How long to keep CCTV footage home: set a delete limit

You get home on Monday, open the camera app, and the clip of Saturday night has already gone. The card was full, the camera carried on recording, and the oldest files were overwritten while you were away. That is when people ask how long to keep CCTV footage home. How long you hold pictures of other people is a separate decision, and the ICO's home CCTV page is where that decision starts.

The Information Commissioner's Office page, read on 15 October 2026, says to delete footage regularly or automatically, and it gives a house no fixed number of days. It was marked under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act. Products Compared used that page and the amazon.co.uk listings named below. There is no lab test behind these notes.

In short

Delete regularly or automatically. The ICO page prints no fixed number of days. A full card is a loop, not a period you chose. Copy any clip you still need before that loop, or a timer, removes it.

What the ICO says about deletion

A 31-day figure would be one you had added yourself. Beyond your own rooms, the ICO page groups six duties: have a reason, minimise what you capture, tell people, respond when someone asks, delete, and stop if an objection has no legitimate answer. A shop, a communal stair, or a house in multiple occupation sits outside that household guide.

A sign says the camera is there. Retention is a separate item. One calendar month is the usual time for a subject access reply, not a template for every other day on the card. The surveillance camera code of practice was withdrawn on 17 February 2022, and this article takes no retention figure from it. Compare models in the ABUS security camera comparison.

What an overwrite on a CCTV card does

Loop recording writes until the card is full, then continues over the oldest files. A search for ring storage camera often means a Ring doorbell plan. These listings do not include that brand, so no Ring plan length is quoted.

The ABUS PPIC31020, ASIN B09LYJBZCD, was £96.47 on amazon.co.uk on 15 October 2026, with an 8 GB microSD pre-installed. The listing states no hours, so a weekend guessed from 8 GB is not in the table. The EasyLook BasicSet PPDF17000, ASIN B0B4SYR61Y, was £350.99 that day. You supply a microSD of up to 128 GB, and the bullets name no retention timer. On a boundary camera, a larger card keeps pictures of passers-by for longer.

An app password is not encryption of the card. A removed card can still show files the loop has not replaced. One EasyLook review says the microSD icon reported a missing card while recordings still wrote. That single report is labelled Germany. A one-room cube belongs in the indoor security camera comparison.

Where a listing says delete after 30 days

The ABUS SmartLook PPIC54520B, ASIN B0DJRGY6HC, was £148.66 on amazon.co.uk on 15 October 2026, with 3.4 from 18 ratings. The bullets say clips can delete after 3, 7 or 30 days, and that audio can be switched off. This page did not time them, and the table states no card capacity. Open the menu and see which period is selected. Three days can drop Friday night before Monday. Seven days covers a working week. Thirty days holds a month of pavement if the lens sees it. The ICO page does not adopt 30 or 31 days.

The bullets also name person, animal and vehicle filters, and privacy zones. How many extra days a filter buys is not in the listing. A zone you never draw leaves the street in the file. App2Cam Plus storage free of a subscription is a fee line, not a delete rule. If the goods cannot do what that description led you to expect, the Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 9, is the satisfactory-quality route. The Act publishes no retention period. A qualifying purchase from the ABUS security camera comparison can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

When you should copy a clip first

Copy a clip before you delete it if you have reported an incident, or you may need to. A three-day timer or a full card can remove Saturday before Monday. Keep that copy only while the reason exists. A year of every night, in case the police call, is a long holding with no current reason. What a police force will accept as evidence sits outside this page.

A subject access request pauses the ordinary rule for that clip. The ICO's usual reply time is one calendar month. Hold the clip until you have answered, and clear the other days as usual. Seven days in a house note, such as a file copied on 15 October 2026 after a reported theft, comes from the listing menu. The ICO guide does not contain that number.

Indoor cameras and doorbell clips

The ICO page prints no separate number for an indoor cube or a doorbell. The PPIC31020 is listed as indoor and not water resistant. Its flap covers the lens and the bullets say it switches off the microphone and the Wi-Fi, which stops new footage. Files already on the 8 GB card stay until a loop or a manual delete. Aimed at the pavement through a window, the indoor label does not move the boundary.

A few days of someone at your own door is a reason you can name. Months of the pavement, because a plan defaults that way, holds people who were only walking past. No Ring storage period is quoted here. Models in the security camera comparison can share one delete habit. IP66 on the PPIC54520B is a dust and water claim, not a retention period. A domestic menu is not a policy for a shop, a communal stair, or a house in multiple occupation.

A retention habit you can keep

Pick a period you can still say in March. For your own rooms or garden, a short loop is usually enough. For the pavement, use the shorter end of the menu. Seven days is a house rule if you want the weekend there on Monday. The ICO guide does not contain that number.

1. Note whether the frame includes the pavement, a neighbour, or only your own property.
2. On the PPIC54520B the delete choices are 3, 7 and 30 days. With no timer, size the card for the loop.
3. Switch audio off if the microphone can hear past the boundary.
4. Copy any clip you may need, then delete that copy when the reason ends.
5. After a week, check whether Saturday is still there on Monday.

The EasyLook has no timer in the bullets, so you delete or you let the loop run. If a dispute turns on the ICO wording, read the live page. It was marked under review on 15 October 2026.