Cases - Bond v Nottingham Corporation

Record details

Name

Bond v Nottingham Corporation

Date

[1940]

Citation

1 Ch 429

Keywords

Easements

Summary

The plaintiff owned a property adjoining a property which the defendant corporation proposed to demolish. The plaintiff's property enjoyed a right of support as against the property to be demolished. The plaintiff argued that the defendant could not demolish the adjoining property without providing alternative mean of support for his own property. The Court agreed and explained the nature right of support, saying that:

• a servient owner is under no obligation to repair that part of his property which provides the support for his neighbour's; if he leaves it and it falls into decay compromising the support, the neighbour cannot complain;
• however, the neighbour need not sit by and watch the deterioration of the support - he is entitled to enter and carry out the necessary repairs to ensure that the support continues; and
• what the servient owner is not entitled to do is by an act of his own to remove the support without providing an equivalent.

The above cases must be approached with some care, having regard to the development of a tortious duty of care.

In the unusual situation in which a right to support arises by way of express grant, it will be necessary to look at the wording of the grant to determine the precise scope of the right.

An infringement of a right to support may be the subject of a claim for damages, or in an appropriate case, an injunction. The cause of action arises when damage occurs. Where there are successive subsidences, a new cause of action arises on each occasion. Where support has been compromised, but no physical damage has yet been caused, but may be caused in the future, it seems that it is not possible at common law to claim damages for the loss in value of the affected property, although it in appropriate circumstances it might be possible to obtain damages in equity in lieu of an injunction.