Cases - Jolliffe v Woodhouse

Record details

Name

Jolliffe v Woodhouse

Date

(1894)

Citation

10 TLR 553

Legislation

Metropolitan Building Act 1855

Keywords

Party walls - Metropolitan Building Act 1855

Summary

The defendant served notice under the Metropolitan Building Act 1855 that he wanted to pull down and rebuild the party wall. The plaintiff claimed that he had taken an unreasonable time to complete the works and was awarded damages by the judge. The Court of Appeal upheld the judge's decision, considering that a building owner had a duty to rebuild with reasonable speed or in a reasonable time.

The basis of this claim is not entirely clear from the judgment, although one of the appeal judges referred to the defendant's obligation under the Act not to cause unnecessary inconvenience to the adjoining owner.