I’m curious to hear your thoughts. I live in a very small waterfront neighborhood. We just moved in the end of April. My next door neighbor is the President. I’ll be up front and tell you, I don’t like him. At all. When we first moved in my husband grabbed me to come outside to listen to him screaming at his wife for about 45 minutes. We weren’t sure if we needed to call the police which is why we listened to make sure we felt she was safe. Then I’ve actually met him at neighborhood parties and my opinion hasn’t much improved.
We all live on the water. His property has a view of the water, but he doesn’t have a beach or a dock like the rest of us. We do have a community pier, with an historic home on the beach. It’s located on the other side of me.
Without permission by anyone else in the neighborhood he chose to put cameras up on this historic home. They’re the kind that can see 180 degrees. Those cameras can then look directly on my beach and my dock. I have no idea what is being done with this footage, is it streaming on his tv while he watches us, is it stored just in case there is vandalism? How was it paid for?
We have a neighborhood meeting next weekend and I’ll talk to him about it then. He’s a hot head, I know he’s armed - he’s shooting ground hogs in his yard and I know what he does for a living and if he’s like he is at home on the job, he’s why people are protesting. So I really don’t want to confront him without a group.
I don’t like: my invasion of privacy, that he put up cameras without speaking to the neighbors, using the hoa fees to fund such a thing, that I don’t know what’s being done with this footage.
What are your thoughts?
You should confront him about the cameras invading your privacy and ask how they were paid for. Don’t be alone when you ask - you want to have witnesses to back up whatever he says. Have another neighbor with you or ask your questions in public before the whole meeting. Good luck, he sounds awful.
I don’t envy you. I doubt you’re the only one who doesn’t like him, however. Was he elected to his position? Is it because no one else wanted the responsibility?
There’s a reasonable chance that he’ll tell you he put up the cameras in order to look out for the neighborhood. To me, that would mean there have been problems. He will say, No, it’s to avoid problems.
I’d suggest you talk to your other neighbors and see what they feel before you fall on your sword over this. In case of disagreements, you’ll want them on your side.
Depending on your state it might be illegal to have a camera recording a neighbor’s property. You might want to check your local laws.
I don’t know what state this is or anything much about it, but I can tell you what my HOA has done about security cameras. We do not allow them if anyone could be recorded on community property. In other words, they can only be pointed at areas that are completely the private property of the owner. Technically, the entire HOA is private property but we were told by the HOA attorney that we could be in legal trouble if someone was recorded without their permission and they were not on the recorder’s property.
Our community is not at all like yours but I would not be happy either. One person is not likely to be making decisions like this so I assume you have a board that approves expenditures like this. If he has done this alone then everyone should be upset with him. If the board made this decision you can appeal to them for your privacy and possibly be backed up by local laws if they do not comply.
I would be pretty ticked off if it was me. You definitely need to speak up. Are you friends with some of your other neighbors? Have you talked to any of them about it yet? How about the house on the other side of the community dock? They should be just as bothered by it.
It’s wrong on several levels as you point out - making what appears to be a unilateral decision in terms of putting them there and spending HOA $ on it, invasion of privacy.
Is the concern about security even warranted in your neighborhood? Are there local laws about taping/privacy that support your position?
I would think that being confronted in public might set him off in a big way. (Challenge to his authority/masculinity and all that.) Have you considered writing him a pleasant email asking why the cameras were installed?
Check the CCR’s of your homeowners’ association.
Any way you can ask the HOA secretary for the minutes of from the last several meetings and a copy of expenses from the HOA treasurer? That way you could find out if this was discussed in the past and if he used HOA funds for this without confronting him directly.
Our HOA has cameras at the door of the club house and I’m so glad they do. Just last month some resident broke into the pool after hours and left a mess of broken beer bottles in the pool. The pool had to be drained to clean up the glass but since there was time stamped video the resident was identified and he paid for the clean up cost instead of it coming out of my pocket! Not the same as some on putting a video camera looking into private property though.
We plan on installing weather cams on our roof soon but they’ll be pointing up to the sky and not in the neighbors yards.
OK, your neighbor is worse than mine. I’d talk to some of the other neighbors about it if you are on good terms with them, then bring it up at the meeting.
My neighbor put a bright flood light with a motion detector in our common ground. Since we’re working with the city to drastically limit the light impact of a development going in behind us, this doesn’t help any. But we’re trying to decide how much of a fight it’s worth. We’ll deal with the development first, then figure out whether to take on the neighbor. We’re not crazy about the family, but who needs enemies?
I agree with @3scoutsmom . I would make sure that the issue of the camera was not something that had been approved prior to you moving in in April before I addressed this issue. It is also possible that the camera does not actually record or monitor anything , but is used as a deterrent for theft or vandalism . I’d do my homework before I’d approach him, and I’d definitely do it in a group.
The neighbor came over while I was on the driveway yesterday getting ready to leave. He came to invite me to a party - lol So I asked if the neighborhood meeting was next week - it is. It’s only once a year. So I said good, I have some questions about something I’m not happy about. He asks, what aren’t you happy about. And I said - you! (lol) Me? Why are you upset with me? I just said, it’s not you personally, it’s the cameras I just saw installed down at the neighborhood boat house. He says they can’t see my beach or dock and that they all agreed to install last year. So I said - okay, then show me the feed and tell me who is monitoring it, where it’s stored and I’ll be fine. He tap danced all around that and wouldn’t give me an answer.
There are 9 houses in the neighborhood. 4 of us live year round, 5 are weekend/summer houses. The other 2 neighbors didn’t know anything about the cameras. So when I go to the meeting next weekend I expect the answers and the ability to look at the feed myself.
If the decision was made to install the cameras occurred during last year’s meeting with a majority vote, as long as there was adequate representation by a quorum, I’m not sure how much you can do about it. You need to get a copy of the minutes from last year’s meeting and a copy of the covenants if you don’t already have one to see if they breached the rules of the covenants. HOAs make what many consider unpopular decisions all the time. Often these are within the covenants of the neighborhood. Often people buy property in a neighborhood without even reading the covenants prior to signing them or researching what plans for the community or surrounding area are planned. It can make things quite uncomfortable for the homeowner once they’ve bought their real estate .
I say you speak to your neighbors and vote him out. the problem is going to be getting someone else to step up to the position. Not easy as it is a thankless job. Once a new person is in you can just remove the camera.
@MassDaD68 Not as easy as you may think . Depending on the covenants, there will probably have to be a vote with a quorum in order to remove it.
Good point. Very true. I guess I was thinking everyone hated this guy. Bad assumption.
I’d want to see a copy of the minutes that showed that there was a vote for this, and whether a quorum was present.
And, you’re 100% right to ask to view the feed. I would also make sure that he hadn’t adjusted the camera first, and then showed you a feed, only to put it back in original position after.
A store in our town out up security cameras and had to remove them because the “sweep” was too great.
The covenants are very light. Yes, I did read them before buying. This isn’t a neighborhood like in densely populated areas that restrict paint colors and trash cans, etc. One of the other 2 neighbors is what I’ll call the hawk of the neighborhood - elderly and all over everything and this yearly meeting apparently is 100% attended every year. They plan the food and talk about it all year. I highly doubt these two families would have somehow missed the camera discussion. I just want to see the feed, find out who and where it’s monitored and how much it all costs. Our hoa fees are very low, and pretty much just to cover landscaping and snow removal…they even wait until we get over 8 inches to plow - so for us, that’s only an every few year event. We can’t have more than a few thousand in the coffers.
Seems suspicious that he wouldn’t give you more information on who is monitoring the video footage, etc.