Nuisance Flashcards
What are the 3 torts of ‘nuisance’?
Private nuisance
Public nuisance
Rylands v Fletcher
What is private nuisance?
An unlawful interference with a person’s use or enjoyment of land
What are the 3 types of interference in private nuisance?
→ Encroachment (eg. overhanging tree branches)
always unlawful
→ Physical damage
always unlawful unless trivial
→ Interference with quiet enjoyment / personal comfort
unlawful if substantial & unreasonable
Private nuisance: When will an interference with the claimant’s quiet enjoyment of their land be unlawful?
When it is substantial & unreasonable → consider:
- Duration & frequency (is it a continuous state of affairs v. one-off event)
- Excessiveness of conduct (objective: eg. how loud party is) & extent of harm (subjective so long as claimant is normal user of land)
- Character of neighbourhood
- Malice (more likely to be actionable if deliberately trying to affect use & enjoyment)
Private nuisance
If the claimant is hyper-sensitive, will an interference be unlawful?
Depends if a normal person would say it was interfering with their reasonable use & enjoyment
(eg. if hypersensitive to noise from neighbours but normal person would be fine with it, won’t be unlawful)
nb. also applies if the property is abnormally sensitive - eg. orchids damaged, which are extra-sensitive, but ordinary flowers were damaged as well, so could claim for them
Who can sue in a claim of private nuisance?
A claimant with an exclusive right of possession
(mainly owners of land & tenants)
Who will be liable in claim for private nuisance?
- Creator of nuisance - always liable, even if no longer at property
- Owner/occupier of land - if they knew or should have known that nuisance taking place or brought creator onto the land
- Landlord - if knew or should have known that nuisance taking place (threshold higher: unless there is virtual certainty that letting to tenant will cause nuisance, not responsible)
Will a landlord be responsible in a claim for private nuisance for the actions of their tenant?
If they knew or ought to have known
- By authorising the nuisance (eg. part of lease allows tenant to make lots of noise)
- If there was a virtual certainty that letting it to the tenant would cause a nuisance (otherwise, not responsible)
What are the 6 possible defences in private nuisance?
- Prescription (private nuisance only)
- Statutory authority
- Act of God
- Act of trespasser (but if have knowledge will lose defence)
- Consent (must be express, not just that chose to live there)
- Contrib negligence
What is the defence of prescription (available in private nuisance only)?
If the defendant has been carrying out the actionable nuisance for 20 years, they have the right to continue if no one had complained before
What is the statutory authority defence?
Can be a complete defence if the nuisance is the inevitable result of an activity authorised by parliament taking place on that land
must be inevitable! if could use land for the purposes authorised by statue & not produce nuisance will not be defence
Is an Act of God a complete defence?
Yes - but must be very unusual
eg. artificial lake flooded damaging C’s property - v unusual unexpected amount of water, so complete defence
What are the possible remedies in a nuisance claim?
Damages or injunction or damages in lieu of injunction
- Prohibitory or mandatory injunction
- Nb. if there is a public benefit, an injunction less likely
What are the 4 limbs of a claim under Rylands v Fletcher?
- Defendant brings onto their land something with an exceptional risk of causing damages if it escapes
and
- It escapes ie. onto claimant’s land (one-off or continuous)
and
- Defendant’s use of land is ‘non-natural’ (must be extraordinary & unusual for the standards of the day)
and
- It causes a foreseeable type of damage
What is a claim under Rylands v Fletcher?
Interference with claimant’s land due to the escape of something dangerous from the defendant’s land
claimant must have right to exclusive possession of the land affected by the nuisance
