A HOMEOWNER was left fuming after spotting a neighbour had installed a camera that appeared to point directly into his garden.
The security device looked like it had been placed on an upstairs window lodge and would capture any activity in the neighbouring garden.
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After spotting the camera, the upset neighbour took to Reddit to ask for advice.
Sharing snaps of the offending device, they wrote: “Suspected neighbour’s camera pointed at my backyard.
“I don’t want anyone to spy on me.
“The window in the pic is on the 2nd floor, around 4 meters high, so it has a good angle to my yard.”
Many people were sympathetic to their plight, with one saying: “If it concerns you, then let them know so that maybe they can mount the camera on the other side of the window so as to not see your backyard.”
Some people even offered up revenge they could take so the camera wouldn’t record any footage of their garden.
One Reddit user suggested: “Get a bright LED security light and point it at the camera it will block the view.”
Another chimed in: “Get an IR flood light on Amazon and point it at it.”
The Reddit thread also included people theorising why the neighbour had added the camera in the first place.
One said: “Maybe to see birds?” and another shared: “A worried parent wanting to make sure no one enters or exits that window.”
However, the homeowner explained that there were no kids in the house, just a couple aged over 60.
Despite the sympathetic comments, some people said that the neighbour was well within their rights to install camera.
They wrote: “And? You have no expectations of privacy when outside.”
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Another agreed: “There isn’t much you can do about it.”
It’s not the first time a neighbour has installed a camera pointing into someone’s garden.
We previously shared how one person installed not one, but three cameras on the side of their house.
This led to their upset neighbour installing a large screen on top of his shed to block the camera’s view.
Is it legal to film a neighbour’s garden?
IT’S typically not illegal for a neighbour’s security camera to capture images beyond their property boundary, but it can be intrusive and raise privacy concerns.
If your CCTV footage captures images beyond your property boundary then you are subject to the data protection laws.
Legal experts say you will be regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act.
You may be familiar with this when it comes to websites storing your data or companies sending you emails.
Joanne Ellis, a partner at Warrington-based solicitor Stephensons, said if CCTV being captured falls outside of a homeowner’s property boundaries, the person capturing the CCTV becomes a data controller.
This creates a set of responsibilities for the CCTV owner.
The person captured has a right to be told a CCTV system is being used and what information is being recorded.
Ellis said a subject access request can be made if a neighbour refuses to do this.
She said: “You can ask for the footage captured of you to be deleted – but it can be refused if there is a legitimate reason to keep it such as it captures a burglar.
“Any third parties that the CCTV is disclosed to, such as police and insurers, are also obliged to process the footage in accordance with the rules.”
