Private Land

  Please refer to our dedicated National Trust, English Heritage and Natural England sections to learn about how you can legally over these sites.

Every day, we see more of these nauseating 'No Drone Zone' signs slapped across any location worthy of some decent aerial footage in an attempt to stop pilots flying their drones. This section is designed to show you that you can safely and you can confidently ignore the fun police and their little signs, and fly perfectly legally.

Ignore The Directives

You can ignore these people and their little signs because, unless the airspace at your intended flying location is restricted, you are allowed overflight and there is nothing anyone (including the police) can do about it. If you're confronted by members of the public, ask them, did they try and restrict the Google imaging aircraft (that photographs their back garden), overflying planes, helicopers or hot air balloons. They'll likely respond with 'well, that's different'. How? They're all airspace users and all subject to the freedoms (and restrictions) applied by the Civil Aviation Authority. There is no difference.

You are legally allowed to fly over and/or film private sites - just be aware some people may not understand this is allowed - as demonstrated in these videos. If you can see into a private site from a public place, you're allowed to film it.

Filming private land is allowed under UK law providing you are doing it from a public area. You are also allowed to film and photograph into a site if it's accessible or visible from the public land you're on, this can be done from the ground with handheld devices and also from the airspace above using your drone.

Think First

All that said, as a pilot you should risk assess every flight. Even if there are no airspace restrictions in the area in which you plan on flying, look at the site or location and risk assess it before flying.

I've seen auditing videos for example where the auditors overfly industrial sites just to prove the point that they are allowed as there's no airspace restrictions. Even when the staff onsite explain that the site is an ATEX Zone with a high risk of explosion should something go wrong, they fly anyway.

Use common sense in all situations and if there is a higher risk that something could go wrong, just abort the flight. It's not worth it.

Please Note

   When we talk about Private Land, we are referring to filming and photographing commercial, industrial and recreational sites and NOT RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES. Filming residential properties will likely infringe the occupants privacy and doing so repeatedly could amount to the offence of harassment. This does not mean - of course - you cannot fly over residential property, just avoid capturing photos and video if possible when doing so.

For further information on flying over private land, refer to the Civil Aviation Authorities Drone Code. You can also check our list of Mapping Tools for links to websites, resources and Apps that help help you locate and navigate public footpaths, public rights of way and access tools to help you find routes over public land.

Most importantly, use your common sense and be respectful when flying - don't film people in their gardens or record children playing at school.

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Residential sites include

  • individual residential buildings
  • small groups of residential buildings
  • housing estates
  • villages
  • cities and towns
  • schools

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Recreational sites include

  • tourist attractions
  • sports facilities
  • beaches and parks
  • theme parks

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Commercial sites include

  • shopping centres
  • warehouses
  • business parks

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Industrial sites include

  • factories
  • docks
  • rail and transport hubs

  We keep copies of our information leaflets with us when flying, you can download and print copies from here which you can hand to people as a free resource, explaining the drone legislation and provide detail about the type of flight you're undertaking.