Last updated 2026-08-28
Renting
Can renters install a doorbell camera?
Usually, and the limits come from three different places: your lease, the building's rules, and recording law where you live. They are separate, and a yes from one is not a yes from the others.
Start with the lease, because it is the one you agreed to
Most standard leases say nothing about cameras specifically. What they do say something about is alterations, and whether a mount counts as one turns entirely on whether it makes a hole.
This is why no-drill mounting is the whole game for renters. A camera on adhesive or a frame bracket usually sits outside an alterations clause; four screws into the door casing usually sits inside it.
Get permission in writing if you are unsure, and ask about the mount and not the camera. A landlord asked whether you may install a security camera hears a different question from one asked whether you may hang something on adhesive tape.
Then the building, which is a separate rulebook
A managed building or an HOA can have rules the lease never mentions, often about the appearance of shared corridors or exteriors and sometimes about anything pointing into a common area.
Corridor-facing cameras in apartment buildings are the most commonly restricted case, because a camera in a hallway records neighbours going about their day and not just your own door.
Recording law, and the honest limit of this page
Video of a public-facing area is broadly uncontroversial. Audio is the part that catches people out, because recording conversations is governed by consent laws that differ by state, and in some states every party has to consent.
A doorbell that records audio in a shared hallway can capture conversations that have nothing to do with you.
This page will not give you a fifty-state summary, because we cannot stand behind one. Look up your own state's recording-consent rule, and know that most cameras let you disable audio entirely, which sidesteps the question. If real money or a dispute is involved, ask a lawyer and not a website.
Leaving without a trace
- Photograph the door and frame before you touch anything
- Keep the original peephole if you replaced it, and the original hardware
- Adhesive comes off with patience and gentle heat; pulling hard takes paint
- Take the camera with you, and take the mount too
The mount is the part that leaves evidence. Choosing a reversible one on day one is easier than negotiating about a deposit two years later.
Related
- Mounting without drilling — the practical options
- Doorbell cameras that work without Wi-Fi — if the building's network is the obstacle