I own and have rented out my Flat for a number of years it’s a first floor front flat in a city centre the problem is it’s above a general store a well known saying is never live above a shop as Commercial and Residential doesn’t mix and in this case this is very true the ground floor and the lower ground floor belongs to the shop and the first and second floors are four flats which are mostly let out the problem I’m now getting to the problem is EMI this is Electrical Magnetic Interference the shop uses a CCTV system to catch shop lifters it’s obviously a wireless system and signals are being bounced around from different cameras around the shop to the base station/monitor where the shop keeper can keep an eye on customers in different areas around the shop this system is magnetizing electrical circuits and destroying them my Radio is the last piece of equipment magnetized and now useless the Programmer on the Central Heating Boiler doesn’t work I brought in Ofcom a few years ago but they were useless I should of taken it further I buy petrol in my local garage and they have similar CCTV equipment installed there the service assistant told me they also destroy their neighbours electrical equipment I would be interested to hear what you all have to say hopefully someone can come up with a solution.
I’ve never heard of this before. I would have thought that there must be some legislation about operating shielded equipment otherwise even their customers could have their mobile phones damaged when they shop there.
If I were you I would do some research on the regulations and then get some legal advice on how to enforce them.
Even the Shopkeeper and his wife have problems with their CCTV camera’s causing their mobile phones to stop working they are quite honest about it, customers visit the shop for minutes and are gone their unaffected they might have mobile phones on their person they are not affected I brought Ofcom in some years ago, I have to be honest with you they were useless they did speak to the shopkeeper and simply advised him to stop using his CCTV security cameras he told them his business depended on the cameras. This is not an isolated case my local petrol station operate similar cameras and have the problem the shopkeeper has who is causing the problem, this shopkeeper is well aware of the damage he is doing and simply doesn’t care he could install a hard-wired security camera system but won’t do so because he believes he can get away with this and so far over five years he has. These cameras are causing a high magnetic field which is damaging electrical circuits, EMI is a 21st Century problem. Ofcom favours the Petrol Station Owners and Shopkeepers believe me they don’t care about Landlords or Tenants. I don’t know what more I can do maybe bring in a Professional who can measure the Magnetic Field and provide a report for a court of law.
As I said, get some advice from a solicitor and perhaps they can start by writing to the shopkeeper. If that doesn’t work they will advise you whether you have a case to sue.
Sound advice seek advice from a Solicitor maybe I will, is there anyone else who has previous knowledge on this subject that can shine some light on this strange issue I feel quite lonely here that’s the reason I posted this story/case in the hope that others had been through this and had come out the other side with the the case done and dusted I’m a patient man I’ll wait in the hope someone out there knows about this sort of thing I’ve spent lots of money with Solicitors in the past I feel they would hang it out, maybe I just had a bad experience with one a few years ago anyway if you know something about EMI please don’t hesitate to join in this discussion.
Try some of the other forums too - Landlordzone, Landlord Forum Project, Propertytribes etc. They have very experienced people on there.
Thank you I’ll give Landlord Zone a try I’ve subscribed with them and they have experienced people there Open Rent is great for finding Tenants I can’t fault them they’re 100% but they just can’t on this occasion help me with this Electro Magnetic Field problem known as EMI Electrical Magnetic Interference.
I didn’t know EMI affected equipment so badly but just wanted to add I have heard of it in relation to health issues in sensitive individuals. Would be interested to know what you find out.
In France this is a recognised illness so wonder if they have a different approach to dealing with security cameras.
It’s funny you brought up the subject of “Health Issues” I remember the Shopkeeper switched off his CCTV Camera Surveillance System to allow a friend of his into his shop his friend had a Heart Pacemaker fitted and the High Magnetic field could of easily damaged this man’s Pacemaker.
I’ve found some information about this subject of Wikipedia there’s quite a long article the article explains exactly what I’ve been going on about the High Magnetic Field damages electrical circuits it my case the Central heating boiler it’s programmer and temperature control as well as two radio’s belonging to me the neighbours have had their central heating boiler damaged and are now on their third boiler also the other three flats in this building have experienced similar problems when I brought Ofcom in four or five years ago I feel they let me down they did tell the Shopkeeper to stop using his CCTV system but they didn’t enforce it, I let my flat out again and my tenant told me off the record (someone bribed him not to make a fuss) that’s the problem with being a Landlord ground was lost and I feel I’m now back to square one, the tenant has vacated and I’m left with a damaged boiler and still this issue exists.
so does that mean when you have a boiler fitted its best to have it hard wired?
My central heating boiler programmer is magnetized so I haven’t a proper temperature control I simply switch it off when it gets too hot, the sixteen on and off time slots now don’t work so any solid state circuits will become magnetized and the circuits be destroyed mechanical timers are recommended I believe the people next door at Number 11 have replaced their central heating boiler three times in five years in the building where my flat is the shop occupies the ground floor and the lower ground floor and I have one of four flats on two floors first and second floors the three other flats have had to replace their boilers their Smart Phones have been damaged, in cases like this the central heating boiler should have as many mechanical parts as possible Wikipedia has an interesting article on EMI Electro Magnetic Interference when I meet up with the Gas Service Engineer who services my Boiler I will discuss this problem I think the Shopkeeper should have his CCTV system hard wired instead of sending radio waves around the building and also affected neighbouring properties. The other neighbour on the other side doesn’t wish to say anything other than he’s been affected with electrical faults due to this problem as well. I brought Ofcom in a few years ago in my opinion they let me down they should of stopped the shopkeeper then now four years later there’s been a lot of damage to electrical equipment and this will continue.
One of my friends neighbours had CCTV Cameras installed in his home and apparently his central heating boiler was damaged as a result he only operates his CCTV Cameras for a few hours a day now, so it looks like these CCTV Cameras can damage electrical circuits.
I’m thinking of contacting one of those television programmes they might like to look into this I’m sure it would make interesting viewing.
A quick search on google suggests that a steel enclosure around the cameras will deal with all but the most intense EMI. I think you should probably speak to the Ofcom and possibly Public Health England about what you can do to bring pressure to bear on the shop-keeper.
Problem is the Cameras are sending radio waves/signals around the building that’s their job sending pictures back to the monitor I’ll bring Ofcom in again and have further discussions with the neighbours the more of us involved the better, I’ll leave the Public Health people out of this for the time being, thank you for your assistance its been a pleasure.
Sure, I understand that the cameras they’ve chosen operate wirelessly, but there surely can’t be an absolute right to use a system that can damage peoples heath and property. I would think that you would ultimately need a solicitor to force the shopkeeper to perhaps use a lower powered system or wired cameras, but having information from Ofcom and PHE on your/their rights and responsibilities seems an essential starting point.
I haven’t been to the flat this week I will be going there shortly and hopefully meet up with the neighbours for a discussion on this subject and I will then go to the next stage and contact (1) Ofcom and (2) the Public Health Department.thanks for the advice.
I have had more time to consider this problem and maybe I shouldn’t be saying what I will be saying but it appears my flat is sandwiched between the ground floor shop which operates CCTV cameras using 2,.4 GHz wireless frequency and the Flat above that I suspect has a Cannabis Farm these tenants have been suspicious for a long time their Electric meter behaves strangely from time to time and yet I was slow to reach this conclusion I am thinking of selling the Flat anyway so I think it’s best I simply bow out quietly without making a fuss, nobody suggested a Cannabis Farm and yet we are told they are on the increase.