Is Your Seller’s Baby Cam a Lawsuit Waiting to Happen?
Baby cams, also known as nanny cams, are popular with parents today. The tiny, easy-to-hide devices help parents keep tabs on their kids while they’re away. State privacy laws differ, but for the most part, you’ll want to let buyers know upfront if there’s a chance they’ll be captured on one of these or other types of surveillance devices while they’re in the house.
The key issue is expectations of privacy. If you’re inside someone’s home, you have a right to expect a certain amount of privacy; if you’re outside—say on a public sidewalk—you can’t always expect the same level of privacy.
In a similar manner, if you’re recording a phone conversation, privacy expectations are relevant. People expect a phone conversation to be private, so you’ll want to let them know beforehand if you plan to tape the conversation as a way to keep accurate notes or for other reasons.
These types of privacy issues are a top story in the latest Voice for Real Estate news video from NAR. The video shares excerpts from a recent video by NAR’s Legal Affairs division on what you need to know about surveillance cameras when you’re showing a house or recording a phone conversation with customers.
The video also looks at how much easier it’s going to be for your clients to get FHA insured mortgage financing for their condo purchase. Congress just passed an NAR-backed bill that makes financing available even if only 35 percent of the units in a project are owner-occupied. That’s down from a 50-percent owner occupancy ratio, a significant change that can make a big difference in a buyer’s ability to get a loan. Also, a project can have more space set aside for commercial use, a change that will be particularly helpful as more developers design projects that mix housing with retail space.
Watch all of the Voice for Real Estate episodes here.
Other stories in the video look at NAR’s effort to curb accessibility lawsuits in commercial real estate and a meeting NAR hosted on Capitol Hill two weeks ago to flesh out ideas for making housing more affordable to low- and -moderate income households and to reduce homelessness.
—Robert Freedman, REALTOR® Magazine
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