Cameras and privacy: what is allowed and what isn’t?
The short answer: within your own, enclosed property you have a lot of freedom. As soon as the camera can also see other people – your neighbour’s plot, a public area, the common areas of an apartment building or your colleagues – you become a data controller, and from then on rules apply to you. Each of the three typical situations follows its own logic, so we take them one by one.
This article is not legal advice: it describes recurring cases as we come across them in practice as installers.
1. Your own house, your own plot
What you are free to do
You can monitor your own property – the entrance, the garden, the garage. If the recording is made solely for your own private use and does not extend beyond your property boundary, it typically falls under the GDPR’s so-called household exemption – which means you do not need to prepare a privacy notice.
Where the exemption ends
If the camera can see beyond your property boundary, the household exemption no longer protects you. A common mistake is a street-facing camera that also records the pavement and the house opposite. In that case, you become a data controller with regard to everyone who appears in the picture.
We solve this by aiming the camera at your own property and masking out the neighbour’s plot and the public area. The masking is configured in the camera itself, so the masked area is never recorded at all.
The doorbell camera
A video doorbell fitted to the front door almost always sees some of the public area. Here a narrow field of view, masking and a short retention period are the practical solution. If you want to fit one to the door of a flat in an apartment building, read on – that’s a different case.
2. Apartment buildings and residential parks
This situation causes the most misunderstandings, so we’ll be precise:
A resident’s own camera in the corridor
If you want to install a camera in the corridor, the stairwell or the lift lobby, keep in mind that this is common property, used by your neighbours too. The household exemption does not apply here: by recording, you become a data controller with regard to the members of the residents’ community.
That’s why a resident’s camera pointing at the corridor is not the resident’s private business – it has to be settled by the condominium: a camera can only be installed in a common area by a resolution of the general meeting of owners, and in that case the condominium is the data controller. In practice, this means a general meeting decision, operating rules, information signs and a designated person in charge.
What does work
A camera pointing into your own flat is your own business. If you want to monitor your front door from the outside, there is a solution that does not record the common area continuously: an event-triggered doorbell camera with a narrow field of view and short recording times. Whether this is acceptable in a particular building is decided by the condominium’s rules.
The building’s own system
If the condominium operates the cameras, then the condominium is the data controller: this requires a decision, a privacy notice, a retention period, access rules and a sign at every monitored entrance. In this case the technical question matters too: where the recordings are kept and who can access them. If the building’s managing agent does not have the technical background to store them securely, that in itself is a risk.
3. Workplaces, shops and business premises
With workplace cameras, the recording is personal data and operating the system is data processing. The requirements here are the strictest, but in return they are also the most predictable.
What has to be documented
- The purpose and legal basis of the data processing. This is typically legitimate interest, for which a legitimate interest assessment (balancing test) is prepared.
- The retention period. As a specific figure – and the recorder must actually be set to this period; writing it down on paper is not enough.
- Information. For employees and customers, plus clearly visible signs in the monitored areas.
- Access rules. Who may review the recordings, in what cases, and where this is logged.
What is not allowed
- Changing rooms, toilets and rest rooms may not be monitored.
- The camera may not be used for continuous monitoring of employees’ work – the purpose is protecting property, not checking performance.
Where most people get it wrong
Not with where the camera is placed, but with the fact that the documentation is never produced. In an inspection or an employment dispute, the question is not the quality of the camera but whether there is paperwork behind it. That’s why, for our business installations, we hand over the system with masking and the necessary data protection documentation; we set the retention period on the recorder, and only a designated person can access the recordings, with access logged.
Summary table
| Situation | Who is the data controller? | What is needed? |
|---|---|---|
| Own plot, camera facing inwards only | typically nobody (household exemption) | a well-planned field of view |
| Own plot, but the camera sees the street | you – with full masking you fall back under the household exemption | full masking; if that isn’t possible: purpose, information, signs, retention period |
| Apartment building corridor, resident’s camera | a camera may only be installed in a common area by a resolution of the general meeting of owners – in that case the condominium | general meeting resolution, expert advice where necessary |
| Building-wide system in an apartment building | the condominium | decision, privacy notice, signs, access rules, secure storage |
| Workplace, shop | the company | purpose, legal basis, balancing test, retention period, information, signs |
Frequently asked questions
Can my camera record my neighbour’s plot?
No. The neighbour’s property has to be masked out of the picture – for us, this is part of the set-up. The masking is configured in the camera, so the masked part is never recorded at all.
Can I put a camera on a gate that faces a public area?
You can put up a camera, but the part of the image covering the public area has to be restricted. In practice, we solve this with a narrow field of view, masking and a short retention period.
How long can I keep the recordings?
For home use, as long as is necessary for the purpose – typically from a few days to two weeks. For a workplace system, the retention period has to be defined in advance, in writing, and the recorder set accordingly. A reference point in Hungary is the Act on private security (Szvtv., Section 31): unused recordings must be deleted after 3 working days – any longer retention has to be justified.
Do I need permission to install a camera?
For your own property, typically not. In an apartment building, however, any installation affecting common property is a matter for the residents’ community, and the building’s own rules decide.
My neighbour’s camera points at my garden – what can I do?
Talk to your neighbour first: often the camera has simply been aimed badly, which takes a few minutes to fix. If the conversation doesn’t help, the matter becomes a data protection issue: you can file a complaint with NAIH (the Hungarian National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information), or you can also pursue your claim through the civil courts.
Is it enough to put up a sign?
No. The sign is necessary, but not sufficient on its own – the purpose, the legal basis, the retention period and the access rules each need their own documentation as well.
Where should the recordings be kept?
By default, locally, on your own recorder. That way the data stays with you and there is no compulsory subscription. If the location of the recorder is itself a risk – in a small shop or across multiple sites – cloud or hybrid recording can also be considered; in that case, we clarify the storage location and the data processor’s terms in advance.
A camera system that comes with the paperwork
For us, setting up the camera and preparing the documentation are part of the same job: we set the field of view so that only what is needed ends up in the picture. We hand over the system with masking and the necessary data protection documentation; we set the retention period on the recorder, and only a designated person can access the recordings, with access logged.
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Updated: September 2026. This article is for information only and is not legal advice. For cameras in apartment buildings and workplaces, the specific situation is decisive – in case of dispute, ask for an expert opinion.
