UK To Fine £100,000 For Misuse Of Ring Doorbell Camera - Here's What You Should Know

UK households with Ring doorbells are being warned about lesser-known regulations that could lead to fines of up to £10,000—or even $100,000 for those who fail to comply.

These smart doorbells, which provide live video streaming, motion alerts, sound recording, and two-way communication, serve primarily as home security devices. However, their features could also create legal issues and result in hefty fines if not used correctly.

Ring Doorbell Rules You Should Know

Property buying experts at Gaffsy have highlighted the strict regulations surrounding the use of CCTV in residential areas. As a result, Ring doorbell owners must ensure their devices comply with these guidelines.

The firm cautions that if your CCTV records images or videos of people outside your property lines, such as a neighbour's yard or home, common areas, or public streets, it must comply with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules.

Failure to comply could result in action from the Information Commissioner's Office, risking fines as high as £100,000, plus possible lawsuits from anyone shown in your CCTV recordings. According to The Express, businesses that don't comply could be fined up to £17.5 million.

Avoid A Hefty Fine

Max Royston, Senior Valuer and Director at Gaffsy stresses the need for proper video storage and deletion when necessary or upon request. 'Ensuring the data and time is correct is important, in case you need to submit videos for assessment,' Royston advises.

'You'll also need to check whether the recorded information is used for the purpose of which your system was installed. You might be tempted to upload clips to Instagram or TikTok, but you could be infringing on privacy rights,' the top executive added.

'It's your responsibility to ensure that the system is installed correctly for all the information recorded by your system. You must also ensure that the information gathered by CCTV is not used for anything other than protecting your property.'

'If the CCTV footage is captured outside your property limits, you should only keep the footage for an appropriate period and delete it after a few months. You should also delete footage of neighbours if they ask, due to the GDPR rules,' he continued.

Ring Doorbell Legal Guide

They also suggest homeowners follow these four key guidelines to ensure their CCTV systems meet legal standards:

• Tell your neighbours about your system.
• Post a sign to inform people that recording is happening.
• Explore other options before installing CCTV—could better lighting, fencing, or gates work?
• Consider using privacy zones to avoid unintentionally recording your neighbour's property.

Are Ring Doorbell Owners Breaking The Law?

'Across Ring's devices, we have put in place features and tools to assist customers, such as customisable motion zones which allow customers to better control the areas they want their Ring device to capture and privacy zones enabling customers to define an area in their device camera's field-of-view as off-limits such as a public street or neighbouring property,' a spokesperson for Ring said.

'We encourage customers to let their neighbours, building owner, property manager, or housing association know that they plan on adding an extra layer of security to their home before installing their Ring device. In all Ring device packages, customers will also find free Ring stickers to put on their door or windows to let guests know they're on camera.' the spokesperson added.