Latest news with #MohamedBakhty
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Yahoo
When is your neighbour (legally) being a nuisance? The law explained
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.
The Independent
19-05-2025
- The Independent
Couple awarded damages after 170 footballs kicked into garden of £2m home
A couple who own an idyllic £2m country home have successfully sued the county council after footballs were repeatedly kicked into the garden of their property. St Anns, an impressive sprawl in Winchester, Hampshire, became a 'no go area' after a primary school built a football pitch next door, the High Court was told. Homeowners Mohamed and Marie-Anne Bakhty said the sports pitch had 'taken over' their life, with 170 footballs kicked into their garden in less than a year. The couple was awarded £1,000 after the High Court ruled Westgate All Through Primary School's decision to build the pitch and stray balls landing in the garden amounted to a public nuisance. Mr Bakhaty, a 77-year-old property developer, claimed he was forced to stop using his garden as a place of rest after the school 'deliberately' built the pitch to 'upset' the couple. His 66-year-old wife Ms Bakhaty, once a keen gardener, said the 'continuous, horrendous noise' of the pitch had caused her distress. Judge Philip Glen ruled that while stray balls might be annoying, the 'frequent projection' of them onto someone else's property breached common law. In 2021, a grassy playground was transformed into an all-weather play area with five-a-side football pitch after money was raised for the project. It was surrounded by a green wired fence and built roughly two metres from the boundary of the couple's home. But by October 2022, Mr and Mrs Bakhaty issued a civil claim against Hampshire county council alleging a common law nuisance. When Judge Glen visited the home, he found 20 footballs lining the flowerbeds of the garden, according to court documents. He ordered the council to pay the couple £1,000 in damages for the period in which there was 'excessive use' of the play area. However, he said it would not be appropriate to grant an injunction, which is what the couple had initially requested. He said in his judgment: 'There can also in my judgment be no objection to the use by the school of the area presently fenced off behind the all-weather play area for structured activities such as natural history lessons. 'Indeed, if a net was erected to prevent balls, and other objects, from crossing the boundary fence, I cannot necessarily see that there could be any real objection to opening this area up altogether.' He also said: 'I do not consider that the defendant 'threatens and intends' to continue the nuisance that I have found existed, albeit that they would have liked in other circumstances to have done so.'
