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26 May 2023 / Andrew Francis
Issue: 8026 / Categories: Features , Property
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Public nuisance: all the world’s a stage

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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 are affected (see ‘Fearn v Tate Gallery Trustees:

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