New York Tenant Says Landlord Installed Camera Facing Bedroom and Bathroom

Privacy concerns are at the center of a troubling case in New York where a landlord is accused of setting up a camera aimed at one tenant’s private living spaces, including their bedroom and the shared bathroom.

The situation first came to light when Reddit user Ancient_Delivery_673 posted about their experience in the r/legal forum. The tenant explained that they currently rent a three-bedroom unit with one roommate while the third room sits empty. According to the tenant, tensions with the landlord have existed for some time, but matters escalated after the discovery of a camera positioned in a way that seems to target them specifically.

The device, they said, was placed above the basement door. From that angle, the lens records the common areas used primarily by the poster, such as the bathroom and the entrance to their own room. Their roommate’s quarters, however, are not within view since that tenant has a separate bathroom.

The tenant also described overhearing the landlord reassure the other occupant about the placement.

“Don’t worry, I’m not facing the camera in the direction of your door, I’m facing it the opposite way,” the landlord said. For the poster, that confirmed the monitoring was intended to capture only their activitie

In addition to the surveillance camera, the Redditor claimed the landlord has engaged in other disruptive behavior including turning off their electricity without warning and spending hours in the vacant room running a compressor under the guise of maintenance. They suspect these actions are meant as a form of harassment.

Other Reddit users quickly expressed alarm and urged caution. One commenter, thenewfingerprint, advised: “I’d beware the possibility of hidden cameras, as well. If you Google, I think you’ll find ways to detect them (something like shining a light around the room making it easy to find the lenses of hidden cameras, but I’m not really up on that at all).”

Encouraged by the responses, the tenant later confirmed in the thread that they plan to pursue legal action over the camera. However, commenters noted a potential complication, that the landlord appears to have subleased the property to the tenants, which could make the legal path more complex.

New York Tenant Says Landlord Installed Camera Facing Bedroom and Bathroom