WHAT IS THE TENANT TALKING ABOUT?

WHAT IS THE TENANT TALKING ABOUT?

Question: We are considering having our maintenance team wear recording devises, like GoPros or smart glasses, while performing service calls. The goal is to improve safety for our team, provide protection for the company, and create verification of the work being completed.Is there any legal concerns with this?

Answer: There is nothing in the Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act directly on point.In Arizona, a person can record another person, as long as one of the two people in the conversation knows they are being recorded.That may or not apply here, though, as your team could be in the unit alone or may not interact with the resident.Generally, when a person is in public, they have no expectation of privacy and can be recorded.Obviously, a person has an expectation of privacy in their unit.However, when you give proper notice and conduct an inspection, that expectation changes as they know you will be in their unit for a lawful purpose.You shouldn’t be in their private areas, such as drawers etc., but you can go into all of the rooms.Therefore, it makes sense you should be able to record things that you can see without going into their personal spaces.To be safe, you should put in your notice that you will be recording.