London Cameras: CCTV Buying Guide for 2026

In London, the type of property you're protecting and the consent and boundary questions that come with it decide the CCTV system more than the camera spec does. A flat, a terraced house and a premises in a high-crime postcode each call for a different approach to shared walls, neighbouring windows, the pavement and who has to agree to what. We're a trade-only supplier, so the installer or the installer's client places the order, and the fitting should go to an independent NSI or SSAIB-accredited installer; our guide to CCTV installation in London covers that side in more detail.

What changes when you buy CCTV cameras in London?

Three London-specific constraints change the purchase: who must consent to the camera, who shares the boundary it sits on, and how much of the neighbours and pavement a tight plot pulls into frame. The kit matters less than these.

• Consent: in flats, leasehold houses and rented homes, the freeholder, landlord or management company often has to agree before anything is fixed to the building.
• Shared boundaries: terraces and party walls mean a bracket may sit on a wall or fence you don't solely own, so settle it with the neighbour first.
• Tight plots: a front door a few metres from the pavement puts passers-by and neighbouring windows in view. That can bring UK data protection rules into play, so plan lens angle and privacy masking before you order.

Searches for "london cameras live" usually mean traffic feeds. The TfL Live Traffic Cameras dataset lists 177 cameras, refreshed at least every three minutes. Photography retailers and tourist webcams are a different subject.

As for how many cameras London has, we have no reliable total across public and private systems. The only count we can cite is those 177 TfL traffic cameras, which is a traffic feed rather than a census of CCTV.

Euro CCTV is a London trade supplier of CCTV cameras to installers and sells equipment only. Fitting is for your own installer.

Flats: what needs freeholder or leaseholder consent?

External walls, window frames, balconies and communal areas usually belong to the freeholder rather than the leaseholder, so check your lease and ask before you drill. Leases vary, so treat this as a starting assumption rather than a universal rule.

Work in this order:

1. Read the lease, especially the demise clause and any covenant on alterations. The demise often stops at the inner face of the front door, which puts the door's outer face, the corridor and the façade outside what you hold.
2. Get consent in writing from the freeholder or managing agent, and keep the reply. A verbal "that's fine" is hard to rely on if a dispute follows.
3. Settle the camera position only once you know what you may touch.

Inside the demise you have the most freedom. A camera in the hallway looking at the inside of the front door, or one covering the living space, stays within your own premises. Where the lease or the freeholder rules out cabling through shared areas, a wireless or battery-powered camera means nothing needs to run past your door. If the door is a fire door, ask before fitting a peephole or doorbell camera, because drilling can compromise its rating.

A camera in the corridor or entrance is a different matter. It records neighbours, visitors and couriers, which generally takes you outside the household exemption and makes you a data controller for those people under UK GDPR. The obligations are outlined in our CCTV installation London guide. For the fitting itself, use an independent installer accredited by NSI or SSAIB.

Terraced houses: party walls, shared drives and neighbours' windows

Fix cameras to your own elevation, angle them down and inward, and use privacy masking to blank out neighbours' windows and gardens.

Party walls and boundaries

Don't bolt a bracket to a shared wall or boundary fence without the neighbour's agreement, ideally in writing. Fix to your own brickwork or fascia instead.

On a terrace, the rear alley gate, the side return and the back-boundary wall are worth assessing as possible entry points. A camera on the rear elevation, angled along the alley and across the side-return door, can cover those areas without looking into the next garden. Your installer should size the system to the actual entry points, sight-lines and equipment limits, and will often settle the angles on site with the live view open, as covered in this London installation guide.

Shared drives and passageways

Agree camera positions and signage with the neighbours before anything goes up. If the field of view takes in a shared space, you are recording other people, and UK GDPR duties such as signage and telling people who is responsible for the footage can apply. The exact obligations depend on whether the use is domestic or business, so follow the law article for that.

Keeping the pavement out of frame

Lens choice and mounting height do most of the work:

• Lens: a narrower field of view (longer focal length) frames the door and step. A wide lens at low height sweeps up the whole footpath.
• Height: mounting higher with a steeper downward tilt makes the image end at your threshold rather than across the road.
• Masking: use the camera's privacy masks for anything the framing can't exclude, then check the live view by day and after dark.

High-crime postcodes: how do you choose between deterrent, ANPR-free and monitored systems?

Choose by the response you need (deter, evidence or intervene) rather than by how many cameras the property ends up with. The installer should size the system to the actual entry points, sight-lines and equipment limits found on site. Work down the list below and stop at the first branch that matches the client's real risk.

1. Deter: visible and signed

Fit obvious, well-signed cameras at the front and at any side access. The camera is doing a communication job here, so position and signage matter more than resolution.

The trade-off is that deterrence can push crime to a neighbouring property instead of removing it. That is general guidance, not a promised outcome, and clients should hear it before they sign off the spec.

2. Evidence: ANPR-free residential kit

For most homes and small premises, specify ordinary colour night-vision cameras with AI person/vehicle detection, not plate-capture systems. Alerts then focus on people and vehicles rather than every passing leaf or headlight.

ANPR can add compliance obligations, so keep it out of a standard residential job. If a client genuinely needs it, treat it as a separate specification with its own compliance review.

3. Intervene: monitored or linked

Link the cameras to an intruder alarm so that events can be passed to a monitoring service. A recorder on its own only shows what happened afterwards. A monitored link can enable a response while an incident is under way, subject to the service agreed and to what the system actually detects.

Texecom is a brand we sell for the alarm side of that link. We supply equipment only, so fitting and any monitoring contract should go through an independent accredited installer (NSI or SSAIB). Our London installation guide covers the compliance side.

Which system tier suits which London property?

The right tier depends on a property's actual entry points, sight-lines and equipment limits, not on its type or postcode. An accredited installer should size the channel count from a site survey.

Three spec classes

These describe how the specification tends to scale, not fixed requirements.

• Flat (entry level): The cameras might cover the front door and the balcony or rear, depending on the layout. The PoE budget is usually small. Euro CCTV supplies Dahua cameras, Toshiba or Seagate surveillance drives and Connectix cabling for this class.
• Terraced house (mid-range): Possible points to assess on site include the front, the side return and the rear. Privacy masking can matter here, because neighbouring windows and gardens may fall inside the field of view.
• Higher-risk site (premium): A site-specific risk assessment may justify more channels, a mix of visible and covert cameras, and a link to the alarm panel. Texecom is the alarm brand we supply. Where a camera system is linked to a monitored alarm, a response can be enabled, subject to the agreed monitoring service and what the system detects.

Sizing formulas

Fill these from the live datasheets, not from rules of thumb:

• Storage = average bitrate × recording seconds per day × retention days × channels, divided by 8 to convert bits to bytes.
• PoE budget: the sum of every camera's maximum draw must stay within the recorder's or switch's total PoE budget, and each camera within its port limit.

Motion-only recording lowers the storage figure, but the formula should be run on continuous recording first. Have your own accredited installer (NSI or SSAIB) confirm the final layout. Our London installation guide covers the on-site side.