Court decides Shireoaks right of way dispute
Geoffrey Vos QC, sitting as a deputy judge of the Chancery Division
Misrepresentation — Negligent misrepresentation — Assessment of damages — Acquisition of development properties at auction — Misrepresentation by vendors as to status of occupier — Occupier protected under Part II of Landlord and Tenant Act 1967 — Whether normal measure of damages applying (transaction date rule) — Whether application of overriding compensatory rule displacing normal measure in favour of consequential losses — Whether residual valuations appropriate in assessing value of properties in actual state — Whether 50% division of marriage value appropriate price in obtaining possession against occupier
A Nottinghamshire woman has been ordered to rewiden an entrance gate to her property to allow her neighbours, who also use the gate, to access their land more easily.
Lincoln County Court has held that a 22in reduction in the width of the access way, carried out by landowner Jean Boyd without her neighbours’ consent, had “substantially interfered” with the use of the adjacent plot.
Misrepresentation — Negligent misrepresentation — Assessment of damages — Acquisition of development properties at auction — Misrepresentation by vendors as to status of occupier — Occupier protected under Part II of Landlord and Tenant Act 1967 — Whether normal measure of damages applying (transaction date rule) — Whether application of overriding compensatory rule displacing normal measure in favour of consequential losses — Whether residual valuations appropriate in assessing value of properties in actual state — Whether 50% division of marriage value appropriate price in obtaining possession against occupier
A Nottinghamshire woman has been ordered to rewiden an entrance gate to her property to allow her neighbours, who also use the gate, to access their land more easily.
Lincoln County Court has held that a 22in reduction in the width of the access way, carried out by landowner Jean Boyd without her neighbours’ consent, had “substantially interfered” with the use of the adjacent plot.
The court granted an injunction compelling Boyd to reinstate the original entrance width at her home in Shireoaks Road, Shireoaks, near Worksop, and awarded damages to her neighbours, Peter and Denise Lingard.
The Lingards, who own the neighbouring property and have a right of access over Boyd’s land, sought the injunction after she removed a wrought-iron gate at her front entrance in June 2003, and replaced it with a wooden gate hung on brick pillars.
The couple claimed that the new design effectively reduced the width of the entrance from 10ft to 8ft2.
Boyd argued that the reduction had been minimal, and that any interference to the Lingards’ right of way was insignificant or immaterial. Alternatively, she maintained that if an actionable interference had occurred, the appropriate remedy should be limited to damages since any injury caused by the entrance redesign was small and an injunction would be overly oppressive.
However, Mr Recorder Roger Evans held that, because the “right of way could not be substantially and practically exercised as conveniently as before”, the reduction amounted to a substantial interference.
He granted the injunction, stating that the Lingards could reasonably insist on a return to the previous position, and awarded the couple £850 for the “substantial inconvenience”.
Lingard and another v Boyd Lincoln County Court (Mr Recorder Roger Evans) 22 July 2004.
References: EGi Legal News 26/07/04
