Townhouse Complex Security: CCTV for Shared Driveways and Entries
Living in a townhouse with a shared driveway, common entry, or visitor parking? Here’s how to design a CCTV system that secures your property without creating strata headaches.
Townhouse Complex Security: CCTV for Shared Driveways and Entries
If you live in a townhouse in Sydney, your security situation is different from someone in a standalone house, and most CCTV guides don’t address that.
You share a driveway with your neighbours. You might share a visitor car park, a pedestrian entry, a bin storage area, and sometimes even a garage wall. People you don’t know walk through your complex every day: delivery drivers, tradies, other residents’ guests, and you have no control over who enters.
The result is a security environment where the line between “my property” and “common property” creates specific challenges. You want cameras that protect your townhouse, but you can’t just point them wherever you like. There are strata rules, privacy considerations, and shared-area complications that don’t apply to a standalone home.
A well-planned security system installation takes these limitations into account, ensuring your cameras are positioned legally, respect privacy boundaries, and still provide effective coverage of key access points.
This guide covers how CCTV works in a townhouse complex, what you can and can’t do under NSW strata law, and how to design a system that secures your property without creating disputes with your neighbours or your strata committee.
The Unique Security Challenges of Townhouse Living
Shared Access = Shared Vulnerability
The shared driveway is the front door to your complex. Every person who enters, whether they’re visiting Unit 1 or Unit 12, drives or walks past multiple townhouses. An intruder who enters through the shared driveway has access to the entire complex, including your garage door, front courtyard, side passage, and rear yard.
Unlike a standalone house where you control your own front gate, in a townhouse complex, you rely on shared entry points that you can’t fully secure alone.
Multiple Uncontrolled Entry Points
Most townhouse complexes have at least three entry points that affect your security: the main vehicle driveway (often ungated), a pedestrian entry or side path, and a rear boundary that may adjoin a laneway, park, or neighbouring property. Some complexes have additional access via visitor parking areas, bin enclosures, or shared courtyards.
Each of these is a potential route for an intruder, and many are not covered by any form of surveillance.
Limited Control Over Common Areas
You own your townhouse, but the driveway, shared paths, visitor parking, and common areas are typically common property managed by the strata scheme. You can’t install cameras on common property without the owners’ corporation’s approval. This means your personal CCTV system can only cover your own lot, creating potential gaps in coverage right where intruders are most likely to be.
Privacy Complexity With Close Neighbours
Townhouses are physically close together. Your front camera might inadvertently capture your neighbour’s front door. Your side camera might see into their courtyard. A camera covering your car space might also view the shared driveway.
This isn’t just a neighbourly issue under NSW law, and cameras that primarily capture another lot owner’s private space can be challenged as an interference with their reasonable use and enjoyment. Getting camera angles right is critical.
Two Approaches: Individual Townhouse vs Complex-Wide CCTV
When it comes to CCTV in a townhouse complex, there are two distinct approaches, and they’re not mutually exclusive.
Approach 1: Securing Your Individual Townhouse
This is what you can do independently, without strata approval, by installing cameras that cover your own lot and any public spaces visible from your property.
As an individual owner, you have the right to install cameras within your lot boundary, your front entry, garage, rear courtyard, and any private outdoor space. You can also capture public areas (like the shared driveway) as long as your camera’s primary purpose is monitoring your own property and the public view is incidental.
What you cannot do is install a camera on common property (such as the shared driveway wall, the complex entry pillar, or the bin room) without the owners’ corporation’s approval.
Approach 2: Complex-Wide Strata CCTV
This is a coordinated system installed on common property by the owners’ corporation, covering shared driveways, entries, visitor parking, bin areas, and other common spaces. This approach requires a formal resolution at a general meeting and, ideally, a specific by-law to regulate the system.
A complex-wide system provides complete coverage that individual installations can’t achieve, particularly at entry and exit points where all visitors and intruders pass through. It also eliminates the patchwork of individual cameras pointing in different directions with different quality and coverage
Securing Your Individual Townhouse: Camera Positions
Here’s how we approach CCTV design for an individual townhouse within a complex:
Position 1: Your Front Entry / Courtyard
Purpose: Capture anyone approaching or standing at your front door, and provide a clear facial image of all visitors.
This camera is mounted under your eave or soffit, pointing down toward your entry path and front door. It should be positioned to capture faces at the point where someone stands to knock or ring the bell roughly 2.5–3 metres high, angled downward.
This camera will incidentally capture the shared path or driveway in the background. That’s legally fine your primary view is your own entry, and the common area is a public space visible from your lot.
Position 2: Your Garage / Car Space
Purpose: Monitor your garage door, car space, and the immediate driveway area in front of your garage.
Garage break-ins and car crime are the most common security incidents in townhouse complexes. This camera covers your garage door and the area directly in front of it. If your car space is inside a shared basement or carport, the camera should be mounted on your lot’s allocated space structure, not on the common property wall.
Position 3: Your Rear Courtyard / Backyard
Purpose: Cover the rear of your townhouse, including the back door, laundry window, and any rear fence or gate.
The rear of a townhouse is often the most vulnerable because it’s the least visible no one walks past it, and neighbours on either side can’t see into it. If your rear courtyard backs onto a laneway, park, or neighbouring property’s rear boundary, this camera becomes even more critical.
Position 4: Side Passage (if applicable)
Purpose: Cover the narrow side passage between your townhouse and the boundary fence.
Not all townhouses have a side passage, but those that do have an additional access route that should be monitored. A single camera at one end of the passage covering the full length is typically sufficient.
Privacy and Camera Angles: Getting It Right in a Townhouse
This is the section that matters most for townhouse owners. Getting camera angles wrong doesn’t just create neighbour disputes it can result in a formal complaint through the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) or a strata mediation order.
What your cameras CAN cover:
- Your own front entry, courtyard, and path
- Your own garage door and car space
- Your own rear courtyard and backyard
- The shared driveway and public areas, as an incidental background view from cameras primarily aimed at your own lot
- Public streets and footpaths visible from your property
What your cameras MUST NOT primarily capture:
- Your neighbour’s front door or entry this monitors their comings and goings
- Your neighbour’s private courtyard, balcony, or backyard
- Windows of adjacent townhouses
- Shared interior spaces like bathrooms, change rooms, or laundry facilities
The key legal concept is the primary purpose. A camera primarily aimed at your own front door that incidentally captures a portion of the shared driveway is acceptable. A camera primarily aimed at the shared driveway that happens to also show your front door is positioned the wrong way around.
A professional installer understands these boundaries and designs camera angles that give you maximum coverage of your property while keeping the primary field of view within your lot. This is one of the main reasons townhouse CCTV should be professionally designed, not DIY
Complex-Wide CCTV: What Strata Committees Need to Know
If you’re on a strata committee (or want to propose a complex-wide system at a general meeting), here’s the process and the coverage a professional strata CCTV system provides.
Step 1: Pass a Resolution and By-Law
Installing cameras on common property requires the owners’ corporation’s approval. Best practice in NSW is to:
- Pass an ordinary resolution at a general meeting to approve the installation
- Pass a specific by-law that governs the system including camera locations, who has access to footage, how footage is stored, and the system’s intended purpose.
- Install clear signage in all monitored areas stating that CCTV is in operation.
A by-law protects the strata scheme by documenting the purpose and rules of the system. Without one, disputes about footage access, camera positioning, and privacy are far harder to resolve.
Step 2: Design the System for Common Area Coverage
| Common Area | What the Camera Covers |
|---|---|
| Main driveway entry | Captures every vehicle and pedestrian entering or leaving the complex |
| Pedestrian entry/gate | Covers the secondary entry that most visitors use on foot |
| Visitor parking | Monitors unknown vehicles parked within the complex |
| Shared garage/carport | Covers vehicle access points and common garage areas |
| Bin storage/service area | Deters illegal dumping and monitors after-hours access |
| Shared courtyard or garden | Covers communal recreational spaces |
| Rear boundary/lane access | Monitors any rear entry point from adjacent lanes or reserves |
The number of cameras depends on the size and layout of the complex. A small 4–6 unit townhouse development might need 4–6 cameras on common property. A larger complex of 12–20+ units might need 8–16 cameras for comprehensive coverage.
Step 3: Choose the Right NVR and Storage
Strata CCTV systems need a central NVR that all common area cameras feed into. This NVR should be:
- Located in a secure, restricted-access area (e.g. a locked electrical or comms room)
- Equipped with a hard drive large enough for 30+ days of recording retention many strata committees and insurers require this.
- Connected to the internet for remote access by authorised personnel (typically the building manager or strata committee chairperson)
- Configured with access restrictions so that only designated people can view or export footage
Step 4: Professional Installation and Handover
The installation is coordinated to minimise disruption to residents. Cameras are mounted on common property structures (entry pillars, garage walls, roof lines) with cabling concealed through ceiling spaces, conduit, or cable trays.
At handover, the strata committee receives training on how to access live and recorded footage, manage user permissions, and export clips when needed (e.g. for a police report or insurance claim). A documented access protocol should be established so that footage requests from individual lot owners are handled consistently.
Integrating CCTV With Other Townhouse Security Systems
CCTV is most effective when it works alongside other security measures. For townhouse complexes, the following integrations are particularly valuable:
Intercom and Video Doorbell
A video intercom at the complex entry allows residents to see and speak with visitors before granting access. Modern IP intercoms integrate with your CCTV system, recording visitor interactions to the same NVR and accessible through the same phone app. This is especially useful for managing deliveries, tradies, and unknown visitors.
Access Control
Electronic access control on the main gate, pedestrian entry, or garage adds a physical security layer. Residents use a key fob, swipe card, or phone-based credential to enter. The system logs every entry with a timestamp, giving you a record of who accessed the complex and when.
When integrated with CCTV, you get both a visual record (the camera footage) and an access log (who opened the gate) for every entry event.
Security Alarm
An individual alarm system within your townhouse with door/window sensors, motion detectors, and a siren provides a separate layer of protection that operates independently of the CCTV. If someone breaches your boundary and attempts to enter through a door or window, the alarm triggers regardless of whether cameras captured the approach.
Common Mistakes With Townhouse CCTV
- Pointing cameras directly at your neighbour’s entry: Even if you don’t intend to monitor their movements, a camera with a primary view of their front door will be challenged. Angle your camera toward your own entry with any common-area view as background.
- Installing cameras on common property without approval: Even if your intentions are good, cameras mounted on shared walls, pillars, or structures require the owners’ corporation approval. Doing it without approval invites formal complaints.
- Using Wi-Fi cameras in a multi-dwelling environment: Townhouse complexes have heavy Wi-Fi congestion from multiple households. Wi-Fi cameras drop out, buffer, and lose connection regularly in these environments. Wired PoE cameras are essential for reliable 24/7 recording.
- Leaving audio recording enabled: In a townhouse environment where neighbours are close, audio recording can capture private conversations from adjacent properties. Disable audio unless you specifically need it and understand the legal implications.
- Cheap cameras with constant white LED light: A camera that runs a white LED all night to achieve colour footage will light up the shared driveway and disturb your neighbours. Smart Hybrid Light cameras (IR by default, white LED only on person detection) avoid this problem.
- No signage: Even for individual lot cameras, visible signage stating “CCTV in operation” is recommended. It deters intruders and demonstrates transparency to neighbours.
We provide strata-ready proposals that include system design, formal quotes, and compliance guidance. We’ll present to your committee or attend a general meeting if needed
Individual vs Complex-Wide: Which Approach Is Right?
Factor | Individual System | Complex-Wide System |
Covers your lot | Yes | Yes (plus common areas) |
Covers shared driveway | Limited/incidental | Dedicated camera |
Covers visitor parking | No | Yes |
Covers complex entry | No | Yes |
Requires strata approval | No (your lot only) | Yes (resolution + by-law) |
Cost to you | $1,800–$3,000 (you pay) | $350–$800/unit (shared via levies) |
Installation time | 3–5 hours | 1–2 days for a full complex |
Best for | Immediate personal security | Comprehensive complex security |
The ideal approach for many townhouse owners is both a personal system covering your lot now, and a push for complex-wide coverage through your strata committee for long-term comprehensive security.
Whether you’re an individual owner wanting to protect your townhouse or a strata committee planning complex-wide CCTV, we’ll design the right system. We work with strata committees across Sydney and provide formal proposals suitable for general meetings
Why Townhouse Owners and Strata Committees Choose Sydney Wide Security
- Extensive experience with strata and townhouse CCTV across Sydney, from small 4-unit complexes to 179-apartment developments
- We design camera angles for privacy compliance with your coverage, not your neighbour’s
- Strata-ready proposals suitable for general meeting presentation
- We install Dahua and Hikvision professional-grade systems with AI smart detection
- All cabling concealed, no unsightly surface-mounted cables in your complex
- Complete solutions: CCTV, intercom, access control, and alarm integration
- Licensed NSW Master Security Licence holder with ACMA cabling registration
- Workmanship warranty + manufacturer equipment warranty on every installation
- Ongoing support and maintenance available
- Rated 4.5+ stars on Google, 500+ Sydney properties secured
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I install CCTV cameras on my townhouse without strata approval?
Yes, as long as the cameras are installed on your own lot and primarily capture your own property. You do not need approval for cameras on your walls, eaves, or within your courtyard. However, you cannot install cameras on common property (shared walls, entry pillars, carport structures) without the owners’ corporation approval
Can my townhouse camera capture the shared driveway?
Yes, as an incidental view. If your camera is primarily aimed at your own front entry or garage and the shared driveway appears in the background, this is generally acceptable. What you should avoid is a camera whose primary purpose is monitoring the common driveway that would typically require strata approval
How does the strata committee approve complex-wide CCTV?
The committee proposes a CCTV installation at a general meeting, with a resolution for approval. Best practice is to also pass a specific by-law governing camera locations, footage access, storage, and the system’s purpose. A professional security installer can provide a formal proposal and attend the meeting if needed
How much does townhouse CCTV cost?
An individual townhouse installation with 3–4 cameras typically costs $1,800–$3,000. A complex-wide system for a 6–12 unit development costs $4,000–$10,000 total, which, when shared via strata levies, works out to $350–$800 per unit. All prices include equipment, installation, and configuration
Do I need to disable audio recording on my cameras?
We strongly recommend it in a townhouse environment. Under the NSW Surveillance Devices Act 2007, recording private conversations without consent is a criminal offence. In a townhouse complex where neighbours are in proximity, audio recording can inadvertently capture conversations from adjacent properties. Video-only recording avoids this risk entirely.
What about delivery drivers and guests entering the complex?
A camera at the complex entry (either complex-wide or your individual front camera) captures all visitors. When integrated with a video intercom, you can see, speak with, and record every person who approaches before granting access. This creates a comprehensive record of everyone who enters the complex.
Can CCTV help with strata disputes?
Yes. CCTV footage is commonly used in strata contexts to document by-law breaches, property damage, noise complaints, unauthorised parking, and illegal dumping. A complex-wide system with proper governance provides an objective record that helps resolve disputes fairly.
Should I use wireless cameras in a townhouse complex?
No. Townhouse complexes have significant Wi-Fi congestion from multiple households operating on overlapping channels. Wi-Fi cameras in these environments are unreliable, with frequent dropouts and degraded video quality. Wired PoE (Power over Ethernet) cameras provide consistent, interference-free, 24/7 recording regardless of how many Wi-Fi networks are operating around you.
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