CCTVs in lounges and kitchens in Student Accomodation

Hi,
I moved into this student house in September, 2014. And recently we had a house party and after that the landlord has appointed guards to check up on us every now and then and if there are people from outside start kicking them out if its after 12. They also have installed cctv cameras in every lounge, kitchen and hallways.
So my first question and the most important one:
Is it legal or are they allowed to put cctv cameras in lounges and kitchens or anywhere except the main doors ofcourse. Because this is really pissing off and i dont want the house manager to record my every move.
Second question:
Are they also allowed to appoint a guard who can start kicking out people. That is our housemates friends. He just comes alongs and drags people out if its after twelve which is very embarrassing. Also this time he just came knocking up on all our doors on a sunday morning and started shouting that clean up the mess downstairs. the mess was just empty damned bottles of alcohol. So is this legal also. Just really getting tired of this BS.
What course of action can I take against this. Or should I stop paying my rent as she has altered the property since i signed the contract or anything or backing out of the contract or such? Or some action which would get rid of the cameras and the stupid annoying guard.
To be clear im in Plymouth, UK to be exact at Plym uni and living in a student accomodation. Is there any way to put a stop to this tyranny.
Best regards
Asher

Reply 1

Crazy Jamie

Careers Forum Helper

Check the terms of your lease. There are certain implied obligations on the part of the landlord, such as to allow you quiet enjoyment of the property, but chances are most if not all of these, or the most relevant ones at least, will be mentioned explicitly within the lease. Such leases normally contain clauses such as the landlord having to give 24 hours notice of coming round to the property. To my mind having guards that spontaneously appear after midnight is likely to be an interference with the duty to allow quiet enjoyment; frankly unless you are causing some sort of disturbance having friends round after midnight is entirely your prerogative. The CCTV issue is an odd one, but again sounds somewhat drastic to me, and given that the entire point of a lease is to allow you to live and use that property how you wish within the confines of the terms of the lease, I'm not sure how a landlord would justify installing CCTV cameras.

In terms of the law, you would potentially be entitled to damages if the landlord is found to have breached the lease, but such breaches would not alter your obligation to pay the rent. The best you could hope for in that regard is that the damages awarded to you would set off any rent that you owed. The first course of action would be to write to the landlord outlining the areas where you say she has breached the lease, and stating how you want her to remedy those breaches. If she refuses to do so you can refuse to pay your rent by all means, but you should be aware that she can still commence legal proceedings against you in those circumstances, so you should be prepared to have to fight your corner.