Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

Private nuisance definition

What does Private nuisance mean? In practice, private nuisance describes civil claims for substantial and unreasonable interferences with another’s use or enjoyment of land, or damage to land or rights over it (including easements). It is chiefly a case-law concept: a tort in England & Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland, and a delict in Scotland. Typical nuisances include noise, smells, fumes, dust, vibrations, flooding, and encroaching roots or branches. The court assesses locality, duration, intensity, sensitivity, utility, malice and foreseeability. It protects quiet enjoyment. Claimants are generally owners or lawful occupiers with a proprietary or possessory interest (licensees cannot sue in England & Wales and Northern Ireland;...

Private nuisance in England and Wales: scope, liability, remedies and defences, including noise, odour, vibration, physical damage, easements, privacy and Japanese knotweed

Published by a LexisNexis Property Disputes expert

Practice notes

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What situations can give rise to a claim?

private nuisance amounts to a breach of real property rights. It comprises a substantial disturbance to the claimant’s ordinary use and enjoyment of their land, often through noise or odour, by encroachment, or by actual, physical harm to their property. A nuisance may result from inaction or omission as well as from affirmative conduct, and the guiding principle is one of 'give and take, live and let live'. Interference with an easement benefiting the claimant’s land may equally constitute a nuisance, the right to light being the most familiar example within this category. Nuisance is sometimes described under headings that are merely illustrations within the broad concept of 'violation of property rights':

encroachment upon a neighbour’s land
direct physical injury to a neighbour’s land
interference with a neighbour’s quiet enjoyment of their land

It is said the categories of nuisance are not closed, and that anything short of direct trespass which materially interferes with the claimant’s enjoyment of rights in land is capable of amounting to a nuisance. The claimant may bring a civil action seeking damages and/or abatement, as appropriate to the circumstances. Other claims and...

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Web page updated on 27/05/2026

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