Tenant finds creepy camera in her Brisbane rental property – and real estate agent doesn’t know how it got there or who installed it
- Mum finds security camera inside her new rental
- Real estate agent doesn’t know how it got there
A woman who moved into a new rental property was horrified to discover a security camera in her kitchen potentially watching her family’s every move.
The mother contacted her real estate agent in Brisbane to complain and was told that nobody had any idea how the surveillance device got there or who installed it.
Eventually the agent assured her the camera could only be accessed through the home’s Wi-Fi, and that it could be disabled.
But these assurances did nothing to sooth the tenant’s nerves about the creepy camera.
A woman who moved into a new rental property was horrified to discover a security camera (pictured) in her kitchen potentially watching her family’s every move
‘We are a very private family so this is extremely frightening for us knowing we are being watched,’ she told Yahoo News.
‘[The agent] assured me, it’s not active and can only be activated by the person who has their Wi-Fi connected to it.’
But the mum insisted she isn’t comfortable with her family’s privacy being threatened.
‘I’m actually feeling extremely overwhelmed and unsafe,’ the mum said.
An email from the agent continued trying to reassure the family that they were safe in their home, and gave steps on how to take control of the device on Sunday.
‘Here are the instructions to reset the security system back to factory settings so no one else has access,’ the email read.
She was also given instructions on how to uninstall the device, which the agent repeatedly claimed was not currently active.
The agent assured her the camera could only be accessed through the home’s Wi-Fi and that it could be disabled, but that did nothing to sooth the tenant’s nerves
Property law expert Dr Vanessa Johnston explained that even if the camera was not active or accessible by anyone else, it is still illegal for rental homes to have any kind of surveillance equipment installed.
‘I’m not a privacy expert, but in terms of property law, someone using a camera in that situation would be something called a breach of quiet enjoyment,’ she said.
‘So in every lease, including in standard residential leases, the landlord has an obligation to provide quiet enjoyment.’
‘Being surveilled all the time is not exclusive possession, it’s not actually what they’ve been granted. So it’s a breach of quiet enjoyment.’