Walk It Through: The Recorded Phone Call
A landlord's promise worth keeping on tape, a hidden recorder in the next room, a camera in a bathroom, and a threat by text.
A tenant wants to record a call with the landlord about promised repairs.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
Recording phone calls and finding a camera at home. Recording police in public and workplace monitoring are outside these sections.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- One party consentThe rule that a person may record a conversation they are part of, or one where one party has consented beforehand, unless it is recorded to commit a crime or a tort.
- FelonyA crime that can be punished by death or by imprisonment for more than one year. Every other crime is a misdemeanor.
- Status offenseA minor offense for which the wait before a petition to expunge the conviction is one year, rather than the five years for other misdemeanors.