This article discusses the requirements and legal considerations for installing CCTV cameras on common property in NSW strata schemes.
Question: Can the committee install a CCTV camera on the manager’s balcony to monitor vehicle speed and improve security?
I am considering proposing the installation of a CCTV camera on the balcony of our manager’s residence. The camera would cover the front vehicle access gate and pedestrian entrance to monitor the speed of cars entering and leaving the complex, as well as for general security purposes. Is this permitted?
Answer: The owners corporation can install CCTV cameras on their common property, subject to the passing of appropriate by-laws, if the CCTV cameras are for reasonable use and do not infringe on the rights of other parties.
This question deals with specific issues, and I can’t comment specifically on those. In general, I understand that the question is whether the owners corporation may install CCTV cameras to common property to monitor common property areas for vehicles entering and exiting the complex for security purposes.
Owners corporations are allowed to install CCTV cameras on their common property for security purposes. They would require a by-law pursuant to section 108 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) (SSMA) and to comply with the Surveillance Devices Act 2007 (NSW), particularly section 8.
Whilst an owners corporation can install CCTV cameras to their common property, a consideration is that such cameras do not infringe on any rights of others, for example, section 153 of the SSMA states that an owner (or tenant) has a right of enjoyment and use of that lot.
In the decision of Stojiljkovic v Whittle [2021] NSWCATCD 97, which involved unauthorised cameras installed by a lot owner (so not directly analogous to this question), consideration was given to whether those cameras infringed on the section 153 rights of other lot owners.
Senior Member Ross had in that decision stated in obiter that “I am satisfied that the filming of the common property driveway by one lot owner (the respondents) interferes with the reasonable use of the common property by other lot owners (including the applicants)”, at [32]. But in that case Senior Member was “unable to make any finding that the cameras film the applicants’ lot, I am unable to find that they interfere unreasonably in the use by the applicants of their lot. However, if the cameras do indeed film the applicants’ lot, that would amount to interference in the reasonable enjoyment by the applicants of their lot.”
So, whilst the owners corporation can install CCTV cameras to their common property, subject to the passing of appropriate by-laws, it would still need to be for reasonable use and not infringe on the rights of other parties.
Matthew Lo Kerin Benson Lawyers E: enquiries@kerinbensonlawyers.com.au P: 02 8706 7060
This post appears in the November 2025 edition of The NSW Strata Magazine.
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