Property: what lies beneath?

• Considers in depth two cases, one concerning high-voltage electricity cables and the other related to Japanese knotweed.
• These cases show how those involved in property transactions and related litigation should ask key questions in order to avoid or resolve disputes.

Unlike the film about supernatural events under the same title, released in 2000 (observant readers may have noticed the presence of the question mark in the title, differentiating this piece from the film), the topic considered in this article concerns two court judgments of high authority relating to what lies beneath land in very different circumstances.

These judgments concern high-voltage electricity cables and Japanese knotweed. Both are ‘live’ and the evidential thread which links them is that the source of the dispute was that each lay beneath the surface. The first is about solicitor’s professional negligence and the second is about causation of loss in private nuisance claims. The cases are Spire Property Development LLP and another v Withers LLP [2022] EWCA