Cases - Langbrook Properties Ltd v Surrey County Council

Record details

Name

Langbrook Properties Ltd v Surrey County Council

Date

[1970]

Citation

1 WLR 161

Keywords

Party walls

Summary

The plaintiffs were property developers building a development of shops, offices and residential accommodation. The defendant was responsible for excavations on the adjacent land for the construction of the M3. In order to keep the excavations dry, water had to be pumped out. The plaintiffs claimed that this had led to removal of water from beneath their land and caused the buildings on their land to settle.

The judge decided that, as a matter of principle, a person could abstract water that ran in undefined channels under his land, even if this resulted in the removal of water under his neighbour's land and caused damage to that land. The plaintiff's claim, which was for nuisance and negligence, therefore failed.