header-logo header-logo

26 May 2023 / Andrew Francis
Issue: 8026 / Categories: Features , Property
printer mail-detail

Public nuisance: all the world’s a stage

123325
Private nuisance, from overlooking to knotweed: what is the remedy? Andrew Francis presents a property drama in five acts
  • As a number of recent cases have shown, claims in private nuisance are just as much a feature of the landscape of property disputes as those based on other rights and obligations, such as under easements and covenants.

Act 1: Overlooking

London, Bankside: Most of us will by now be familiar with the judgment of the Supreme Court handed down on Wednesday 1 February 2023 in Fearn and others v Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery [2023] UKSC 4, [2023] All ER (D) 02 (Feb). This judgment upheld the claimant tenants’ claim based on private nuisance to the enjoyment of their flats caused by visitors to the Tate Gallery overlooking those flats from the viewing gallery on the south side of the Tate Gallery’s building at Bankside in London. The Supreme Court gave us a modern framework to use in tortious private nuisance claims where real property interests

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Thackray Williams—Lucy Zhu

Thackray Williams—Lucy Zhu

Dual-qualified partner joins as head of commercial property department

Morgan Lewis—David A. McManus

Morgan Lewis—David A. McManus

Firm announces appointment of next chair

Burges Salmon—Rebecca Wilsker

Burges Salmon—Rebecca Wilsker

Director joins corporate team from the US

NEWS
What safeguards apply when trust corporations are appointed as deputy by the Court of Protection? 
Disputing parties are expected to take part in alternative dispute resolution (ADR), where this is suitable for their case. At what point, however, does refusing to participate cross the threshold of ‘unreasonable’ and attract adverse costs consequences?
When it comes to free legal advice, demand massively outweighs supply. 'Millions of people are excluded from access to justice as they don’t have anywhere to turn for free advice—or don’t know that they can ask for help,' Bhavini Bhatt, development director at the Access to Justice Foundation, writes in this week's NLJ
When an ex-couple is deciding who gets what in the divorce or civil partnership dissolution, when is it appropriate for a third party to intervene? David Burrows, NLJ columnist and solicitor advocate, considers this thorny issue in this week’s NLJ
NLJ's latest Charities Appeals Supplement has been published in this week’s issue
back-to-top-scroll