So I never thought I would be joining the “my neighbour has CCTV” club but since March then I’m very much a member!

The neighbours in question have lived here for 4 years whilst I’ve lived here 14 months, I first noticed the camera first week of lockdown and didn’t think anything of why they had workmen at their front door getting sawdust all over the place, and then one day I was coming up the stair (there are 2 flats on each landing) and just happened to glance at me neighbours door and thought “omg that’s a fucking camera”, I was livid plus as it’s all housing association flats then it’s also illegal for them to have one in the stair and it’s a secure stair, with an intercom entry system.

Now I can’t earn as much cash as I would like and I’m always on edge when a client is in and it’s making me not work to the best of my abilities! The issue is that if I tell the housing then my neighbours will be asked by housing why they have the CCTV and what is they say that they suspect me of being a sex worker? Obvs they cannot prove it but it’s really obvious when all men visitors are only men and most of them are too old and ugly for them to be my boyfriend!

I am going to rent apartments out but part of me thinks why ducking should I?! Why should I fork out money just to make money?! And not to make a sweeping generalisation but my neighbours are both 2 gay guys and my gay brother knows one of them and said “they are just jealous coz your getting more sex than those 2 ugly cunts”😂😂 which of true or not, doesn’t really help me.

Should I keep working and not giving a fuck or what?!  The ladies who are in same predicament as me with CCTV, then what do you do?

It's a tricky one. I'd be tempted to ask the HA if it was OK, but obviously there's a danger this could backfire on you unless it's within the terms of your lease to work from home at all.

It's a tricky one. I'd be tempted to ask the HA if it was OK, but obviously there's a danger this could backfire on you unless it's within the terms of your lease to work from home at all.

My thoughts exactly! I could well be making issues for me if I report their CCTV to housing, and no businesses are allowed to be ran from these flats, I know my neighbours are doing something illegal by having the camera, but so am I by running a business from my flat! Plus if I wasn’t a sex worker then I wouldn’t give a shit about their CCTV but then again, would they have it if I wasn’t one?! Probs not really.

Why can’t I just be left alone to make cash, why do they care so much? Let people be if they aren’t harming you or causing issues.

Like you say it’s tricky😵

If they know your work or not it hard to say, but it's getting on your tits and they are breaking the law.
My dad was told he couldn't use a camera at a certain angle in his garden because of these issues, the engineer refused and explained it was illegal. The housing association may remove it once you explain what's happened.

CCTV owners have to abide by certain laws and answer certain questions at risk of being fined by the ICO Information Comissioners Office or prosecuted by you. Even the threat of prosecution can make people behave.

I'd be tempted to also ring 101 and have a chat with the police, maybe ask nicely for an officer to pop round to see it, you being a single woman feeling unsafe as your privacy is violated with constantly illegal filming.

https://   ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/domestic-cctv-systems-guidance-for-people-being-filmed/i-m-unhappy-about-the-use-of-a-home-cctv-system-what-can-i-do/

https://      ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/domestic-cctv-systems-guidance-for-people-using-cctv/

https://      www.ourwatch.org.uk/crime-prevention/crime-prevention-advice/cctv-domestic-property

Ha love your vocabulary, not dissimilar to mines, it is getting on my fucking tits BIG TIME, but me complaining about their camera could have serious consequences for me as it backfiring big time and the housing may get neighbours to remove it BUT then they could start getting suspicious of me and watching me in their own way, after all they could start putting up CCTV themselves in all the stairs for a start and then they themselves would see my many male guests!!! Not good eh, catch 22.

I would go straight to the HA.

If they have had it put in because they are suspicious then they will obtain what 'evidence' they think they need and go to the HA anyway.  And if you report it and they say that it's because they are suspicious, it's something you can deny and it doesn't mean they can still have the CCTV. 

In the meantime I would just keep putting black tape over the lense

You can't really tell them that you are a therapist of any sort as you are probably not allowed to work from home etc.

I have lived in my flat since [removed] last year and I’ve always gotten along fine with my neighbours at number [removed] (they are on my landing and I don’t want them to know that I have reported them) and in [removed] this year they have put up CCTV in the stair right outside their door and it also points on to the stairs so they can see my visitors coming in and out! This is illegal and I feel like they are spying on me! I’m a single woman who has lots of Tinder dates and so I have a healthy sex live let’s just say, which is my business, and I think they think I’m running a knocking shop or something! I am fuming and I want them to take it down immediately but I don’t want them to know that I told you, just blame one of the cleaners (I’m surprised that they haven’t said anyway), this is a huge ILLEGAL invasion of my privacy and [neighbour 1] gave me some bullshit excuse that [neighbour 2] (the 2 that live there) about [neighbour 2] needing to see whose coming to the door when he isn’t in..why hasn’t this been an issue until this year? I also feel like this stair is cliche as and during lockdown numbers [of different flats] were meeting in the stairs on the stairs every Saturday morning with coffee and cake, when I walked past them then they would all go silent and make me feel very uncomfortable and one of the old women there doesn’t even live in this stair! I shouldn’t feel like this in my OWN stair and I bet they were gossiping about my sex life!

I want this camera taken down ASAP and I want to be anonymous.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I just sent this to my HA so I’ve got in there first and notice how I said about my active tinder sex life which is quite funny I think and makes sense if they show housing the actual video!!! Hahaha.

Thoughts?


_{[Edited to remove names and other identifying information. Please think before posting]}

I have lived in my flat since [removed] last year and I’ve always gotten along fine with my neighbours at number [removed] (they are on my landing and I don’t want them to know that I have reported them) and in [removed] this year they have put up CCTV in the stair right outside their door and it also points on to the stairs so they can see my visitors coming in and out! This is illegal and I feel like they are spying on me! I’m a single woman who has lots of Tinder dates and so I have a healthy sex live let’s just say, which is my business, and I think they think I’m running a knocking shop or something! I am fuming and I want them to take it down immediately but I don’t want them to know that I told you, just blame one of the cleaners (I’m surprised that they haven’t said anyway), this is a huge ILLEGAL invasion of my privacy and [neighbour 1] gave me some bullshit excuse that [neighbour 2] (the 2 that live there) about [neighbour 2] needing to see whose coming to the door when he isn’t in..why hasn’t this been an issue until this year? I also feel like this stair is cliche as and during lockdown numbers [of different flats] were meeting in the stairs on the stairs every Saturday morning with coffee and cake, when I walked past them then they would all go silent and make me feel very uncomfortable and one of the old women there doesn’t even live in this stair! I shouldn’t feel like this in my OWN stair and I bet they were gossiping about my sex life!

I want this camera taken down ASAP and I want to be anonymous.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I just sent this to my HA so I’ve got in there first and notice how I said about my active tinder sex life which is quite funny I think and makes sense if they show housing the actual video!!! Hahaha.

Thoughts?


_{[Edited to remove names and other identifying information. Please think before posting]}

I think you went for a complete overkill and it reads really quite badly, to be honest. Why on earth would you say straight off the bat to your landlord that you have an active/healthy/Tinder sex life? This immediately makes anyone reading it think that you are doing sexy sex stuff in your flat that may potentially be disturbing your neighbours and hence why they installed CCTV! "I think they think I am running a knocking shop" will plant the suspicion in the HA's mind too. Having many Tinder dates is just the same as having a couple of paid-for sex encounters when it comes to "immoral" activities - if it's disturbing the neighbours (peace/comfort/safety/etc) then you are likely in breach of your tenancy.

You said just 12 hours before sending your message that going to the HA could backfire, yet you've now pretty much handed the info to them on a plate!

However, I do hope that you have managed to get the cameras removed/neighbours in trouble.

I have lived in my flat since [removed] last year and I’ve always gotten along fine with my neighbours at number [removed] (they are on my landing and I don’t want them to know that I have reported them) and in [removed] this year they have put up CCTV in the stair right outside their door and it also points on to the stairs so they can see my visitors coming in and out! This is illegal and I feel like they are spying on me! I’m a single woman who has lots of Tinder dates and so I have a healthy sex live let’s just say, which is my business, and I think they think I’m running a knocking shop or something! I am fuming and I want them to take it down immediately but I don’t want them to know that I told you, just blame one of the cleaners (I’m surprised that they haven’t said anyway), this is a huge ILLEGAL invasion of my privacy and [neighbour 1] gave me some bullshit excuse that [neighbour 2] (the 2 that live there) about [neighbour 2] needing to see whose coming to the door when he isn’t in..why hasn’t this been an issue until this year? I also feel like this stair is cliche as and during lockdown numbers [of different flats] were meeting in the stairs on the stairs every Saturday morning with coffee and cake, when I walked past them then they would all go silent and make me feel very uncomfortable and one of the old women there doesn’t even live in this stair! I shouldn’t feel like this in my OWN stair and I bet they were gossiping about my sex life!

I want this camera taken down ASAP and I want to be anonymous.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I just sent this to my HA so I’ve got in there first and notice how I said about my active tinder sex life which is quite funny I think and makes sense if they show housing the actual video!!! Hahaha.

Thoughts?


_{[Edited to remove names and other identifying information. Please think before posting]}

Way way too much information.  You just simple have to say you'd like the complaint to be anonymous but the people in your landing have put up a CCTV which makes you feel uncomfortable, that's it.  If they have questions from that then answer them but again without going into that much detail.  They can not prove anything from just their CCTV alone.  If asked if you are a 'knocking shop'  I would just act dumb and pretend you have no idea what that means etc.