NUISANCE CLAIMS

• Private nuisance, when the actions of one party cause a significant and unreasonable interference with another party’s land or their use of that land.
• Public nuisance, when the actions of one party affects the reasonable comfort and convenience of the general public.

A private nuisance is caused by a person doing something on their land, which they are entitled to, but which becomes a nuisance when the effect extends to the land of a neighbour. In a private nuisance claim you can seek an injunction to stop the nuisance and prevent its recurrence. You can also claim damages to compensate you for any loss.

In order to bring a private nuisance, claim you must be able to prove that you have suffered a continuous, unlawful and indirect interference with the use or enjoyment of your land. In terms of continuous it is necessary to establish that the interference must have happened over a period of time and more than once. In deciding whether the above test is satisfied the court will, in the absence of damage, attempt to strike a balance. It will consider factors such as: the location of the land; the duration of the nuisance; the nature of the claimant; the normal use of the land; and the defendant’s intention.

If successful there are a number of remedies available, including:

• Compensation for damages. These will be quantified according to any damage done to your property. For example, in the case of water ingress this may include the cost to rectify any water damage.
• An injunction is an order of the court compelling the wrongdoer to stop or abate any further nuisance.

A public nuisance arises from an act that endangers the life, health, property or comfort of the public or obstructs the public in the exercise or enjoyment of their rights. A public nuisance claim is actionable in tort and can also be a criminal offence.

In order to bring a public nuisance, claim you must prove that a person’s conduct or behaviour has caused injury, loss or damage to the public as a whole. Like private nuisance claims you must also show that the nuisance is an unreasonable and continued offence, but the big difference is that public nuisance can sometimes amount to a crime and punishable as a criminal offence.

Common examples of nuisance claims include:

• Disputes between neighbours over loud music emanating from one property effecting the other party’s reasonable enjoyment of their property.
• Water ingress from one party’s property into another party’s property causing physical damage.
• Overgrown trees and vegetation (such as ivy or tree roots) emanating from one party’s garden causing damage to another party’s garden (or property).

At Birch Law our team have considerable experience dealing with nuisance disputes, including:

1. Acted for a property owner in Manchester. They had a dispute with their neighbour over a tree in their neighbour’s garden. The tree’s roots caused significant cracking and subsidence to our client’s property. We were instructed to investigate and bring a claim against their neighbour. We successfully argued that the cause of the damage was the neighbour’s tree and we were able to obtain compensation for our client.

2. Acted for an apartment owner in London. They had a dispute with the owner of the apartment above them. There was a leak emanating from the apartment above which caused significant water damage to our client’s property. We successfully obtained an injunction for our client, compelling the owner of the other apartment to abate the nuisance, and we also recovered compensation for our client to pay for the cost of rectifying the damage to their property.