Cases - Andreae v Selfridge and Co. Ltd
Record details
- Name
- Andreae v Selfridge and Co. Ltd
- Date
- [1938]
- Citation
- Ch 1
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Party walls
- Summary
-
The plaintiff occupied land from which she operated a hotel. The defendant owned the surrounding land and carried out extensive demolition work on this land for rebuilding purposes. The plaintiff sued the defendant for nuisance arising out of the dust and noise and claimed that she had lost significant custom as a result. The Court of Appeal considered that, since building operations cannot be carried out without a certain amount of noise and dust, neighbours have to put up with a certain amount of discomfort. If building works were reasonably carried on and all proper and reasonable steps were taken to ensure that no undue inconvenience was caused to neighbours, they would not be entitled to complain. However, the defendant had caused noise at unreasonable hours and the quantity of dust and grit was described by the court as insufferable. The duty was to take proper precautions, to take reasonable skill and care and to see that the nuisance was reduced to a minimum. This could include restricting the hours of work, the amount of a particular type of work done at any one time and using proper technical methods to avoid inconvenience. On the facts of the case, the plaintiff succeeded.