The UK Supreme Court’s decision on the Tate Modern’s viewing platform — holding that a nuisance has been committed — suggests we could potentially see an onslaught of nuisance-based claims where one party is overlooked from another building (“Tate Modern flat owners win landmark privacy case ”, Report, February 2).
However, careful advice should be taken before issuing such a claim as there could well be many distinguishing factors.
Here the Tate was not considered to have put in place any effective mitigation measure, the relevant part of the building was intended as a viewing platform, and the impact on the flat owners was very significant — given the numbers of members of the public that looked out from the viewing platform. Also, the question of what remedy will be imposed is not yet decided. It remains to be seen whether the flat owners will receive an injunction which prevents use of the viewing platform at all, or imposes a number of mitigation criteria. Instead, it is possible that the flat owners are compensated in money.
Anyone looking to bring similar claims would therefore be advised to proceed with caution—the potential to seek redress in such a case is far from settled.
Lisa Barge
Head of Real Estate Litigation
Eversheds Sutherland
Birmingham, UK