Can a Landlord Legally use Security Cameras for Petty Purposes?

Is it legal or proper... Proper? Not really. Legal? Yes.

I'm wondering if he's breaking any laws by using a security system for petty purposes. Maybe you've already considered or attempted this, but have you tried contacting the police? Not calling 911, but, say, going down to the station (or calling the non-emergency number) and asking to speak to someone about this? (You'd want to have a copy of your lease in hand if you do this, as their most likely first question will be "What does it say in the lease that you signed?")

Because police aren't exactly the best judges of what's actually legal, I'd add to Gator's answer that you'd probably get a more useful answer from a lawyer.

A manager isn't a landlord -- only the landlord's representative. So first thing is to contact the landlord directly and respectfully apprise him/her of what Mr. Piece Of Work is up to. The landlord needs to know what's being said/done on his behalf because (a) the landlord is liable for problems his employee causes, and (b) the landlord is the one who will lose money if tenants are driven away by his employee's reckless idiocy. Any responsible landlord should be grateful to have been alerted that his employee is acting against his financial interests. Nevertheless, make your report in writing, or else verbal with immediate written backup. That way if the landlord doesn't act, you can show that you made a reasonable attempt to get things resolved through proper channels; or if the landlord reacts by trying to evict you instead, you've got evidence that it's a retaliatory eviction (illegal). IANAL, but if the landlord didn't step in quickly to resolve this foolishness, yeah I'd say contact the police and/or good landlord-tenant attorney. Good luck. Spying on the tenants, even when legal, is tackytackytacky. Yuck.

While I agree that you should see a lawyer with proper knowledge of tenancy law in your area, I fear you're going to be disappointed. Do you have a proper tenants' association? If not, start one! It sounds like the manager is not the owner in this situation: bring your concerns to the owners (on behalf of all the tenants). They won't ignore the wishes of the entire complex.

Busting people for using the laundry room trash recepticle for non-lint purposes, as this joker is doing, seems an egregious abuse of a security system. Is there no legal line where it becomes harassment, misuse or abuse? One would think it's an area would generate law suits. Anyone know a legal case that lays down perameters one way or the other? Gator, calling the police Q&A line is a good idea. I'm also going to try the local housing authority. And, yeah, I guess I have to track down my lease, which is buried somewhere. Chud, it seems beyond any diplomatic stage. Besides being antagonistic, the new manager is not good at his job. I've been civil, but the rest of the tenants are close to the spitting stage. btw: I don't think the management company that hired him knows what has been going on. Tenants are considering writing a letter, but I'm not optimistic it will make a difference. I have begun scanning copies of his rants for evidence. He's so far off the deep end he might be fireable.

Oh, and re: the new rules. Chance are, those would subject to the same notice period as any change to the lease/rental terms. i.e. if you're on month-to-month, he probably can't put those into effect for 30 days. Run that one by your local landlord-tenant board/mediation/whatever-it's-called-there service.

If I were in your position I'd really try to get a hold of the buildings owner. I really doubt they want to lose tenants in order to assuage the ego of some bitchy, power-tripping manager.

Yeah, the obvious course here is to present your evidence to the manager's boss, whether that's some actual in-the-flesh owner or a superior at the management company. I still think the surveillance is perfectly legit and that any use of the surveillance info by the building owners or authorized agents is de-facto legit, I do agree that certain uses exceed the bounds of reason and that you shouldn't have to accept them.