The key facts
- A camera can be installed at one's own door without approval from the management company or a general meeting of owners
- The camera must record only the entrance to one's own apartment and the area in front of it
- If it shows when neighbors leave and return, this is grounds for complaints
What was explained in the State Duma
Residents of apartment buildings have the right to install video surveillance cameras at their own apartments without coordinating this with either the management company or a general meeting of owners. Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Utilities Sergey Kolunov told RIA Novosti about this, and Life.ru described the main rules, citing his words. According to the deputy, installing a camera is an effective way to protect property, but the surveillance system may only be placed at the door of one's own apartment.
The main restriction — the camera's field of view
The camera must capture only the entrance to the owner's apartment and the small area directly in front of it. The doors of other apartments must not appear in the footage: Kolunov called this a strict requirement and noted that established court practice confirms it. If the device makes it possible to track when neighbors leave home and return, this can become grounds for complaints over a violation of the inviolability of private life. The deputy recalled that the Constitution guarantees citizens the right to private life, personal and family secrets, and protection of honor and good name, and protecting one's own property must not violate these guarantees.
Context: where the line with surveillance lies
Earlier, Life.ru examined in a separate article where good-neighborly care ends and surveillance begins: attention to neighbors is appropriate when it is connected with a willingness to help — for example, looking after an apartment during a vacation or noticing an emergency — but constant monitoring and discussing someone else's personal life without consent turns into a violation of personal boundaries. The deputy's new explanation sets the same logic in the technical plane: the practical criterion of a camera's legality is not the purpose of its installation, but what exactly falls into the frame.
