place and access to the recordings should be limited to third parties. They can only be stored by the owner, the police and people in the video.

Can you record your neighbor? The law is clear

If the range of the camera also includes a neighbor’s property, the neighbor must be informed and consent to this. If your neighbor consents, you must tell him how long we will keep videos of him and him and give him free access to such videos. In a situation where the neighbor has something against it, you need to set the monitoring in such a way that it does not record his property. The camera can then only cover the property of the owner of the device.

There is no specific provision that directly addresses the consequences of recording a neighbor without his consent, but he may refer to Art. 144, 23 and 24 of the Civil Code, which refer to the right of ownership, the right to personal rights of a person and the right to protect these rights. These types of cases are resolved in court, which appoints compensation for the unlawfully recorded neighbor and orders the cameras to be directed in a different direction.