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What are the EC allowed to do with surveillance cameras and what are the requirements on what images are stored and how? CCTV cameras have appeared at my strata unit street entry and also inside the building entry door. I've asked the strata manager who monitors these and if/how the images are securely stored. The response was to ignore the first question and a vague “stored on the common property somewhere” response to the second question. I've reviewed the EC meeting minutes (sporadic as they are) and can find no reference to the installation or monitoring of these cameras. Any suggestions?
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Not sure about the full legal picture but I do know our OC recently passed new by-laws allowing common property to be videoed and recorded. I don't know exactly why they did that but clearly they felt they had to formalise a situation that was already in place.
Here is what I think the general situation is:
If you are planning to record video images of common property, possibly to use in legal action of some sort, you have to put up signs warning people they are being filmed.
You may not, however, record audio without the person you're recording's clear permission.
And, bizarrely, you shouldn't put up signs saying you are video-taping common property when you're not (this stems from a case where a woman was raped in a lift that only had dummy cameras).
I hasten to add that this is just bits and pieces I have picked up. If anyone has a clear and concise guide to what can and can't be done (no endless quotes from incomprehensible laws and regulations, please), then let's have 'em. I don't mind being proved wrong as long as we get to the plain and simple facts.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
We installed CCTV at our Plan 4 years ago, and have since successfully used it on many occasions to identify breaches of our security system (e.g tampering with auto. gates at carpark entry and exit) and to identify departing residents who dump surplus materials (e.g mattresses) in the bin area.
So I can confirm Jimmy T's summation, and add two other points to consider:
- The cameras should not invade resident's rights to privacy in their units, so avoid positions that look directly at entry doors and windows;
- Compliance with the NSW Workplace Surveillance Act (2005) requires that Owners Corporation's (O/C) and Residents provide advice of the surveillance to all contractors that they engage to work on the property. Our O/C covers that by placing a small CCTV symbol followed by a brief note on the bottom of all Work Orders that it issues.
Hope this helps.I just realised that a key part of your post had not been answered, and that relates to the absence of any approval procedures for the purchase and installation of the CCTV System at your Plan.
Whilst I’m not sure that you need a Special By-Law as Jimmy T suggests (we didn’t go that far), a significant purchase such as CCTV could have been authorsied by the Executive Committee, but it should have been resolved at a General Meeting of the Owners Corporation (O/C).
If you continue to have no success with your Plan’s Strata Manager, I’d ask again, and if you’re in NSW inform him that you will be making a request to examine the O/C’s Records under S108 of the Strata Schemes Management Act; that should stir them up!
Whale said:
Whilst I'm not sure that you need a Special By-Law as Jimmy T suggests …
Didn't actually suggest that – just said it was what our OC did. Maybe it's being over-cautious but better safe than sorry in these cases.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
How much would be the estimated cost for installing a CCTV for a small SP with 13 units in the west area of NSW. We plan to have a CCTV installed on the driveway and near the bin area. It will be mostly use for monitoring occupants who do not follow the OCs by-laws. Who will monitor this? can the managing agent keep the stored videos? Can this be approved the Executive Committee ? Thanks.
To answer your first question, perhaps someone who has installed cameras recently can give us a ballpark figure.
I Googled “security camera installation” and it came up with pages of possible suppliers. On entry in particular Security Quotes, gets you to fill in a questionnaire about your basic requirements then, apparently, you get quotes from several companies.
I would think it would be a good idea (and possibly essential) to get Owners Corporation approval on this at a general meeting.
The Strata manager might monitor the camera but would probably charge you extra for doing so. The simplest way, if you don't have a building manager, is to store the images on a computer that's accessible by the secretary or chair of the building.
You might want to ask the strata manager to store the collected images on an external hard drive for backup.
You could even pipe the images into your TV aerial cabling so that everyone can watch (and record). Endless hours of entertainment for all.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
The costs of CCTV System varies immensely, but to give you an idea, here's what our Plan got for $5,200 installed in 2009:
- 2 x “Longreach” Cameras with infra-red technology for night vision
- 1 x Dome Camera
- 1 x 4 channel (i.e. accepts 4 camera inputs) Digital Video Recorder (DVR) with 1 terabyte hard drive
- 1 x Modem
The DVR that we purchased features remote internet access to streaming video (live) and to playback and/or download any of the 28 days video records that is stored on the hard drive at the “high” quality setting (lower quality “frames/sec” provides more storage).Be careful about the country of manufacture and to the availability of accredited service technicians; we purchased from NESS Security; a local manufacturer.
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