When is your neighbour (legally) being a nuisance? The law explained

Yahoo

20-05-2025

A couple have been awarded damages after the garden of their £2m home was bombarded with footballs from a neighbouring primary school.
A High Court judge ruled on Monday that the 170 footballs that were kicked into their garden in Winchester, Hampshire, over a period of 11 months amounted to nuisance.
Mohamed, 77, and Marie-Anne Bakhty, 66, brought a civil claim against Hampshire County Council, in October 2022, alleging common law nuisance over the footballs.
The previous year, The Westgate School next door had transformed their grassy playground into a £36,000 all-weather play area with a five-a-side football pitch after a fundraising initiative.
While the couple were awarded £1,000 in damages, High Court Judge Philip Glen, sitting in Southampton, refused to grant an injunction that would stop the use of the all-weather play area.
He ordered Hampshire County Council to pay the Bakhatys £1,000 in damages for the period when there was 'excess use' of the pitch, and when 'significant numbers of balls were crossing the boundary fence'.
He wrote of the couple: 'I fear, however, that they have become sensitised by the noise from the school in a way which has caused them to become over-invested in their belief that they are victims of a wrong. In short, they have lost perspective.'
The case shines a spotlight on common law nuisance and when a neighbour may be doing something legal on their own land that could have an impact on those living next door. Yahoo News explains.
In UK common law, where decisions are made by a judge rather than statutes, there are two types of nuisance.
One is public nuisance, whereby an act may endanger or obstruct the public in the exercise or enjoyment of their rights.
The other is private nuisance, usually caused by someone doing something on their own land which they are legally entitled to do but that becomes a nuisance when its effects extend to a neighbour's land. Private nuisance is a civil matter not a criminal one.
In the 1997 case of Hunter v Canary Wharf, the House of Lords identified three types of private nuisance: encroachment on a neighbour's land; direct physical injury to a neighbour's land and interference with a neighbour's quiet enjoyment of their land.
Nuisance can include loud noise, smoke from bonfires, vibrations, flooding from a neighbouring property or tree branches encroaching on someone's land.
To constitute a legal nuisance the issue must cause a significant disturbance to the property of the complainant and occur on a regular basis.
In many nuisance cases, neighbours do not realise that their actions are causing a disturbance to those next door, which is why it is advised to talk to your neighbour first if there is an issue and try to resolve the matter without legal action.
Neighbours may also use a mediation service to resolve the dispute. Residents may report a nuisance to their local council, which can take action if it is deemed a statutory nuisance, which can include noise, smoke or artificial light from a premises.
A statutory nuisance must interfere with the use or enjoyment of your home or be likely to injure your health.
You can also make a civil private nuisance claim by applying to the County Court or High Court, however if you lose your claim you may have to pay the other side's costs as well as your own.
Even if you win, you may receive compensation through damages but not get an injunction to prevent the disputed activity from continuing.