Private Nuisance

A private nuisance involves civil disputes between individuals. A nuisance is an 'unreasonable interference with another's use or enjoyment of land.' The claimant must prove that there was an indirect interference with the enjoyment of the land, there was damage to claimant and the interference was unreasonable.

A potential Claimant is someone who owns or occupies the affected land, this was set out in Hunter v Canary Wharf Ltd 1995.

A potential defendant must either be the creator of the nuisance as set out in Southport Corporation v Esso Petroleum, or the owner or occupier of which the nuisance originated.

The interference must be indirect and usually needs to be continuous. A nuisance may occur naturally if the defendant knows about it and does not take reasonable cautions as set out in Leaky v National Trust. However if the damage is not foreseable then the defendant will not be liable, as set out in Holbeck Hall v Scarborough BC. 

There is no requirement for physical damage to have occurred for their to be a claim in nuisance. Discomfort or inconvenience will be sufficient. The damage caused must be physical damage or a loss of amenity. A claim involving actual physical damage is more likely to be successful as in the case of St. Helens Smelting Co v Tipping. The normal rules of causation must be established when proving damage. The damage must not be too remote and the test is based on the remoteness of damage test from the tort of…