Is my neighbour allowed to film our property with a security camera?

While it is certainly not polite or neighbourly to film across a fence, the actions of a neighbour acting in their personal capacity will generally not be covered by the Privacy Act.

The Privacy Act applies to agencies: government organisations, companies, clubs, societies, schools, hospitals, and so on. While the Privacy Act can apply to individuals as agencies [Armfield v Naughton(external link)], where individuals are acting in their personal capacity (such as installing CCTV at their home), the Act only applies where that individual's collection, use or disclosure of personal information is highly offensive(external link) to an ordinary reasonable person, or where the means of collecting personal information is not lawful.

This means that someone who has installed CCTV cameras on their property for their personal home security would be excluded from what our Office can investigate unless their actions are highly offensive (which is a high threshold to meet) or do not comply with another law.

That said, if you are thinking about installing CCTV or security cameras to protect your home, we suggest you ask yourself if you really need to film onto your neighbour’s property. How does this protect your property and would you like it if your neighbour had cameras that could view into your property? We respect our neighbours’ privacy in many other ways, such as keeping our noise down, not running onto their land, and not throwing our rubbish into the next door property. Using a security camera responsibly is simply another way of being neighbourly and respecting the privacy of the people who live next door.

When filming a neighbour, there are other laws that could apply. Did you know it is against the law to make covert intimate recordings of people without their consent or knowledge, and to publish them? If you are sunbathing semi-naked in your own back yard surrounded on all sides by a three metre high fence, you would have an expectation that you won’t be spied on. This is set out in sections 216G to 216J (external link)of the Crimes Act 1961.

There’s also the possibility that a homeowner might want to take their own court action against a camera operator for invasion of privacy. It is also against the law to peer into people’s homes and record any activity within. This is set out in section 30(external link) of the Summary Offences Act 1981.

Our advice is to respect the privacy of others by taking care how you position your CCTV or security cameras. That way you’ll be able to avoid a potential source of conflict and tension with your neighbours.