private nuisance

• Private nuisance


  'An unlawful indirect interference with a person's use or enjoyment of land coming from neighbouring lands
• Steps for private nuisance

  1. Parties to a nuisance

  2. 'Unlawful'

  3. 'Indirect interference'

  4, Factors of reasonableness
• Hunter v Canary Wharf


  Cs must have a legal interest in the property/land
• Tetley v Chitty


  D can be sued if they caused or allowed a nuisance to happen
• Sedleigh Denfield


  D can be liable where they 'adopted' the nuisance, by failing to deal with a problem
• Leaky v National Trust


  D can be liable where a nuisance is a result of natural causes that D is aware of but failed to deal with
• Unlawful'


  Unreasonable
• Laws v Florinplace


  Emotional distress may be claimed for
• Loss of amenity


  Noise, smell, smoke
• Materia damage


  Dangerous things of D's land cause damage to C's land
• Forms of interference not protected


  Right to view, right to life, TV reception
• Factors of reasonableness


  1. Locality

  2. Duration of interference

  3, Sensitivity of C

  4. Malice

  5. Social benefit
• Sturges v Bridgeman


  Locality (character of the area): Nuisance in a residential area may be different than in an industrial area
• De Keysor's Royal Hotel

  Duration: An actionable interference is likely continuous and during unreasonable hours
• Robinson v Kilvert


  Sensitivity: Interference is not nuisance if C has sensitivity
• Miller v Jackson


  Social benefit: Actions that are of public benefit aren't nuisance
• Christie v Davey


  Malice: A deliberate harmful act is a nuisance
• Defences to nuisance


  1. Moving to the nuisance (never successful)

  2. Statutory authority

  3. Prescription
• Allen v Gulf Oil Refining


  Statutory authority: Activities that amount to a nuisance can be regulated or licensed by various laws
• Wheeler v Saunders


  Statutory authority: Planning permission must change the character of the neighbourhood for nuisance to be reasonable
• Prescription


  Where a nuisance has been going on for 20 years with no complaints (Sturges v Bridgeman)
• Remedies to nuisance


  1. Injunctions

  2, Damages

  3. Abatement
• Negative injunctions


  Orders D to stop doing something
• Positive injunctions


  Orders D to take preventative measures
• Schelfer v City of London Electric Lighting

  Damages are granted when:

  1. Injury to C's legal right is small

  2. Can be estimated in money

  3. Can be adequately compensated by a small money payment

  4. Injunction would be oppressive to D
• Abatement


  Courts authorise C to enter D's premises to prevent nuisance