On 7 December last year, lawyers representing the residents of Neo Bankside, an apartment block adjacent to the Tate Gallery on London’s South Bank, told judges at the Supreme Court that the gallery’s viewing deck was a “nuisance”.
The deck, Tom Weekes KC argued, enables visitors to the gallery to look directly into their multimillion pound apartments, turning their homes into a “public exhibit”.
It is a case that has generated interest due to the human elements of the story and the legal principles involved.
In February 2019, High Court judge Mr Justice Mann rejected the residents’ claim, ruling that, by living in homes with floor-to-ceiling windows, residents had created a “self-induced incentive to gaze”. He suggested residents install net curtains.
In December 2020, the Court of Appeal also found against the residents. They appealed to the Supreme Court.
And, a year on from its hearing at the highest level, the Supreme Court still has not listed it for judgement.
The legal principle at stake is the definition of “nuisance”. Both the High Court and the Court of Appeal found that “visual intrusion” does not qualify as a nuisance. Lawyers for the resident of Neo Bankside say that it does.
It is not just residents who are waiting. Lawyers are also keen to learn the outcome.
“This was a case that piqued the public interest and gave rise to headlines along the lines of ‘people in glass houses’,” said Charles Russell Speechlys partner James Souter.
“Underneath the excitable headlines, there is a point of significant interest to the worlds of law and property. There has been much debate in the legal world as to whether the law of nuisance will be extended by the Supreme Court.”
The fact that the two lower courts found against residents does not mean that the Supreme Court will do the same, Souter said.
And the delay might reflect the complex legal principles at stake.
“The differences of approach between the High Court and the Court of Appeal who reached the same conclusion, but by very different routes, highlighted how the Supreme Court might reach a different conclusion,” he said.
“My own view is that it could well be third time lucky for the neighbouring flat owners and that perhaps part of the delay could result from the Supreme Court Justices struggling with what is a very finely balanced point of law.”
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hand down judgments on 7 and 14 December this year. The case has not been listed for 7 December and the listings have not yet been published for 14 December.
