Cases - WH Bailey & Son Ltd v Holborn & Frascati Ltd
Record details
- Name
- WH Bailey & Son Ltd v Holborn & Frascati Ltd
- Date
- (1914)
- Citation
- 1 Ch 598
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Rights of light
- Summary
-
The plaintiffs were the lessees of a property in Oxford Street, London. In 1911, they agreed with an adjoining owner that the latter could carry out building works to its property (known as the 'Gilbert alterations') which would interfere with the plaintiffs' light. The plaintiffs were paid £200 for consenting to the alterations. After these works were carried out, the defendants carried out building works to their property, which also adjoined the plaintiffs' premises. The plaintiffs brought an action for interference with their rights to light. The defendants' defences included an argument that, by consenting to the Gilbert alterations, the plaintiffs had abandoned or lost their right to light over the defendants' property.
The judge held that the plaintiffs had not lost their right to light over the defendants' premises by consenting to the Gilbert alterations. Consent by a dominant owner to a reduction in light coming from one adjoining property, did not mean that he would lose his right to light over other adjoining premises. The judge decided that the defendants' buildings would seriously interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of the plaintiffs' premises, quite apart from the Gilbert alterations, and awarded the plaintiffs damages.