How do tenants react to a landlord installing a Ring?

Question

Just closed on my first rental property and I'm curious about security options. I'm considering installing a Ring and letting prospective tenants know when they apply that both I and they will have access to the video.

Has anyone does something similar with their properties? Did applicants / tenants react positively to the security element, or react more negatively about privacy concerns?

Thanks!

Joe Splitrock · Answer

If it is multifamily, having cameras outside or in common areas is reasonable. If it is a single family property, having access to the video is creepy and a privacy overreach.

Jennifer Marie Shanks · Answer

@Jim K.

In common areas of a multifamily are appropriate for the security of the tenants.

I don't want to know what my tenants are doing from day to day...that's weird...lol.

Jim K. · Answer

I have four cameras mounted on the front porch of my househacked duplex and two cameras mounted on the back porch. I insisted on security doors. We have a safe with firearms in it and are both licensed to carry them. The municipality's police station is across the street. The two young ladies who live upstairs and their parents tell me they're comfortable with the security arrangements, more comfortable than they were in the last place the girls lived in, a big apartment building in Oakland with a perennially busted front door lock and three or four sloppy-drunk stalkers a month coming in at all hours to bang on various doors and confess their eternal love to the young women living in those apartments.

Mary M. · Answer

I put cameras up on the main door to my MF bldg....  and my tenants are happy - but IMO watching a tenants front door is creepy - maybe just set it up to watch the general front area with no view into their home (which I think is not legal) .... also be sure you dont inadvertently see into your neighbors home as that is illegal too I believe

Matthew Terry · Answer

Ring requires an internet connection. Are you also going to pay for your tenant's internet? If not, then you need their permission to use their internet to use your Ring camera. Ring is a cloud storage solution and all video is shipped off to some data center somewhere. They are under scrutiny for all kinds of privacy issues between collecting and selling end-user data to the private video being unencrypted, do you want that liability on your head if you force your tenant to use Ring?

Many of these new cloud security device providers are targets of hacktivist groups, and every year some IP camera manufacturer is in the news because of a major hack where private video was seen by people who have no authorization. Cameras give a sense of security to the user, false or otherwise. If the internet is shaky or goes down and the Ring device does not record or alert on an event properly, or latency delays the alert of a person breaking a motion plane or person detection analytic and this person destroys property or hurts the tenant, you may be liable, as the person who is forcing the tenant to use Ring.I'm a security technology junky and it's been my career since 2007 working with hundreds of people and companies and selling millions of dollars in equipment every year. I did think about it, but decided not to offer intrusion, access control, or camera technology in my rental properties because of the increased cost, maintenance, and liability. Large multi-family and townhouses\condos are different. I'm seeing many new developments offer Ring or Arlo or Nest cloud cameras as an upgrade option when the house is being built. STR is also different because that is a hospitality business with short stays and most hotels and resorts have cameras in places that don't impose on privacy.

Jim K. · Answer

LOL. It's my land. It's my door. If the government tries to put its jackboot on my neck and tell me I can't do it, OK, I'll go to the guy across the street and offer him $50 to keep a trail camera on his porch focused on my tenant's door for a month.The tech genie's out of the bag, Eric, and it's never going back in. Tenants can throw all the fits they want. Quiet enjoyment is never going to cover passive surveillance.

How do tenants react to a landlord installing a Ring?

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