My neighbour has installed CCTV and one of his cameras points directly into my garden. Do I not have any right to privacy on my property? R.M
Dean Dunham replies: You do have a general right to privacy in your own home and garden.
As I always say, never fall out with your neighbour unless it is absolutely necessary, so as a first step explain your concern to them and ask politely if they will adjust the camera angle or take other measures to ensure it does not capture your property.
If this does not work, you will need to adopt a more formal approach, and the good news here is that the law is on your side.
Your neighbour is obliged to comply with two laws due to his CCTV capturing your garden and these are called the General Data Protection Regulation – commonly known as GDPR – and the Data Protection Act 2018.
In the frame: A reader is unhappy about a neighbour's new CCTV camera which is pointed directly into their garden
Under these laws your neighbour should have informed you that he was using CCTV and that your garden is within its sight. In addition, these laws give you the right to request access to the footage of your garden or to ask for it to be deleted and your neighbour must comply.
If your neighbour ignores his obligations under these laws and you are unable to resolve the matter amicably, your next step would be to file a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which regulates data protection laws.
The ICO will send a letter to your neighbour setting out the law and asking him to fall in line with his legal obligations.
However, contrary to popular belief, the ICO will rarely take any enforcement action against a homeowner, so if your neighbour ignores this you will have to either take legal action yourself or report the matter to the police.
In either case, this will need to be something you consider carefully and you will need to be able to demonstrate that this is causing you a fair amount of distress and that you are feeling ‘harassed’ by being captured on CCTV.
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Insurance firm is blaming my guttering for leak
A few months ago water leaked into my home after a very heavy downpour.
My insurance claim has now been denied on the basis that my guttering was at fault as it had not been installed correctly. What are my rights?
P.J., via email.
Dean Dunham replies: I always warn that if an insurance provider can find an excuse to wriggle out of a claim, it will, and on this occasion a poorly installed gutter could indeed potentially be such a valid excuse.
Firstly, you need to ascertain from your provider why it has concluded that the guttering has been installed incorrectly.
Usually this will be down to the pitch being wrong – gutters, therefore, must be installed with the correct slope to ensure that water flows smoothly towards the downspouts.
It might be as a result of inappropriate materials being used, for example, not using sufficiently durable materials on a house near the sea, or having issues with joints, as too many of these can leave the guttering susceptible to leaks.
Once you have ascertained which of these issues your provider believes is the problem, you should obtain the advice of a roofing/guttering specialist and effectively seek a second opinion.
If they agree with your insurance provider’s findings, then there is going to be little you can do, as your provider will almost certainly be within its rights to deny the claim.
If you had the guttering installed in the last six years, or if it is still within a guarantee period, your best route of redress will be via the company that installed the guttering.
You will have a claim under the Consumer Rights Act, which says that services, such as installing guttering, must be performed with ‘reasonable care and skill’.
If, however, your guttering expert disagrees with the insurance provider, raise a complaint and make sure you provide a copy of the report.
If it continues to deny your claim, file one with the Financial Ombudsman Service.
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