The right of use and enjoyment of land or property by an owner or occupier has long been established in law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, property owners don\u2019t have the absolute right to use their land in any way they wish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is because one person\u2019s right to do whatever they want on their land could conflict with another person\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1860, private nuisance was defined in Bamford v Turnley<\/em> as \u201cany continuous activity causing a substantial interference with a claimant\u2019s land or his use or enjoyment of that land.\u201d A private nuisance claim is therefore regarded as a civil wrong that can give rise to a claim against the person causing the nuisance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interference by nuisance can come in many forms such as excess noise, pollution of air or water, mould and damp, vibration and encroaching tree roots for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proceedings in the civil courts do offer a remedy for concerned parties, but it can often be a challenging and lengthy process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Local authorities have powers to enforce remedial action, but this is subject to the vagaries of time, interests and budgets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what happens when things go awry and how can you make a claim?<\/p>\n\n\n\n An effective route for the individual to address any nuisance if a landlord fails to act is through the procedure laid out in the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Most people are surprisingly unaware of this procedure, however it is being used more frequently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Section 82 allows an individual to apply to the Magistrates\u2019 Court for an abatement order:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Should the court take the view that the nuisance exists or is likely to recur then failure to comply with the order may amount to a criminal offence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This confers a significant power upon the applicant and represents a valuable tool in rectifying what is likely to be a distressing situation for the resident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Claims for private nuisance can be made by owners of the land, those with exclusive possession of the land or those occupying the land as a tenant or licensee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A benefit of this procedure is that an application, properly made, does not carry the same adverse costs risks as civil proceedings. If you win, you may be entitled to have your costs paid. It can also be executed quite quickly, which may lead to the nuisance be rectified more speedily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Let op:<\/strong>\u00a0Dit artikel is oorspronkelijk gepubliceerd op onze vorige website en dient alleen ter algemene informatie. Hoewel het de juridische situatie weergeeft op het moment van schrijven, kan de wet veranderd zijn sinds de publicatie. Neem contact op met ons team voor up-to-date advies op maat van uw omstandigheden).<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9518","knowledge-base","type-knowledge-base","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n