A complaint of statutory nuisance laid before the magistrates must contain even if in summary form, similar details as would appear in an abatement notice, including the capacity in which the defendant is served and the steps required to be taken to abate the nuisance complained of. The defence available under section 99 was available … Continue reading Warner v Lambeth London Borough Council: QBD 26 Mar 1984
The claimant police officer considered being transferred to Northern Ireland. He asked and was incorrectly told that his housing allowance would not be affected by taking time off work. Held: The break between employments had affected his entitlements. The finding of a duty of care and its breach involved no new extension of the law. … Continue reading Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v Lennon: CA 20 Feb 2004
Maghull Brook passed under a densely populated part of Merseyside, in an enclosed culvert constructed in about 1958. The question was whether this part had become a sewer before 1 April 1974, because of the culverting work. The parties discussed which was responsible for its maintenance, being successors to the authorities who had orginally constructed … Continue reading Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council v United Utilities Water Ltd: CA 31 Jul 2001
When considering if premises fell within the section, and were ‘in such a state as to be prejudicial to health’, the court must consider some feature of the premises which was in itself prejudicial. An arrangement of rooms which was unsatisfactory and might be considered insanitary did not fall within the provision. The risk of … Continue reading Birmingham City Council v Oakley: HL 29 Nov 2000
The tenant appealed dismissal of his claim for damages. He had suffered serious injury after inhaling carbon monoxide fumes from a defective gas fire. The fire had not been maintained and a fall of soot eventually prevented the escape of fumes. Held: The appeal succeeded, and the defendant was 80% liable for the injury. Where … Continue reading Sykes v Harry and Trustee of Estate of Harry, a Bankrupt: CA 1 Feb 2001
The claimant sought judicial review of the decision to serve an abatement notice in respect of premises where the normal noise incidents of living were heard in neighbouring flats, which notices were to be abated by noise insulation. Held: The contention that a lack of adequate sound insulation can cause premises to be in such … Continue reading Vella v London Borough of Lambeth: Admn 14 Nov 2005
The tenant claimed that he had been injured when as the upper portion of a window was being opened one of the cords of the window sash broke and the top part of the window slipped down and caught and injured his hand. The plaintiff admitted that the defect was latent one (of which the … Continue reading Morgan v Liverpool Corporation: CA 1927
The Court was asked as to the registration of a playing field as a ‘town or village green’. Local residents asserted that their use of the land, having been ‘as of right’ required the registration. They now appealed against rejection of that argument. Held: The basic issues was ‘where land is provided and maintained by … Continue reading Barkas, Regina (on The Application of ) v North Yorkshire County Council and Another: SC 6 Mar 2014
The claimant sought an order for possession of land outside St Paul’s cathedral occupied by the protestor defendants, consisting of ‘a large number of tents, between 150 and 200 at the time of the hearing, many of them used by protestors, either regularly or from time to time, as overnight accommodation, and several larger tents … Continue reading City of London v Samede and Others: QBD 18 Jan 2012
T complained of being injured when the ceiling fell in the house. The defect was latent. Held: L was not liable without notice of the defect. Judges: Finlay J, Mackinnon J Citations: [1926] 2 KB 315 Statutes: Housing, Town Planning etc Act 1909 15 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Cited by: Disapproved – McCarrick v Liverpool … Continue reading Fisher v Walters: KBD 1926
On an application under the 1936 Ac, provided that the field benefited council tenants (which it clearly did) it did not matter that it also benefited other people within the local community. Denning J said: ‘The next question is whether the order [that was the compulsory purchase order] is invalid because, in addition to houses … Continue reading HE Green and Sons v Minister of Health (No 2): 1948
The respondent appealed against a finding that the provision which made a loan agreement completely invalid for lack of compliance with the 1974 Act was itself invalid under the Human Rights Act since it deprived the respondent lender of its property rights. It was also argued that it was not possible to make a declaration … Continue reading Wilson v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry; Wilson v First County Trust Ltd (No 2): HL 10 Jul 2003
The appellant had bought the house with the defendant as a sitting tenant. He sought possession, saying that he required the house to live in himself, and offered alternative accomodation which had no garage. Held: The provisions as to whether alternative accomodation was reasonable did not come into play when an appropriate alternative was offered. … Continue reading Briddon v George: CA 1936
The plaintiff bought her apartment, but discovered later that the foundations were defective. The local authority had supervised the compliance with Building Regulations whilst it was being built, but had failed to spot the fault. The authority appealed a finding that it was liable, arguing that the claims were time barred and that it had … Continue reading Anns and Others v Merton London Borough Council: HL 12 May 1977
Patten, Sales, David Richards LJJ [2016] EWCA Civ 1176, [2016] WLR(D) 633 Bailii, WLRD Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 England and Wales Landlord and Tenant Updated: 26 January 2022; Ref: scu.571936
Rylands does not apply to Statutory Works The claimant laid a large gas main through an embankment. A large water supply pipe nearby broke, and very substantial volumes of water escaped, causing the embankment to slip, and the gas main to fracture. Held: The rule in Rylands v Fletcher continues to exist as a remedy … Continue reading Transco plc v Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council: HL 19 Nov 2003
The complainant made a series of requests to the London Borough of Merton (the Council) for information relating to visits by an Environmental Health Officer to a property which was under the complainant’s control and management and which had been the subject of a series of prosecutions under the Housing Act 2004, the Prevention of … Continue reading Merton London Borough Council (Decision Notice): ICO 16 Jul 2013
The claimants had been in coaches being driven to take part in a demonstration at an air base. The defendant police officers stopped the coaches en route, and, without allowing any number of the claimants to get off, returned the coaches to London. The officer acted saying that he feared a breach of the peace … Continue reading Laporte, Regina (on the application of ) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire: HL 13 Dec 2006
Rectification – Chartbrook not followed Opportunity for an appellate court to clarify the correct test to apply in deciding whether the written terms of a contract may be rectified because of a common mistake. Held: The appeal failed. The judge was right to conclude that an objective observer would have understood – just as Barclays … Continue reading FSHC Group Holdings Ltd v Glas Trust Corporation Ltd: CA 31 Jul 2019
Nottingham Corporation on June 4th 1930, resolved that a certain area should be a clearance area, and on the same day made a compulsory purchase order in respect or part thereof. On that part of the area there were 39 houses of which 27 were the . .
The council set out to acquire two plots of land for development for housing. After the process had begun, it was decided that some of the land should be uised for educational purposes. A Land Charge had been served but the matter not completed. A . .
A female tenant endured six years of misery caused by cockroaches, described as a quite appalling infestation for which she was in no way responsible.
Held: The court was not satisfied that the dismissal of the tenant’s claim was the right . .
The appellants challenged the refusal to grant them injunctions to prevent Roma parking caravans on land they had purchased.
Held: Parliament had given to local authorities exclusive jurisdiction on matters of planning policy, but when an . .
The claimants sought to have registered as a town or village green land in Whitby which had been provided as a playing field by the Local Authority since 1934. The inspector had found that the use had not been ‘as of right’ as required by the 2006 . .
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The University wanted to sell land for development free of restrictive covenants. It had previously been in the ownership of both the servient and dominant land in respect of a restrictive covenant. The Borough contended that the restrictive . .
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The tenant had given notice to the landlord’s agent that a sash-cord in the only window of a bedroom had broken. No repair was effected and about two months later the second sash-cord broke injuring the tenant. The House was asked whether there was a breach by the landlords of the implied undertaking in the … Continue reading Summers v Salford Corporation: HL 1943
Premises’ Defect – No Notice Liability on L The tenant’s wife was injured falling from defective stone steps leading from the kitchen to the back kitchen of the house. Under section the 1936 Act, the judge found the house not to have been kept in the state required. No notice of want of repair was … Continue reading McCarrick v Liverpool Corporation: HL 1947
A continuing common intention of the parties to a document alone will not suffice to justify rectification. For rectification to be appropriate, there must be convincing proof that the concluded instrument does not represent the common intention of the parties. Where there has been prolonged negotiations resulting in a formal instrument, with parties having their … Continue reading Crane v Hegeman-Harris Co Inc: ChD 1939
The council appealed against the finding that the complainant’s premises occupied under a tenancy of the council, constituted a statutory nuisance which they had a duty to abate. The claimant’s son was disabled and his condition involved behavioural problems. She said that the kitchen was, in view of his condition too small and dangerous in … Continue reading Cunningham v Birmingham City Council: Admn 6 May 1997
The court was asked whether a culvert under a railway carried a sewer or a watercourse. It appeared that the construction of the railway had interrupted natural watercourses which drained a large catchment area, and the culvert was to carry the water away despite the obstacle created by the railway embankment. If it was a … Continue reading British Railways Board v Tonbridge and Malling District Council: CA 1981
Lessees asked the court for variation of the terms of their lease so as to permit further subdivision of the premises. The application failed in the county court. The landlord’s interests elsewhere might be affected if the application were granted, by leading to further applications of a similar kind; that the landlord’s objection to an … Continue reading Sarum Trust Ltd v Duke of Westminster: 1953
cw Public Health – Nuisance – Complaint by tenant – Local authority’s compulsory acquisition of house in clearance area – Local authority postponing demolition as house capable of providing accommodation of standard adequate for time being – House statutory nuisance – whether nuisance order appropriateThe local authority compulsorily acquired a house in a clearance area … Continue reading Salford City Council v McNally: QBD 19 Dec 1974
The House considered the interaction of the 1936 and 1957 Acts as to the distinction between the questions of injury to health and fitness for human habitation: ‘It was not a defence to establish that the house, the subject of the complaint, was occupied by reason of section 48 of the Housing Act 1957 and … Continue reading Salford City Council v McNally: HL 1976
Savile J: ‘I am not persuaded that because there is now the Control of Pollution Act and there was previously the Noise Abatement Act that therefore lends any support to the construction [that the Public Health Act 1936 did not apply to premises whose standard of noise insulation was such as make the premises prejudicial … Continue reading London Borough of Southwark v Ince: QBD 1989
The question was whether the premises in question were in such a state as to be prejudicial to health, being injurious, or likely to cause injury, to health. The defects included dampness. Evidence was given by a self-employed public health advisor, who had previously been a senior public health inspector. He had inspected the premises … Continue reading Patel v Mehtab: QBD 1980
The defendant had constructed a reservoir to supply water to his mill. Water escaped into nearby disused mineshafts, and in turn flooded the plaintiff’s mine. The defendant appealed a finding that he was liable in damages. Held: The defendant was bound ‘sic uit suo ut non laedat alienum’. ‘The defendants, treating them as the owners … Continue reading Rylands v Fletcher: HL 1868
The plaintiffs sought damages after being injured when the ceiling of their bedroom fell on them. They were tenants of the defendants. Held: The 1961 Act implied a duty on L to keep in repair the structure. What was meant by ‘keep in repair.’ A landlord’s obligation to repair only arose when he had notice … Continue reading O’Brien v Robinson: HL 19 Feb 1973
In a domestic tribunal such as that a disciplinary hearing, all that is required is that the three basic requirements of natural justice be fulfilled; namely (1) that the person should know the nature of the accusation against him or her; (2) that . .
The claimant sought damages after the planning authority allowed the first defendant to conduct a manufacturing business in the course of which spraying activities took place which caused them personal injuries and loss of business.
Held: The . .
A Local Authority found guilty of a statutory nuisance is not thereby liable for a civil damages suit. . .
