Academy/Common Rules & Restrictions
Security cameras
What your association's rules can and cannot control about a resident's own security camera.
A camera that only records video generally is not covered by consent or wiretap law, since those laws govern communications, not images. Once a camera also records audio, federal law sets a one-party consent floor, and some states require every party's consent. Camera placement is a separate, CC&R question your association can still regulate.
Video and audio are two different legal questions
A camera aimed at your porch, driveway, or the street in front of your house is not, by itself, a legal problem. Laws about recording generally target the interception of communications, meaning audio, not images. A video-only camera that simply captures who walks by does not raise a wiretap question at all.
That changes the moment a camera also records sound. If your camera's microphone picks up a conversation between two people on the sidewalk, you have moved from photography into the territory of wiretap law, and a different set of rules applies to that audio than to the video alone.
"not unlawful... for a person not acting under color of law to intercept a wire, oral, or electronic communication where such person is a party to the communication or where one of the parties... has given prior consent"
Source: 18 U.S.C. 2511, Cornell Legal Information Institute
The consent rule most boards get wrong
That federal statute sets a floor, not a ceiling. It says a recording is lawful if you are part of the conversation, or if you have gotten one party's consent, even if the other person never agreed. Roughly a dozen states set a stricter rule and require every party to a conversation to consent before it can be recorded legally. Which states, and exactly how the rule is worded, changes over time, so check your own state's current law.
The scenario that trips boards up is the bystander camera: a device that catches two neighbors arguing on the sidewalk, where the camera's owner is not part of that conversation and neither neighbor consented. Even under the more permissive federal floor, that recording was not made by a party and had no party's consent, so it falls outside one-party protection, before a state's stricter rule is even considered.
What your association can still say about placement
None of this stops your association from regulating where and how a camera is mounted. Whether attaching a camera to a shared wall, railing, or entryway counts as an architectural review matter depends on your declaration and architectural guidelines, so check your CC&R before you drill.
Camera placement is a property and aesthetics question the board can address directly. Camera audio is a separate legal question governed by consent law, and the two should not be blended into a single rule.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
A resident installs an exterior camera that records video only, no audio, aimed at the shared walkway outside her unit. Which law most directly governs whether she needs her neighbors' consent to record?
A homeowner's camera happens to record two neighbors arguing on the sidewalk. The homeowner isn't part of the conversation and neither neighbor agreed to be recorded. Under the federal wiretap statute's one-party consent floor, is this recording protected?
The board wants to add audio recording to the cameras at the clubhouse entrance and assumes federal one-party consent law covers it everywhere. What should the board confirm first?
Sources
- 18 U.S.C. 2511, Interception and disclosure of communications prohibited, Cornell Legal Information Institute
- Two-Party Consent States for Recording, RecordingLaw.com
Common Rules & Restrictions
Installing a camera with an audio feature at your front door? Doorbell cameras covers the same consent question in that specific setting.
Whether your state requires one-party or all-party consent to record audio, and whether mounting a camera on shared structure counts as an architectural change under your CC&Rs, vary by state and by your governing documents.