Question: If you have CCTV installed in a body corporate, do you need a sign up stating cameras are installed?
Answer: What do you want to achieve by having a sign alerting people to CCTV’s on common property?
Chris Irons, Strata Solve:
No, you don’t from a strata perspective. There’s no obligation to put up a sign. There might be obligations under other legislation.Frank Higginson, Hynes Legal:
Not that I’m aware of those either. Why have we got these CCTV systems set up? Is it to catch people? Is it to be a deterrent? Is it to stop some sort of bad behaviour somewhere?
Chris Irons, Strata Solve:
‘Why?’ applies to the sign as well. What are you hoping to achieve with the sign? Is it to alert people? Is it a warning? Okay, then we come back to how you word it, and come back to all of my comments about how there’s a particular way you’d want to word it based upon the objective that you’re hoping to achieve.
The issue I would highlight is that the instant the body corporate and its committee decide to put up a sign, they have to make a decision. First of all, that decision is challengeable. Second of all, they’ve authorised the sign being put up. If the committee has decided that a sign has to go up, they have to take responsibility for the sign and its contents. If you add the sign, you add another layer of complexity to the situation, you also add another opportunity for something to go wrong, for something to cause a dispute. I would always be asking, What do you want to achieve by having a sign?
Frank Higginson Hynes Legal E: frank.higginson@hyneslegal.com.au P: 07 3193 0500
Chris Irons Strata Solve E: chris@stratasolve.com.au P: 0419 805 898