A NSW lot owner is wondering whether an executive committee member has breach privacy by rumbling through rubbish bags to see who they belonged to. Leanne Habib, Premium Strata provides the following response.
Question: I left rubbish on common property for a short period of time. An executive committee member collected the bag and went through the contents to identify the owner. Is this a breach of my privacy?
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I recently left a small household garbage bag on common property to run back and retrieve my entry fob.
While I was gone, someone from the executive committee collected the bag and went through its contents to try and identify the owner, which they did.
I received an email as a “friendly reminder” not to repeat the offence. I find this quite disturbing and have concerns regarding privacy implications. I fully respect the by-laws and the Act provisions but at the same time I feel that this was overzealous behaviour.
Answer: We would hope that the strata committee member simply wished to identify the owner of the rubbish to ensure compliance with the by-laws rather than to intrude into your private life.
While we are not lawyers, generally speaking, privacy is the expectation that confidential personal information disclosed in a private space will not be disclosed to third parties when that disclosure might cause eg distress, to a person of reasonable sensitivities.
Though we agree that this action was “over-zealous” in an inordinately short period of time, the question seems to be whether you expected your “garbage” to be private.
We would hope that the strata committee member simply wished to identify the owner of the rubbish to ensure compliance with the by-laws rather than to intrude into your private life and misuse information.
Have a question about breaches of privacy or something to add to the article? Leave a comment below.
This post appears in Strata News #332.
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Leanne Habib
Premium Strata
P: 02 9281 6440
E: [email protected]
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These articles are not intended to be personal advice and you should not rely on it as a substitute for any form of advice.
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I would think that the rubbish bag, once left on common property, was technically “abandoned goods” and that there was no right to privacy.
Technically, had they wanted to, the committee member could possibly have not immediately checked the bag’s contents to confirm it was rubbish. Instead they could have stored these items for the requisite period and and subsequently sought recovery of storage costs from the person who abandoned the bag.
Moral of the story – don’t leave things lying around on common property?
It never ceases to amaze me the level of privacy people think they have when in fact they actually have very little in the way of a right to privacy.
THERE IS NO COMMON LAW RIGHT TO PRIVACY.
That means that if there is some right to privacy in some particular situation then there is some piece of legislation somewhere giving you that right.
You have no right to privacy outside of these pieces of legislation; and there aren’t a lot of them.
More than 3/4 of residents in my apartment block have ripped up their carpets and replaced them with tiles. Not one of them has sort permission from the OC.
Am I able to take a photo of one example from outside a unit? That is, not entering their property?
If you are on the common property when doing so then technically you can’t.
If you are on someone elses lot then, again, no.
If you are on your own lot then yes.
It’s all about the permission (consent) of the property owner.
Surveillance Devices Act
8 Installation, use and maintenance of optical surveillance devices without consent
(1) A person must not knowingly install, use or maintain an optical surveillance device on or within premises or a vehicle or on any other object, to record visually or observe the carrying on of an activity if the installation, use or maintenance of the device involves:
(a) entry onto or into the premises or vehicle without the express or implied consent of the owner or occupier of the premises or vehicle, or
(b) interference with the vehicle or other object without the express or implied consent of the person having lawful possession or lawful control of the vehicle or object.
I think this may be incorrect.
It’s not illegal for someone to take photos or videos of your home, unless….
they trespass on your land,
they are recording your private activities,
it amounts to stalking or domestic violence, or
if it causes a substantial and unreasonable interference with the use and enjoyment of your land .
As such, to play it safe, make sure no person is recorded in the photos, and it’s legal.
Any “right” to privacy is dependent on realistic expectations of privacy.
Photographing something or someone which/who is in plain sight (ie not in private) therefore cannot be a breach of privacy.