Tenant put up security cameras, how to deal with this?

Rental Property Investor · Auburn, AL · Member since 2018 · 50 posts · 20 votes

We had a tenant put up security cameras and drill into the wood of our deck to install them. We don't have anything in our lease or rules about cameras. We gave them a notice to take them down but the tenant responded that they talked to a "Family attorney" stating that our lease didn't say they couldn't put them up. They then stated their cars had been keyed twice and said "are you going to pay for the damages? "

I'm not exactly sure how to deal with this. I'm a new landlord and this is a first. All help is appreciated!

**This property is a 41-unit apartment complex. Not a SFH.

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Nathan GesnerBusiness Member

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Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes

Your lease can't possibly cover everything. I'm guessing you probably don't explicitly say that it's a violation of the lease to set the house on fire. I doubt they consulted an attorney over something so frivolous when they didn't even bother to contact you.

Tell them they are responsible for any damages caused. The cameras must be completely removed after their lease ends and all holes professionally filled to match the existing material or they will be charged to have someone do it. I would give this to them in writing so there's no confusion.

Every community is different but in my experience, the only tenants with security cameras are the ones dealing in something criminal.

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Judy Parker
Rental Property Investor · Closter, NJ · Member since 2015 · 884 posts · 722 votes
7y
@Cody Furman If their vehicle is the only one being keyed, they really pissed someone off. As for their comment about making YOU pay for the repairs to their vehicle, remind them that is why they have insurance. They should make a claim to their auto insurance company. And your lease should state "no modifications and NO HOLES DRILLED, without Landlord's permission.
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Kathleen J.Pro Member
Real Estate Agent · Naperville, IL · Member since 2014 · 15 posts · 8 votes
7y
I had a nightmare tenant who put up security cameras so that when my process server came to serve him his 5 day notice for eviction he could pretend he wasn't home.
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Brian WashburnPro Member
Rental Property Investor · Omaha, NE · Member since 2017 · 43 posts · 35 votes
7y
Outside an investor perspective, back to when I lived in apartments, my car was broken into 2x in 3 months and I had almost $2k worth of things stolen (stereo system and laptop from my trunk). I asked the apartment complex if they would install some cameras on the property and they said no because it "would cost them thousands of dollars". I told them their tenants are losing thousands of dollars getting robbed, but that did not work.
Back then, buying and setting up your own cameras was too expensive to be an option for me, but if I had access to the systems that are out there now I definitely would have set up my own cameras too. If the owner complained of property damage from screw holes, I would again point to my own damages and lack of feeling secure.
My recommendation is you should not sweat the tenant putting up a camera or 2, as long as the installation did not cause major damage. Add something to your lease if you'd like for the future, then put cameras up throughout the complex so your tenants don't have to. Market it as a "secured property" and raise rents $5-$10 a month to pay for it. You don't need to go overboard, just a camera at each parking entrance/exit, the leasing office, and 1-2 other important places around the property.
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Scott White
Rental Property Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2018 · 32 posts · 34 votes
7y
Home automation and security is one of the fastest-growing consumer product segments. You can't so much as buy a smart bulb or read a NextDoor newsletter without subsequently being overwhelmed with marketing for Nest cameras and similar, with hundreds of thousands of folks installing them to guard against Amazon package thieves, auto break-ins and the like. Point being, home security cameras aren't just for drug dealers and doomsday preppers anymore.

I wouldn't sweat it over a couple screw holes.
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Joe SplitrockPro Member
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Rental Property Investor · Sioux Falls, SD · Member since 2015 · 9k+ posts · 18k+ votes
7y
I think their comment about you paying for their cars being keyed was because they installed cameras to protect their property. You want them to remove the cameras, so they are saying, fine then you pay for damage to our property. Seems reasonable since you don't want to let them protect their own property.
As far as making other tenants uncomfortable, half the parking lots in American now have security cameras in them. The only person uncomfortable would be someone doing something they shouldn't.
I don't see an issue with the camera and in my opinion if you own a large multi-unit apartment, you should have your own cameras. The other issues of paying rent late, smoking and loud noise need to be dealt with separately.
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Thomas S.
Member since 2016 · 13k+ posts · 12k+ votes
7y
Tell them the camara is OK unless you receive other tenant complaints at which point they will be required to remove them.
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Account Closed
Lender · Pensacola, FL · Member since 2017 · 658 posts · 626 votes
7y
Porch cams are inexpensive and installed throughout the neighborhood where I lived in San Jose, California. One video was posted on Nextdoor of a middle-aged woman walking with a baby stroller mid-day in a safe neighborhood. She walked down someone's walkway and was recorded removing mail from the house's mailbox and putting it in the baby stroller.
People behave differently when they know they are being watched. Years ago, people were misbehaving on the Santa Clara County Transit buses. Cameras were installed above the driver to monitor the passenger section (this was before they were so readily available on Amazon). According to the San Jose Mercury News, the misbehavior dropped significantly.
If you decide to install cameras, consider registering them with Crime Reports. It saves the local police the time and hassle of getting a search warrant to review your camera recordings (you've given them permission to do so ahead of time). Many participating agencies provide promotional material such as window stickers and signs you can display.
Security cameras don't completely prevent crime. Local news stories show videos of store robberies and then ask the pubic to provide tips. What I don't know is how to calculate how many robberies were deterred because the would-be robber didn't want to risk getting caught. I wonder if insurance companies offer a discount when the property has cameras?
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Bryan ZuetelPro Member
Attorney · Orange County, CA · Member since 2017 · 242 posts · 99 votes
7y
@Cody F., If they're nice cameras, tell the tenants that you're going to deem the cameras attached to your building to be fixtures and that you will expect the tenants to leave the cameras at the end of the tenancy or to reimburse you for the cost of new cameras. That should get them to take down the cameras really quickly.
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