Location: Placer County, CA, USA
For context: my wife and I live in Northern California; Placer County, CA. We live on a 5 acre plot that we share with our landlords. It’s not ideal, but is what we can afford. Please no comments about the housing situation itself; we know. We are saving to buy our own home. We rent a two-story home from them and live about 200 yards away (separated by a gravel driveway/lot) from their house. It used to be a mother-in-law suite that was converted to a rental. So far the renting experience has been pleasant. We have had a few Instances of confrontation with our landlord, but those have been able to quickly resolve themselves either through explanation, apology, or basic communication about a misunderstanding. Ultimately there have been no, from my point of view, long-term issues or conflicts between us. Also, there is nothing in the lease agreement about cameras, recording, trail, cams, night, vision filming for mountain lions, or other such threats, or any other speak of recording the outside surrounding or any other part of the property.
While unpacking from a trip tonight i noticed a small, blinking blue light. As i approached it, it turned red. I got curious so i grabbed my binoculars and slowly made my way across the gravel driveway to their fence. When i got close, i turned on my flashlight (pointed at the ground so only peripheral light illuminated the area), and took a few photos of the camera.
Please give me any input and help—i went to lawschool and am currently waiting for bar results. However, my focus in school and post-grad/bar has been criminal defense. I have never dealt with either the civil side of this kind of stuff or landlord/tenet law. I am not trying to blow this up on my landlord, i just want to know if: (1) i should confront him, (2) what i should say if I do, (3) how i should go about it, and (4) what other options I have. Besides this, i like the place a lot and am not hoping to move soon. I am not necessarily seeking litigation, but would like to stop being recorded.
My primary concerns are that the camera may potentially be seen into the windows to our living room and office and that the camera records are coming and going. I know that recording from public spaces like roads and sidewalks is usually awful to do, however, we live on a fenced 5 acre plot. Because of that, I assume there’s an elevated level of privacy to areas like driveways or other, usually publicly visible areas. The home is in the middle of the plot, so people don’t see us coming and going until we are out onto the main roadway. This camera records, my wife, and I am moving from our home to our vehicles, which we assumed was a private matter because of where we live.
Comments
Why don’t you go talk to your landlord like an adult first.
There is absolutely no legal issue here whatsoever.
So… you noticed the camera , because you saw the blinking light, in clear view? Doesn’t sound very secret. Where exactly is the camera pointed? Is there more than one?
As uncomfortable as it is, he’s probably well within the law, especially if he’s not hiding it. But I would definitely go have a pleasant conversation, and ask him directly if he’ll move it, or point it a different direction. If not, I’d probably move immediately.