So I moved out on my own ~6 months ago with 2 friends to a townhouse in Ponsonby. Found the place on TradeMe and have been dealing with an agent when things have come up that require attending to.

This morning I get a text from the neighbours while at work asking what the deal was with our security cameras. We share a driveway with 3 other houses so they're pretty close. I replied "we don't have security cameras?" to which she said that someone had come by this morning to install two, one pointing at the driveway and one out back of the house. This was the first I'd heard of this so I texted my flatmate who was at home to ask what was up, he said yes, two people claiming the landlord sent them are here installing cameras.

What!

So I raced home and by the time I got back they were gone, so we went to look at the cameras. Sure enough they were there staring at us. While we were there a guy showed up in a beat up Holden and I asked him if he installed these and who gave him permission to do so. He said the property owner and named our agent as to verify they were who they say they were. He said the cameras were for security and as a burglary deterrent. He dodged questions of who was paying for the power, where they were being recorded to, etc. "If you have nothing to hide, why do you care?"

At this point the owner of the property, whom we hadn't met, came out and got angry and immediately jumped to "if you don't like them, you can f*ck right off." We calmed down a bit when he said they were simply fake cameras and he mentioned the neighbour (one in direct view of one of the faux-cameras) had a go at him for it before he threatened to report him in the council for "operating 4 flats out of his house when he's only allowed to have one."

From what I understand speaking to multiple property managers in my family, he is not legally allowed to do this, despite it being his property. The agent has been dodging my calls all day. On one hand it seems easy just to forget about it but it still feels like he's taking advantage of us because of our age (18, 19 and 20). What do I do? Let it go? File a breach notice, pissing him off? What's to stop him barging in here again on other false pretences?

Signed, a confused renter.