Installing security cameras takes careful deliberation
Home Town Life
Robert Meisner
07 January 2018

Q: I’m on the board of directors of our townhouse-style condo association and we just received a request from a new co-owner who wants to install a security camera outside her unit. She has explained that she was previously a victim of assault committed in her prior home. Per the bylaws, the co-owners need to get the association’s permission before modifying the common elements. We’re leaning toward letting her do it, but are there any risks involved?

A: This reminds me of a famous case from California, Frances T. v. Village Green Owners Association, which I frequently cited to my law students. The court found that there was a foreseeable danger to an owner due to a prior burglary of the unit and lack of exterior lighting and, with respect to a subsequent break-in and assault, the court found the association and individual directors could be held responsible for negligence in not addressing the lack of exterior lighting.

Does this mean that you must allow the security camera in your situation? Not necessarily. The facts applicable to Frances T. that led the court to conclude there was a foreseeable danger are likely different from your situation in that I assume there is adequate lighting around the unit and there has not been a prior break-in at that particular unit. It may be that even if you were to deny installation of the camera and a crime subsequently occurred at the unit, you would be able to argue that the crime was not foreseeable and that you did not have a duty to allow a security camera. And associations do not have a general duty to protect residents from crime. On the other hand, if you have experienced security/safety issues recently in the development, I would want to know how those have been addressed.

Of course, if you allow one person to install a camera, you might expect others to request the same and you would have to approve other reasonable requests to install cameras, lest you face a claim of disparate treatment or discrimination. Note that it would probably not be defensible to require that the applicant had previously been a victim of assault.

If you decide to allow co-owners to install cameras, the board should adopt rules that: 1) provide standard approved camera models to ensure uniformity (and choose a model[s] that you can observe which direction it is pointed); 2) require that surveillance be limited to the areas immediately outside of the unit and specifically do not monitor neighbors or amenities in the common elements (such as pools); and 3) require the co-owner enter into a standard modification of common elements agreement with the association.

Among other things, the modification agreement should identify where the camera is allowed to be placed and indemnify the association from any damage or injury caused by the installation/operation of the camera or any failure of the camera to function.

Of course, all of the above should be considered further and prepared with assistance from your experienced community association attorney.

Robert M. Meisner, Esq. is principal attorney of The Meisner Law Group, based in Bingham Farms, which provides legal representation for condominiums, homeowner associations, individual co-owners and developers. His book, “Condo Living 2: The Authoritative Guide to Buying, Owning and Selling a Condominium,” is available at www.momentumbooks.com. He can be reached at 248-644-4433 or bmeisner@meisner-law.com. Go to the firm’s blog at meisner-law.com/blog.

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