Housemate installed indoor camera in communal room

LasersGoPewPew · 02-05-2018 10:06am #1

A long term tenant in our houseshare installed a indoor camera capable of recording both video and audio, and I think has rotational capability. He said he installed it in the living room to 'watch his dog' which has free roam of the communal spaces when he's gone to work.

The other tenents and I in the house rightfully opposed this and demanded him to take it down due to privacy issues. When we unplugged it on a few occasions and confronted him, he got very aggressive about it and keeps plugging it in.

The tenent spends all his time in his room smoking Cannabis(stinks up the house) when he's at home and does not interact with the rest of us, the other tenents and I regularly use the living room for watching TV and playing console games together during our free time.

I am concerned he will do something to my car like key it because he's the type of guy who would do it, if I bin his camera altogether.

Can anybody please advise how to deal with this difficult tenent and matter?

Edit: can a mod please correct the title to living room

dudara · 02-05-2018 10:08am

Could you have a word with the landlord about it?

AmberGold · 02-05-2018 10:08am

GTF out! Sounds like a nutter, I can't imagine any grounds why you are even considering staying in this house.

Murdoc90 · 02-05-2018 10:26am

AmberGold wrote: »

GTF out! Sounds like a nutter, I can't imagine any grounds why you are even considering staying in this house.

For some people it's either put up with sh*t like this or be homeless.

Call to your landlord should solve this, he has no right to install something like this in a house, if all else fails take a baseball bat to it. (the camera, not your house mate)

Gravelly · 02-05-2018 10:43am

Would a few of you not take him aside and "have a little word with him" in the Godfather / Soprano's sense? Sounds like the weed has given him a bit of a God complex that needs to be shaken out.

utyh2ikcq9z76b · 02-05-2018 10:46am

How would he know who threw it out to retaliate?

GreeBo · 02-05-2018 10:48am

Remove it and deny any knowledge it ever existed.
If you all do it this stoner may think he just dreamed it.

Seriously though, I'd be getting him out asap.
Contact your landlord.

JohnnyFlash · 02-05-2018 10:49am

Contact the landlord immediately. He won’t want a drug addict as a tenant.

drunkmonkey · 02-05-2018 11:02am

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

Contact the landlord immediately. He won’t want a drug addict as a tenant.

Cool the Jets he's smoking some pot not crack and he also works.

Camera needs to go, maybe outside with the dog while he's at work. They just need to sit him down like someone said soprano style and tell him how it's going to work.

TheBoyConor · 02-05-2018 11:38am

And does the landlord know about the dog?
Tbh it is highly unlikely that the landlord has given him permission to have a dog in the house.

I'd be more of the opinion that this is an issue between the housemates and really doesn't invlove the landlord so I'd not bother him unless it cannot be sorted between ye.

I would favour the approach of ye all piling the pressure on him to get rid of it. Basically, make life so difficult for him that he will relent and give up the camera, or else take his camera and leave the house for good.

JohnnyFlash · 02-05-2018 11:48am

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Cool the Jets he's smoking some pot not crack and he also works.

Camera needs to go, maybe outside with the dog while he's at work. They just need to sit him down like someone said soprano style and tell him how it's going to work.

If he’s smoking weed every day then he’s a drug addict. The dude probably cannot function without it. No landlord would want some stoner stinking the place up either.

Contact the landlord, OP. Explain everything and proceed from there.

ArthurG · 02-05-2018 12:12pm

Gravelly wrote: »

Would a few of you not take him aside and "have a little word with him" in the Godfather / Soprano's sense? Sounds like the weed has given him a bit of a God complex that needs to be shaken out.

Yeah, resorting to violence is always the best option :rolleyes:

Gravelly · 02-05-2018 12:20pm

ArthurG wrote: »

Yeah, resorting to violence is always the best option :rolleyes:

It's ok snowflake, I didn't necessarily mean he should be killed and encased in concrete, just a stern, perhaps slightly menacing talking to should be enough. :rolleyes:

Spanish Eyes · 02-05-2018 12:26pm

Just out of curiosity what can the LL do if the tenant just refuses to comply with anything, be it the dog or the camera?

I suppose he could be evicted for not meeting his responsibilities, but would the statutory notice have to be given?

TheBoyConor · 02-05-2018 12:29pm

It would be very difficult for the landlord to get rid of him and not be open to litigation.

In that situation the best way is for the other tenants to make life intolerable for the offending housemate to the point that he chooses to move out.

antoinolachtnai · 02-05-2018 12:39pm

Are you all on one lease or separate leases?

billybonkers · 02-05-2018 12:48pm

Speak to the LL OP, explain he is smoking weed n the house all the time, the dog is roaming free and he has installed a camera against all other housemates wishes. Plenty there to sort him out tbf

EdgeCase · 02-05-2018 12:48pm

I would call the landlord immediately. Legally speaking, that's a major invasion of privacy and is utterly unreasonable.

Also might be worth seeking advice (other tenants and the landlord) from the RTB.

Samuel T. Cogley · 02-05-2018 12:49pm

Checked the bathroom?

billybonkers · 02-05-2018 12:51pm

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

Checked the bathroom?

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

cunavalos · 02-05-2018 1:38pm

Is it a wifi security camera, if so then just block the cameras ip address from your router

Mits · 02-05-2018 1:45pm

If he won't listen to reason you need to contact the landlord. The problem is it could take a long time for the landlord to get him. I don't think any landlord would approve of his behaviour.

You could also contact the Garda, smoking dope is still illegal.

evolving_doors · 02-05-2018 1:45pm

Put up a photo in front of the camera while he's out. Photoshop in pictures of his dog in compromising positions with the cat.

Gravelly · 02-05-2018 1:57pm

Did it ever occur to you that you may have accidentally stumbled across the fact that your entire life might be fake?

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e6245a25a5f4dfbf5804716f3e2e379b908494ae.jpg?mw=600

Greybottle · 02-05-2018 2:52pm

Put a cover over the camera and leave it there. if he tries to move it then tell him it's not touching the camera and that you've no intention of sitting there while he looks at you.

Mid to long term just look for another place to stay. Tell the LL that he's always stoned, that you're worried about him setting the place on fire and that the dog won't stop barking.

lawred2 · 02-05-2018 2:53pm

LasersGoPewPew wrote: »

A long term tenant in our houseshare installed a indoor camera capable of recording both video and audio, and I think has rotational capability. He said he installed it in the living room to 'watch his dog' which has free roam of the communal spaces when he's gone to work.

The other tenents and I in the house rightfully opposed this and demanded him to take it down due to privacy issues. When we unplugged it on a few occasions and confronted him, he got very aggressive about it and keeps plugging it in.

The tenent spends all his time in his room smoking Cannabis(stinks up the house) when he's at home and does not interact with the rest of us, the other tenents and I regularly use the living room for watching TV and playing console games together during our free time.

I am concerned he will do something to my car like key it because he's the type of guy who would do it, if I bin his camera altogether.

Can anybody please advise how to deal with this difficult tenent and matter?

Edit: can a mod please correct the title to living room

so two things

rip the camera out

and f$ck the dog out the back

Effects · 02-05-2018 3:00pm

What about a compromise of just having the camera on when there's no one in the house?
So last tenant out turns it on, first tenant in turns it off?

TheBoyConor · 02-05-2018 3:07pm

Because then he will know when people are coming and going from the house.

It's totally unreasonable. Plus he's a drug addict (I make no distinctions between users of weed, coke, heroin or brown-brown) and if I had a drug addict in a house I was sharing they'd be going out through the door head first!

DubJJ · 02-05-2018 3:07pm

Effects wrote: »

What about a compromise of just having the camera on when there's no one in the house?
So last tenant out turns it on, first tenant in turns it off?

Do you really think that's an acceptable compromise?
The other tenants should be responsible for ensuring the camera is switched on or off?

Do you mind if I come around your gaff and install a few cameras around, it's ok you can switch them off when you're home?

Dial Hard · 02-05-2018 3:30pm

lawred2 wrote: »

and f$ck the dog out the back

It's hardly the dog's fault, in fairness.

lawred2 · 02-05-2018 3:32pm

Dial Hard wrote: »

It's hardly the dog's fault, in fairness.

didn't say it was but I fail to see why tenants should have to share their paid for space with some stoner's dog

Sleeper12 · 02-05-2018 3:49pm

The landlord has no right to install a camera indoors like this and you would be quick enough to get him/her to remove it. Likewise one tenant in a house share can't install a camera in common areas.

Notify the landlord. It then becomes their responsibility to ensure that the camera is removed and not installed again.

This is your home. It can be difficult enough to house share but being spied upon is a definite no-no

Victor · 02-05-2018 3:58pm

Damian Dirty Quarrel wrote: »

How would he know who threw it out to retaliate?

It's a camera? Likely connected to something?

PlaneSpeeking · 02-05-2018 4:07pm

If it's recording to a Cloud or similar, he would have a recording of whoever moved it doing so ?

Agreed on throwing him out but the dog's done nothing! He probably hates him as much!

ebbsy · 02-05-2018 5:51pm

Call the guards and say he's a dealer. Then call the LL and tell him the fuzz were around.

dr.fuzzenstein · 02-05-2018 6:03pm

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

If he’s smoking weed every day then he’s a drug addict. The dude probably cannot function without it. No landlord would want some stoner stinking the place up either.

Contact the landlord, OP. Explain everything and proceed from there.

If someone drinks alcohol every day he's a drug addict.

edit:
Sorry for the OT, not saying one is better then the other. Some stoners also turn into major assholes.

Samuel T. Cogley · 02-05-2018 6:05pm

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

If someone drinks alcohol every day he's a drug addict.

Yes but termed an alcoholic assuming they are dependant and not just drinking a small glass of red with dinner.

dr.fuzzenstein · 02-05-2018 6:29pm

lawred2 wrote: »

didn't say it was but I fail to see why tenants should have to share their paid for space with some stoner's dog

It may come as a shock to many Irish, but not everyone hates dogs.

dog tired · 02-05-2018 6:34pm

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Cool the Jets he's smoking some pot not crack and he also works.

Camera needs to go, maybe outside with the dog while he's at work. They just need to sit him down like someone said soprano style and tell him how it's going to work.

I know someone who turned very aggressive due to years and years of smoking weed. It's not just casual smoking here.

SNNUS · 02-05-2018 6:41pm

What a psycho he seems to be, you need to get rid of him.. It will be hidden cameras next..

lawred2 · 02-05-2018 6:42pm

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

lawred2 wrote: »

didn't say it was but I fail to see why tenants should have to share their paid for space with some stoner's dog

It may come as a shock to many Irish, but not everyone hates dogs.

And?

People are free to pay for their own properties and have as many animals as they want...

Most people do not want to rent with someone else's animals. And most people definitely do not want someone else's dog roaming about communal areas without any sort of guardianship..

Maybe you think that's a normal state of affairs but I'd wager most renting in shared accommodation would disagree with you..

Not sure where hate comes into it.. but the dog should not be free to roam about communal areas unattended.

housetypeb · 02-05-2018 7:28pm

Couldn't this be classed as anti social behaviour, the constant pot smoking and now installing cameras in the common area, so he could be given 7 days notice of termination by the landlord.

Telly · 02-05-2018 7:36pm

Start **** in the sitting room. He’ll either put more cameras in or take it away.

boege · 02-05-2018 8:11pm

Op
I would say you have done talking to co-tenant.

I would advise LL as he may have a duty to act here. If he does not you may be able to then you may be able to report it to the Data Protection Commissioner. You are renting a house from LL wherein your privacy rights are being infringed, particularly if he is recording.

On the smoking pot side, it sounds like his excessive use is leading to mild paranoia. It is not uncommon. I would wonder if he is really watching the dog.The need for an audio feed is a further clue.

Gatling · 02-05-2018 8:13pm

Telly wrote: »

Start **** in the sitting room. He’ll either put more cameras in or take it away.

Or post the videos on gay porn sites

Gatling · 02-05-2018 8:13pm

Telly wrote: »

Start **** in the sitting room. He’ll either put more cameras in or take it away.

Or post the videos on gay porn sites

Fann Linn · 02-05-2018 8:19pm

ebbsy wrote: »

Call the guards and say he's a dealer. Then call the LL and tell him the fuzz were around.

Correct. Sometimes the solution is really the most obvious one.

drunkmonkey · 02-05-2018 8:46pm

Fann Linn wrote: »

Correct. Sometimes the solution is really the most obvious one.

That's a stupid solution and a really ****ty thing to bring on someone you live with not to mention everyone else in the house.
It's a group of guys they should be able to sort this out between themselves. He's not going to start hitting anyone if he does he can move out straight away.
I'm sure the guys do things he's not happy about there's always give and take in a house share, the camera just crossed the line and isn't acceptable.
Cut the power and pull it down if he's not willing to do it.

TheChizler · 02-05-2018 9:41pm

Joelle Brief Fishhook wrote: »

I would seek to get him assessed with a view to committal.

That's a new one to me in this forum!

Eric Cartman · 02-05-2018 9:45pm

if its really about the dog then surely he'd agree the camera could be unplugged while there are people in the house ? if he goes mad about that then its definitely a spying issue.

on the cannabis thing, many people with depression/anxiety or other disorders use cannabis as a crutch, Ive lived with many a heavy smoker and usually that kind of chronic isolation and consumption is as a result of the mental health issues they already have, not the cause of them.

dr.fuzzenstein · 02-05-2018 10:49pm

dog tired wrote: »

I know someone who turned very aggressive due to years and years of smoking weed. It's not just casual smoking here.

I have seen it myself. Serious paranoia and aggression in someone who used to be a good friend of mine.
Used to chain smoke joints and that for decades.
No one can tell me that stuff doesn't mess with your head when you smoke industrial quantities.

Housemate installed indoor camera in communal room

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