you joke but I literally just escaped an SF room rental where there WERE cameras installed inside the home by the landlord. (almost certainly illegal,, one of many things that were about that place)
At first glance I agreed with you, but they had a room rental, not apartment, and they said the cameras were in the house, not in the room. As long as the owner (I assume who is living in the rest of the house) informed them, that's not nearly the red flag to me as if they were renting an apartment/house/whatever that had cameras. That sort of a situation should go to the police with zero hesitation, but renting a room is different- you have an expectation of privacy only in that room. I've rented a room on Airbnb that the house had ring cameras etc, not concerning to me at all. As long as they aren't in my room.
Oh they just use smoke detector cameras in the rooms. Or the electric outlet ones you can barely notice the hole on. I don't do Airbnb anymore because of that.
I stopped using airBnB when they let owners mandate you be the maid or get charged exorbitant cleaning fees. I am not doing a deep clean while on vacation. That is bigger bullshit than vegas resort fees.
The cameras are not hidden. they are visible in plain sight. so its up to the next renter to decide if they want to live under those conditions or not. Plenty of people do in SF because rooms are hard to come by
It’s ILLEGAL. You didn’t report something ILLEGAL. What happened to “if you see something, say something”? Landlords to this shit because people like you deem it “not my problem!” and just move on instead of doing the right thing.
Its not illegal to have cameras in your home and you rent a room. It WOULD be illegal if there were any in the bathroom or the room you're renting, but not in the house in general.
That phrase absolutely did NOT originate post 9/11. It may have been popularized at that time, but it’s been around forever.
It’s a phrase meant to encourage people to speak up or report if they saw things like signs of abuse or active abuse, a situation that didn’t seem right or seemed unsafe (possible kidnapping/ sex trafficking), possible break ins, stalking behavior, etc etc, etc.
None of that is legal and if you gave half a shit you would have reported it. But whatever let your landlord illegal tape you in yours rooms cause none of you have a backbone to stand up for yoursleves lol
Hope none of that footage ended up somewhere its not supposed to but thats the dice your rolling.
The camera was in the kitchen/hallway area facing the hall and bedroom doors. it would not pick up anyone naked. it was a single family home with each bedroom a separate lease with a person we did not know. no one was walking around naked I can assure you lol
The roommates could not be displaced, they could be running a meth lab and dog fighting ring in the apartment and it'd still take 90 days to evict them. SF has tenant protections
Absolute 100% lie then. You had a slam dunk open and shut civil and criminal law suit and "nahhhh.... I was GONNNAAAAAAAAA buuuuuuttttttttt naaaahhhhh"
If the landlord doesn't lived there, they cannot have cameras. I don't know this exactly but I imagine the only exception would be if they lived there too and even then they would need to tell you and they likely aren't allowed to have them in a room that specifically you pay for.
I think in general it isn't legal to film people without their consent within their homes, regardless (if the cameras were in a shared living space, yo7 would need to be notified and agree to that). Good thing you got out of there but like others mentioned, I still would have reported for the next victim's sake
There is nothing to report. the people living there see the cameras and accept living with them. If they didn't like them, they would report or move out like I did.
Illegal how? Especially in a place the landlord lives in concurrently.
2 places you can't have cameras are the bathroom and individual bedrooms. That leaves all the common areas. The landlord room that can record audio at least in a 1 party state within the given notification.
Even if the landlord didn't have em inside the apartment. Cams outside are still a thing.
It's illegal to record someone without their knowledge in their home. The landlord is allowed to have cameras in common spaces, provided the tenant is informed and fine with it. On this comment, I did not know they were renting a room (wasn't in the title or description or in the comments I saw before I commented, so that's just my mistake for not knowing that detail). Yea cams outside are obviously fine, that's facing public space, no one's arguing the legality of those as literally every other person has one. And yea some states allow one party recording, i don't know if that extends to video in someone's private space tho. Like if I call you and you record the call without my knowledge, it's fine if you're in a state that allows it. I don't know about video, within a home. It's different when you're in public, it's all fair game apparently. But the tenant still at least needs to know (maybe the agreeing part I'm wrong on, but they definitely need to be informed, even if it's just in common areas shared by all inhabitants)
It is illegal to record someone in their own home without consent. Renting an apartment is making the apartment your home. Even your landlord owning the property does not supersede your right to privacy within your home. That's what an apartment rent contract is. You are paying money in exchange for gaining personal home rights in a space that the landlord owns. The contract and the local laws protect both the renter and the landlord for certain rights.
I hope you reported that and make a big deal out of it. That’s is seriously illegal and while I am not positive but I bet they could get jail time for that.
Depends on where the camera is. A quick google search will tell you that yes it’s illegal to have cameras in the bedrooms or bathrooms but it’s legal to have them in common areas like the kitchen or living room.
Pretty sure that's referring to the person who actually lives there can do that, not just literally anyone can pop a hidden camera in anyone's living room
No, it's not legal. At least in California it's not.
In CA tenant rights laws, "common areas" aren't defined as living rooms and kitchens. "Common areas" are stairwells, and entryways and hallways shared with multiple units.
Please fucking report them and save other people. If the only thing you did was leave and comment on Reddit then I’m afraid you should feel majorly guilty
Yeah he should feel majorly guilty for not reporting something that's perfectly legal. He didn't specify so it's safe to assume the common areas were recorded
That sounds to be absolutely illegal and plenty of reason alone to call police and lawyers.
The landlords can screw you over in many ways but fortunately this isn’t one, they can’t just put cameras in apartments even if they legally own it, if they are renting it out. The renter still has basic human rights and that landlord has responsibilities he or she has to uphold.
I have always been paranoid about this. Can you explain where they were hidden (power outlets, lights?) I haven't found one in mine, but I haven't looked everywhere.
I think it depends where the cameras are installed. Bedrooms and bathrooms are out. Kitchens and common areas may not be. Probably varies by state and local government tho
Charge 'em for the lice, extra for the mice!
Two percent for looking in the mirror twice!
Here a little slice, there a little cut
Three percent for sleeping with the window shut!
Yeah, like, you aren’t legally obligated to have a job. You’re obligated to pay your rent but how isn’t their business.
People can just live somewhere and not leave regularly for work, it’s allowed. We have a huge segment of the population who does that, we call them children and old people and disabled folks and rich bastards, depending.
Generally, landlords who pull this kind of stuff do consider whether or not you have a job to be their business. As well as details like exactly how much you make, and what you have saved up.
If they think your source of rent is tenuous, such as if you are someone else's dependent, then they will hold it against you as a potential tenant.
my guess is that its a shared space that they want extra compensation for having OP there all day. They could also be anticipating extra wear and tear from the WFH especially if its furnished. I had a landlord get screwed over by a WFH who ruined the floors and furniture. But it shouldnt be a charge just an extra deposit.
Most places you need to show you have an income. It wouldn't surprise me if this place asks you about your job specifically, including if its work from home.
They ask for pay stubs... like this is easily check-able through public documents, lol you think management firms arent vetting their tenants when they ask for 2.5X the rent in net income?
What public documents could you possibly mean…? And the paystubs won’t tell you whether their role is remote or not, it just verifies their income and place of employment.
My paystubs have the corporate office address on them, which is ~1500 miles from the office I technically work out of, but I have a full remote job, and I'm 250 miles from my 'office'.
Good luck with that! There is zero obligation for HR to tell you anything about a specific person’s position and their duties in their company, including whether or not it involves any remote work.
In fact, it’s in their best interest to say nothing at all which is what they will likely do.
What? I’m not sure how you arrived at this completely unnecessary irrelevant comment, but I’m impressed that you committed to it. You really thought you ate with that.
They can ask all they want, it’s none of their business. Charging extra rent for WFH is insane behavior. Landlords will literally charge for everything that’s supposed to be included in the rent. I see places that charge an amenity fee, which is crazy because it’s not like you have the option to not pay the fee in exchange for not using amenities. The amenities are there, they should be included with rent.
Some apartments require renters to use their trash valet service, where someone literally picks up your garbage and takes it down to the dumpster for you.
The only thing I can think of for why they charge more could be is if utilities are included and if they are working from home, then their electric usage will probably be higher than any other tenant. Now is the electric bill $200 worth, probably not.
It's been a long time since I rented a place, but it used to be heat, hot water, and cooking gas. If it was an apartment building with all electric, everything was on the tenant.
But how is a single person with a WFH job any different than a couple with a small child, where one of the people stays at home to take care of the child and the other one goes to an office?
Also there are people who work from home that have lots of customers and receive daily deliveries. We had a woman with a hair styling business. Her customers took up all the visitor parking and would park in reserved spots for tenants. Another guy has an electrical mail order business. He receives and ships packages every day. USPS, UPS and FedEx are delivering and picking up bins of packages a couple of times a day from him.
Reminds me of the (very) old joke back when hotel toilets had that "sanitized for your protection" paper ribbon around the seat/bowl & some comedian once said he always carefully took those off and then replaced them before checking out just to confuse the maids…
I have seen this in places where all utilities are included. Pretty easy to identify if someone is home all the time, unless they don't turn anything on
My landlord had cameras all over the house and they definitely weren't hidden. Felt like I was on a boring TV show. But I was also pretty desperate for a place to live.
My old complex installed "smart locks" that just so happen to require a "smart panel" inside the apartment. Inside that smart panel was both a camera and mic.
I complained to the landlord (company), they said its legal because the "the mic and camera are not activated"
I was already moving out at that point in a month, so the juice wasnt worth the squeeze to pursue. But it was probably the worst abuse of landlord I've experienced. Anyone who works remotely with anything tech related knows that camera and mic are just as easily accessed regardless of whether its "activated".
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u/BetDry2347 1h ago
How do they even police that?