So I’m currently living in Auckland and have been renting a room in a shared house since Jan and yeah, there’s a security camera in the kitchen. I’ve looked over the agreement I signed and it’s not mentioned there at all (nor was it mentioned or even visible when I viewed the place). I’d just kinda tolerated up till now because I’m here from the UK on a WHV so I don’t wanna kick up a stink and end up out on my arse but I mentioned this situation to a friend back home and he was like “What the *fuck*” This convo was spurred by the landlord texting me asking not to leave water out in the garden for neighborhood cats-they always come in so I thought I’d make it nice for them- because he said he saw a bowl out back which made me think “when the fuck was he here? I got the bowl like 3 days ago”. Turns out he’s supposed to let us know when he pops round. My mate suggested asking you lot for advice so here I am.
Just wanted to know what my options are, my landlord of 12 years back in England was so hands off he may as well have not existed. This fella seems nice and is very young (around my age, 34, or younger) so it’s not like I’m dealing with a cranky boomer here.
The camera (a EUFY one) is at the back of the kitchen/lounge area tucked into a corner, and facing out into the house, just behind the air con and you genuinely wouldn’t know it’s there unless someone told you. I only found it cause it’s motion activated and a red light popped up my first night.
There’s currently a few other people living here (but I don’t see half of them very much at all) and the landlord is down as head Tennant which feels weird?
Thanks in advance folks.
UPDATE: Called Tenancy Services and they’re honestly not sure what to do. They think it sounds like I’m under a room-by-room tenancy. And the fact that the landlord is down as a tenant means he can circumvent a lot of the rules and a tenant doesn’t have to live on site. So she wasn’t really sure what to do next. However I mentioned that I had received no notification of bond payment and she looked it up and, what a shock, he hasn’t lodged the bond. So beyond texting him about the bond I’m genuinely not sure what my next steps are