CCTV and Privacy Checker

@JB You've actually got more options than you think. Once a domestic camera captures beyond the user's own boundary, GDPR kicks in and he becomes a data controller, so send him a written Subject Access Request asking for all footage of you and details of retention, purpose and lawful basis. If he ignores it or refuses to fit privacy masking on your garden and path, that's your route to a small claims action for misuse of private information (Fairhurst v Woodard is the case to cite).

Neighbours camera looks down his drive, the shared access way and my front garden and path. Screenshots taken at 2.5x zoom have been viewed, 1x will show more including my porch. There is no privacy screen applied to my property. His comments show he clearly watches his CCTV a lot and most likely has motion detection on which is getting people from the household and anyone serving the properly. ICO don’t seem to get involved much with private cameras. What can be done?

@Paula That Tapo C500 is a 360° pan/tilt camera with motion tracking, so it can absolutely follow someone as they move across its view. If it's routinely tracking your husband on your property, that's likely a UK GDPR issue since domestic CCTV must be limited to the owner's own land. Ask them in writing to reposition it or enable privacy zones, and keep dated notes plus photos of where it points. If they refuse, report it to the ICO and mention harassment to your local police on 101.

I just found out the camera they are using is a:

TP link Tapo c500 outdoor camera

My husband noticed it was following him around today!

@Paula This sounds well beyond neighbourly and straight into UKGDPR territory. Domestic CCTV that captures your property, driveway or picks up audio from your home falls under data protection law, and the ICO can act on it. Send her a written subject access request asking for all footage and audio held of you, plus confirmation of the camera's capabilities and retention. If she refuses or ignores it, complain to the ICO and consider a solicitor's letter citing harassment and misuse of private information.

Hi, we bought a very rural property recently. I didn't notice the neigbours security camera on our viewings. It has been trailed on our front door, and it can see right inside our house. We have a semi detached house, an no other neighbours within half a mile in either direction. The only road is a A road, dual carrageway with no foot path, so it is very unlikely that someone would walk past the properties. There is parking about 1/2 a mile away.

Since March (when we completed our purchase) the camera has been trailed on our front door, our driveway, the gate to the driveway and our garden. We do not know if it can also audio record. It is also very close to one of the bedrooms and if it can audio record it is likely that if the window was open it could catch what we say, its about 1 meter away from our bedroom window, and 3 meters away from our front door.

We have not said anything to our neigbour, but we have stopped using the front door, and instead we enter in through the back door. I recently noticed the camera move, so it is intentionally pointing towards our door. We do not want neigbour problems, but I do know that the previous owner did not speak to their next door neigbour and that the farmer who rents the surrounding fields told us he throught she was dangerous, and the farmer didn't know that we have a camera monitoring our activities.

The neigbour has rights of access over part of our property to access theirs, but it is not their road, it is ours, and we have a gated access from the main road. Every single movement we make going out or coming into the property is being watched. We don't know if they are recording what we say too.

We are so uncomfortable with this we are no longer using our front door, and I'm thinking of having the door blocked up and moved to the other side of our pourch. The camera is also very close to our office, and I have no doubt that they will be able to hear what is said if the window is open.

We moved to a rural location becuase of harrassment from a niegbour who played loud music every time we went into our garden. Now we are being spied on. We initially though the camera was fixed and was pointed towards the gate, but there is a blue light that is on sometimes, and at others the blue light is off, but this weekend the camera moved so now we know that the camera is intentionally directed towards our front door, and it is so close it could see right into our house too.

Having spoke to the neigbour about the farmer, they appear to hate each other, the women next door seems to monitor the farmers movements on the main road and in his fields. I thought it odd that she was bothered that he drove his quade bike on the verge, I would never have even noticed that. It is clear that at least the women who lives next door enjoys watching other people, which I find both very sad as she has nothing better to do with her time than that, and very creapy too.

I want it to stop, we have discussed putting in a large tree so that it blocks the camera, but it would take years to have a tree grow tall enough to do that, and if the camera is capable of audio then that won't stop our conversations being listened into.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

@Andrew That sounds genuinely serious, not just a neighbour dispute. The threat to your dog and the abuse should be reported to the police on 101 (999 if you feel threatened in the moment), and log every incident with dates and times. Covert recording of conversations inside your home could breach UKGDPR and harassment laws, so raise it with the ICO and mention it in your police report. Also speak to your council's ASB team, as a pattern of behaviour like this is exactly what they're there to deal with.

The neighbors ate harassing us by being abusive, cut down a tree in a shared garden and threatened to strangel our dog. They also film and record us in the shared garden and Liston our conversation in our home.