Use 30 days as a planning conversation, then confirm the recording goal, capacity and settings for your community.
Match retention to how incidents get reported
Ask the property manager how quickly an incident is normally reported and reviewed. A problem noticed the next morning and a concern first raised at a later board meeting require different review windows. Decide what the association needs to retain and why.
Clear typically starts planning with a goal of 30 days, then adjusts to the client’s requirements. Camera count, resolution, bitrate, recording mode and usable storage all affect the resulting retention. Put the target and assumptions in the proposal so the board can compare options consistently.
Choose recording behavior deliberately
Continuous recording can help reconstruct what happened before and after an event. Event-based recording can reduce storage use, but its usefulness depends on the scene and detection settings. Discuss which behavior suits each camera’s purpose instead of applying one setting simply to reach a storage number.
Ask how the system reports storage status and what happens as capacity is used. Include a review after the cameras have recorded normal activity so the manager can check whether the configured system is meeting the planned window.
Separate viewing from administration
The people who need to review an incident do not automatically need authority to change the recording system. Define the owner, primary manager, backup manager and any other authorized viewers. Assign individual accounts and the permissions appropriate to each role.
Test the agreed experience with those accounts before handoff. Confirm who can view live video, search recordings, export a clip and change settings. Keep an account-removal step in the manager-transition process.
Agree on recording boundaries
Use the site plan to mark the shared areas the board wants recorded and the areas outside the agreed scope. Review the actual camera framing after mounting. UniFi Protect supports privacy zones that mask selected parts of a view from recordings; check the configured result rather than relying on the plan alone.
Have the board and property manager define the association’s approach to audio, notices, footage requests and release of recordings, with appropriate professional review for the property. Document who makes those decisions so the installer is configuring an agreed policy rather than making it for the association.
Understand local recording and exported clips
UniFi Protect stores recordings on the local console or recorder. Remote viewing requires the relevant connectivity and account access. An internet interruption and a loss of local power are different events; discuss the cameras, network, recorder and backup-power needs together.
Local recording is not an off-site backup. Decide how an authorized person should export a relevant clip, where it will be kept and who may receive it. Review any separate archive requirement before an incident makes it urgent.
Bring this to the board
Your planning checklist
- Retention target and storage assumptions documented
- Recording mode selected for each purpose
- Individual viewer and administrator permissions
- Recording boundaries and request process agreed
- Clip export and system-status review demonstrated