Landlord sneaks in to remove a radio covering up her basement ring camera’s audio feed to keep eavesdropping on tenants: ‘My husband and I are furious. Not only did she not tell us she was going to enter the house, but took the radio without telling us’

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Oct 17, 2025 6:00 PM EDT

Renting a place should not feel like starring in a bad spy movie, yet here we are. The camera in the basement might as well come with theme music because nothing says home sweet home like being quietly monitored by the landlord. She swears it's just for the sump pump, but let's be real, people who peek through cellar doors to collect radios are not exactly models of restraint. The whole thing crosses from quirky to unhinged the minute she decides entering without notice is fair game because she used a different door.

There's being cautious about property and then there's using technology to blur every boundary. No tenant expects total control, but hearing footsteps overhead when you were supposed to be out of sight is a new level of violation. That's not concern, that's obsession dressed up as maintenance. What makes it worse is how calmly she justifies it, as if privacy stops existing below ground level.

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  • AIO to being upset with my landlord for having a camera in the house

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  •  It’s the kind of logic that makes renters feel like guests at their own house while someone else claims ownership of their space, their sound, and their peace. The fact that she got annoyed by the radio blocking her eavesdropping says everything about where her priorities sit. You don’t call that property management; you call it madness with a security feed. In any sane world, the sump pump would be her only focus, not the people forced to live around her paranoia.

  • My husband and I are renting a house. The landlord has a sump pump in the basement that she is nervous will not work so she has a ring camera hooked up in the basement that watches the sump pump.
    via katelovesmortgages
  • We did not know this until after the lease agreement was signed. Anyway, we decided to not make a big deal of it as we understood her concern about the sump pump and since the camera faces the sump pump only, we did not ask her to turn it off.
    via katelovesmortgages
  • However, the camera does have audio and you can hear what anyone is saying on the first floor when you are in the basement.
    via katelovesmortgages
  • In a paranoid state of "what if she wants to listen to us tenants as her version of reality tv/radio", I wanted to block out anything she could hear from us upstairs by putting a small radio next to the camera in the basement and leave it on 24/7.
    via katelovesmortgages
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    via Inside Creative House

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  • Last night we get back from running errands and I noticed I could not hear the radio anymore in the basement.
    via katelovesmortgages
  • I asked hubby to check it out and sure enough - the radio was gone. He immediately called her and asked if she had been in the house to which she replied that yes she came in through the cellar doors to take the radio because "every time she checked the sump pump she could hear talk radio on 24/7".
    via katelovesmortgages
  • My husband and I are furious. Not only did she not tell us she was going to enter the house, but she also took the clock radio without telling us.
    via katelovesmortgages
  • She says we are renting the house but the basement is still hers and since she entered through the cellar doors and not the house entrance, it's fine.
    via katelovesmortgages
  • We get why she has the camera but her actions seem out of line. Are we overreacting??
    via katelovesmortgages
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  • Azeill As a renter this would totally creep me out and make me furious. Was the radio yours? That would be straight up theft too
    via Azeill
  • OP katelovesmortgages No the radio was hers, if it was ours we would be looking to cancel the lease for theft. I'm thinking invasion of privacy is already in play and making us wonder if we should stay here the rest of the lease. Mind you we are having these issues and we just moved in. Imagine what it will be like down the line....
    via katelovesmortgages
  • milmoment You are not OR but you need to refer back to the contract. Was the basement addressed at all? If so then you can act based on that. If not, I think a reasonable person would conclude that basements are part of the house as a whole so whatever agreements/stipulations about privacy and entering without permission are in the contract you can enforce regarding the basement. If she makes a fuss, or even if not it might be good to have an attorney look over the lease agreement and let you kn
    via milmoment
  • OP katelovesmortgages Re read that contract several times nothing about her having - access to basement or camera in the basement is in there
    via katelovesmortgages
  • Lopsided-Beach-1831 In CA the recording audio is illegal. Her entering without notice is illegal. Not disclosing the camera and placement in the lease, illegal.
    via Lopsided-Beach-1831
  • OP katelovesmortgages Pretty sure it is the same case in Nj based on my research
    via katelovesmortgages
  • parodytx >She says that side is hers and she can come and go as she pleases. That statement is patently false and illegal in any state if that space is not specifically excluded in your lease language. Determine if this is a hill you are willing to die on. If it is, you need to make it clear that the lease does NOT allow her access to your home without 24 hours notice. And that you will involve the police/sheriff if she does it anyway without proper notice. Possibly a stern letter on a lawyer's
    via parodytx
  • OP katelovesmortgages Thank you. We are trying to decide how badly we want to fight her on this. Hence posting on Reddit to see what others think lol
    via katelovesmortgages
  • Curious_Werewolf 5881 Is the basement included in the lease? Is it an apartment or an entire house you are renting? | think if you rent the whole house, that includes the basement. If it's an apartment, probably not. Maybe get one of those white noise things like they have at doctors' offices. And I'm not sure exactly, but if you put it on the first floor, that may block any sound to the basement. You and your SO could test it out to be sure. Good luck!
    via Curious_Werewolf 5881
  • OP katelovesmortgages We have the entire house. Currently we put another radio in the basement with white noise to block out her hearing our private conversations but I'm sure she'll be back to take that one out too. I truly believe she is just a lonely old lady who likes listening to her tenants because she is bored and has nothing else to do. I don't want to give her the satisfaction of listening in on us
    via katelovesmortgages
  • OP katelovesmortgages Basement is for us to use, laundry is down there as well. But the basement has two sides - one with the laundry and the other is where cellar door is. She says that side is hers and she can come and go as she pleases. However, the lease agreement does not state this
    via katelovesmortgages
  • Icy-Essay-8280 She is being stupid about why she can access through the basement. The house includes the basey, duhhhhh!
    via Icy-Essay-8280
  • OP katelovesmortgages Agree!
    via katelovesmortgages
  • Terminal_Lucridity There's a lot going on here. What does the lease say about it (the camera and sound recording)? Is the basement part of your lease or not? If the basement is not part of your lease, then there's not a whole lot you can do. If the basement is part of your lease,btyen you have the right to not be recorded. Since the camera is pointed only at the pump, then removing the sound shouldn't be an issue. Also how exactly do you know you can be heard over the microphone of the camera? H
    via Terminal_Lucridity
  • OP katelovesmortgages The lease states we have the entire house as part of a rental, doesn't state anywhere that she has use of the basement or will be recording. We know she can hear us because we can hear each other on the first floor above the basement. She has the sound turned up. When we had ththe radio on, it was not that loud but she could hear it on the camera and came in to remove the radio. She says she needs the camera "to hear the sump pump to ensure it is working properly and turnin
    via katelovesmortgages
  • spaetzlechick There are remote water sensors that would be much more effective at alerting to sump pump failure than a camera. Cheap too.
    via spaetzlechick
  • Tadpole Gold964 And she can't just let herself into the home without advanced notice to the tenant. That's is standard.
    via Tadpole Gold964

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