Security Advice · CCTV
CCTV and Privacy Law in NZ: What You Can Actually Record
Almost every camera we install raises the same question at some point in the visit: am I allowed to point it there? Here is the practical shape of the rules in New Zealand, and how we place cameras to stay well inside them.
The short answer
- Cameras covering your own property, fitted at your own home, are generally fine.
- The domestic exemption is lost if what you record would be highly offensive to a reasonable person – deliberately covering a neighbour’s windows, for instance.
- Businesses have more to do. The Privacy Act applies in full: signage, a real purpose, secure footage, and honouring requests for it.
- Audio is the risky part. Recording conversations you are not part of is a different law and a much sharper one. We ship cameras with audio off unless there is a reason.
- People can ask you for footage of themselves, and a business generally has to provide it.
First, the honest disclaimer
This is a practical installer’s summary, not legal advice. We place cameras for a living and get asked this constantly, so it is worth writing down properly – but the authority is the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, which publishes specific guidance on CCTV and has a complaints process. If a situation is already a dispute, start there rather than with us.
Home cameras: the domestic exemption, and how people lose it
The Privacy Act 2020 largely does not apply to an individual collecting information purely for personal or domestic purposes. A homeowner with cameras covering their own doors, driveway and yard sits comfortably inside that.
The part people miss is that the exemption falls away when the collection would be highly offensive to an ordinary reasonable person. That is the line, and it is about intent and framing rather than about pixels crossing a boundary.
- Fine: a camera on your garage covering your driveway, which incidentally catches a slice of the footpath and the road.
- Fine: a doorbell camera covering your entry path, which sees people walking past on the street.
- A problem: a camera positioned and zoomed to cover your neighbour’s back yard, deck or windows.
- A serious problem: a camera aimed at a bedroom or bathroom window, or one moved to follow a particular person.
In practice, incidental capture of a shared boundary is nearly unavoidable on an Auckland section and is not the issue. Deliberately covering someone else’s private space is.
Two ways to stay clearly on the right side
Most cameras support privacy masks – black-out zones baked into the recording, so the neighbour’s windows are never captured at all. It costs nothing to configure and it turns an argument into a non-event. We set these up as part of the install where a boundary is tight.
The second is aim. A camera under an eave, angled down and along your own wall, covers the route someone would actually take and sees far less of next door than the same camera mounted flat on a corner. Placement solves most of this before software has to.
Businesses: the Privacy Act applies in full
Once cameras are at a workplace or a business premises, the domestic exemption is gone and the information privacy principles apply. It is not onerous, but it is more than nothing. The practical checklist we work through on commercial security jobs:
| What is expected | What that looks like in practice |
|---|---|
| A real purpose | Know why each camera is there – theft, safety, disputes. “Because we could” is not a purpose. |
| Tell people | Visible signage at entrances stating CCTV is in use. This is the one most often missed. |
| Do not be unreasonably intrusive | No cameras in toilets, changing areas or break rooms. This is not a grey area. |
| Keep footage secure | The recorder is not on an open network with the factory password, and access is limited to people who need it. |
| Do not keep it forever | Retain for a defined period tied to the purpose, then let it overwrite. |
| Honour access requests | A person can ask for footage of themselves, and you generally have to provide it. |
The access request is the one that surprises people
Somebody who appears in your footage can ask you for it. A business generally has to hand it over, within limits – other people in the frame may need to be blurred, and there are grounds to refuse. The practical consequence is that your system needs to be able to export a specific clip, not just play back on a monitor in the back office. We check that during handover, because finding out under a deadline is a bad time.
Staff monitoring is its own conversation
Cameras that watch employees bring employment law in alongside privacy: staff should know cameras exist, know why, and ideally see it written into a policy or an employment agreement. Covert monitoring of staff is a specialist situation and needs advice we are not qualified to give.
Audio is where people actually get into trouble
This is the part almost nobody knows, and it is the one worth acting on. Recording a private conversation you are not part of, using a device, is a criminal matter in New Zealand – a different and much sharper regime than the privacy rules around video.
Most cameras with a microphone ship with audio recording on by default. A camera under an eave near a boundary can pick up conversations in a neighbour’s yard, which is exactly the scenario the law is aimed at.
Our default: audio off. We disable microphones at commissioning unless there is a specific reason to have one – a two-way intercom at a gate, for example, where everyone knows they are speaking to someone.
If you set a system up yourself, this is the first setting to check. It is one toggle and it removes the entire category of problem.
When a neighbour is unhappy about a camera
It happens, and it is usually solvable in ten minutes rather than through a complaint. The three things that resolve it, in order:
- Show them the actual view. Most people are picturing something far worse than what the camera sees. Pull it up on the app and show them the frame.
- Add a privacy mask over anything of theirs that appears, and show them that too.
- Say what it is for. “It covers our driveway because the car was broken into” lands very differently from silence.
If that does not settle it, the formal route is a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, which can investigate and mediate. Going straight to that stage over a camera that could have been masked in two minutes serves nobody.
It cuts the other way as well: if a neighbour’s camera genuinely covers your private space, the same process is open to you, and the same conversation is worth having first.
Common questions
Can I point a CCTV camera at my neighbour’s property in NZ?
Not deliberately. Incidental capture of a shared boundary or the street is normal and generally fine, but a camera positioned to cover a neighbour’s yard, deck or windows can lose the domestic exemption under the Privacy Act. A privacy mask over their property removes the issue entirely.
Do I need a sign saying CCTV is in use?
At a business or workplace, yes – people should be told cameras are operating, and signage at entrances is the normal way to do it. At a private home covering your own property, signage is not required, though many people put one up as a deterrent.
Can someone ask me for CCTV footage of themselves?
Yes. Individuals can request personal information held about them, and footage of a person is personal information. A business generally has to provide it, sometimes with other people obscured. Your system needs to be able to export a clip.
Is it legal to record audio with my CCTV?
Video and audio are treated very differently. Recording a private conversation you are not part of is a criminal matter in New Zealand, not just a privacy issue. We disable camera microphones by default and would recommend you do the same unless there is a clear reason not to.
How long can I keep CCTV footage for?
Only as long as you actually need it for the purpose you collected it. Most homes run on a rolling loop of one to four weeks, which is a sensible default. A business should set a defined retention period and let the system overwrite after it.
What if my neighbour’s camera is pointed at my house?
Talk to them first – most of the time it is not framed the way you think, and a privacy mask settles it. If that does not work, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner can investigate a complaint about a camera that captures your private space.
Want your cameras placed properly the first time?
We set privacy masks, disable microphones by default and put signage where a business needs it – as part of the install, not as an afterthought.