Using CCTV In Your Home, And The Laws You Need To Know

What does the law say about home CCTV?

The specific laws home CCTV will fall under are the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA18), which is there to govern the way personal data (including CCTV images) are gathered.

Does that mean I can only film inside my home?

No. We have CCTV on our domestic properties for a variety of reasons, whether it’s for household security or to protect against anti-social behaviour etc., and each of these reasons could be a good reason to capture external images. But, to stay on the right side of the relevant data protection laws mentioned above, if you intend on recording images outside your property, the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) recommends you:

• Have a clear explanation as to why you feel invading others' privacy is justifiable and necessary.
• Don’t capture more footage than you need to achieve your goal.
• Use signs to let people know CCTV is installed and recording.

• Delete footage once it’s no longer needed.

• Hold all captured footage securely and do not allow anyone to use it without good reason.
• Don’t allow your CCTV system to be misused by anyone, including family members.

The rights of the people whose images you capture

In their guide about people using CCTV, the ICO also points out that if you do record images of people outside the boundaries of your property, the privacy of those individuals is protected by data-protection laws, meaning that:

• They have the right to access any personal data you hold about them, including identifiable images captured on CCTV. To attain access, they can ask you in person or in writing, and you must provide a copy of the relevant data within one month.
• They have the right to ask you to delete footage, which you should do so within one month. If however, the footage needs to be kept as evidence for a ‘genuine’ legal dispute, you can refuse to delete it as long as you inform the person they can challenge the decision in court, or send a complaint to the ICO.
• They have the right to insist you don’t capture their image in the future.

What if I break data protection laws around home CCTV?

If you break data protection laws around the use of CCTV in your home, you could find yourself subject to enforcement action by the ICO, face a hefty fine, or be taken to court by the individuals affected by your actions.

Like to know more?

To find out more about the law around using home CCTV, as well as how to use home CCTV more responsibly visit the ICO’s website at ico.org.uk, or check out the ‘Guidance on the use of domestic CCTV’, on the www.gov.uk website.

Access Control, Bedfordshire

Based in Leighton Buzzard, at Gate Control we have over 20 years of experience in the installation of advanced access control systems and CCTV systems. We also specialise in the design, installation and repair of a wide range of domestic and commercial security gates.