The online resource for UK Property Law

Nuisance and Trespass

In this section of the site you will find a number of matters relating to nuisance and trespass claims. For the details see the contents column on the left or the drop down menu above.

Overlooking

Overlooking No cause of action in private nuisance - Art 8 ECHR Fearn v Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery [2020] EWCA Civ 104 Summary There was no cause of action that existed in respect of a private nuisance for overlooking. The instant case was more akin to an...

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Japanese Knotweed

Damages Amenity value - not diminution in value Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd v Williams [2018] EWCA Civ 1514 Summary Network Rail was liable in private nuisance (i.e. by reason of an unlawful interference with the claimants- amenity right to enjoy their respective...

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Trees

Damages - tree roots Delaware Mansions Ltd v Westminster City Council [2001] UKHL 55 Summary Where there is a continuing nuisance, which a defendant knows about or ought to know about, the claimant is entitled to the reasonable costs of eliminating the nuisance if he...

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Water

Rylands v Fletcher Transco plc v Stockport Metropolitan BC [2003] UKHL 61 Facts Without negligence on the part of the defendant water escaped from a cracked pipe serving a tower block on the defendant's land and seeped into the ground over a period of time. The amount...

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Occupation by licensee

Behaviour of occupier Liability of landlord Cocking v Eacott [2016] EWCA Civ 140 Summary A property owner was liable in nuisance to her neighbours even though she did not reside at the property. The nuisance had emanated from her daughter who lived at the property...

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Damages – account of profits

This page refers to two cases that deal with a claim for an account of profits (sometimes known as "restitutionary damages") - one in trespass and the other in nuisance arising out of an interference with the right to light. In neither case was the claim successful....

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Trespass

This page deals with trespass by livestock, overhanging cranes and trespassing pipes beneath the surface of the land. Livestock Bryant v Macklin [2005] EWCA Civ 762 Where cattle belonging to a neighbour had eaten the Claimants trees they did not have to make do with...

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Defects in neighbouring property

Requirements for cause of action Birmingham Development Co Ltd v Tyler [2008] EWCA Civ 859 Summary In order to establish a claim in nuisance against a neighbour in respect of defects to his property it is necessary to show that there is a well founded fear that the...

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Self-help

When is self-help available? Macnab v Richardson [2008] EWCA Civ 1631 The slightest encroachment on another-s land is a trespass (Ellis v Loftus Iron Company (1874) LR 10 CP 10, at page 12 per Lord Coleridge CJ). However, that does not mean that the court will...

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Defences

Interference with easement Defences to claim - estoppel and laches Lester v Woodgate [2010] EWCA Civ 199 Summary The dominant owner can lose his right to complain of an actionable interference with an easement if an estoppel is made out. The estoppel can arise by...

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