Residents claim that the man, believed to be a Singaporean, had installed five CCTVs in various areas of the apartment block to monitor their movement.

A resident, who only wished to be identified as Ooi, said he first noticed the presence of the cameras five months ago.

He said the man, who also rents an office space at the same block of his apartment, had installed the cameras at the lift lobby of his unit's floor, another in front of his unit, a third in front of his office, and two at the car park.

Ooi said the man had initially claimed that the cameras were to keep an eye on two mischievous neighbouring children.

"However, when another neighbour queried him, he said it was just a temporary measure. Temporary or not, the cameras are still here," he said.

Ooi said he informed the man that he could not do so as it infringed on the apartment's house regulations.

"By way of illustration, I asked him how he would like it if I were to install a camera trained at his unit," he said. "The man responded by threatening to install a hidden camera in my unit."

Ooi said the apartment's management had tried to disconnect the wires to the cameras twice but was met with resistance.

"The man even complained to the management's headquarters about it," hesaid.

The Malay Mail visited the apartment block yesterday and found a camera, located above the man's apartment door, was trained on the corridor leading to his unit, while a bigger camera was trained at the elevator.

A check at the car park showed two cameras fixed on opposite pillars, observing the car park area.

Another camera was located a short distance away, near the man's office in the same block.

"It is reasonable if he only installed a camera at his unit. As for the others, it is nothing short of an invasion of privacy. The least one could do is respect public domain and private areas of fellow residents," said Ooi.

Another resident, when met at the car park yesterday, expressed surprise at learning that the CCTVs did not belong to the apartments' management.

"I was under the impression that it was an initiative by the management. What right does an individual have to install these cameras on his own?" she said.

When contacted yesterday, a spokesman for the apartment's management said they were aware of the matter.

"We have sent a notice to the man, instructing him to remove the cameras by next week," said the spokesman.

"His acts clearly contravene the house rules. If he still has not dismantled the cameras by Monday, we will remove them ourselves."