Bringing a civil claim in nuisance (often referred to as “private nuisance”) involves going to the County or High Court. A nuisance is usually caused by someone (either an individual, company or other legal person) doing something on their own land, which causes an unreasonable interference with the use and enjoyment of your property. There is a related procedure under the Land Compensation Act 1973 for compensation where the value of your property is diminished from public works such as a new road or alterations to an airport.

For costs-related reasons statutory nuisance is usually worth considering first if you are affected by some activity that it is unreasonable to expect you to put up with. But a civil claim may be more appropriate – for example if you seek very quick relief (via an injunction) from something, or the noise is outside the scope of statutory nuisance (as is aircraft noise other than model aircraft), or your main concern is compensation rather than stopping the nuisance.

Substantial compensation may be appropriate where for public interest reasons the Court will not tell the perpetrator to stop the nuisance – as for example with military jet training, where reduction in the value of your house may be awarded. The Land Compensation Act 1973 similarly offers compensation where you may in practice be expected to put up with noise or other nuisance from public works, but your property value is reduced.

We also defend people in nuisance claims. We have particular experience acting for defendants where people complain about encroaching tree roots, and where in our experience insurance companies and local authorities are often quick to take the easy way out by wanting to fell the tree, even where damage is unlikely and the tree of high value.

In civil nuisance proceedings, unlike in statutory nuisance, the person affected by the nuisance must have a legal interest in the land (e.g. you own your home), in order to bring a claim.

A major obstacle to civil nuisance claims is that there is generally exposure to adverse costs. This means that you could end up being liable to pay the other side’s costs, as well as your own side costs if you lose your claim. You are therefore well advised to check if you have legal expenses insurance cover (which you may already have under a home insurance policy), so your insurers may cover both our and potentially your opponent’s charges and expenses. The rules and practice for this sort of cover are complicated including about choice of solicitor and at what point you must be allowed to choose who represents you, and we advise you to discuss this with us before approaching insurers, but (because they usually need to be notified early about a possible claim) you should do this as soon as ever possible. If you do not have this type of insurance, so-called “after the event” (ATE) insurance may be available. More information can be found on our webpage on insurance.