Surveyor’s Liability for Aircraft Noise

Farley v Skinner (H of L TLR 15 October)

The defendant surveyor had negligently advised the claimant that it was unlikely that a property he was considering buying would be greatly affected by aircraft noise. The House of Lords unanimously allowed an appeal by the claimant against a majority decision of the Court of Appeal setting aside an award made by the trial judge. The defence had been, first, even if a major or important part of the contract was to give pleasure, relaxation and peace of mind, that was not enough: in order to attract damages the object of the entire contract had to be of that type. Rejecting this contention, the House of Lords held that it was sufficient if a major or important object of the contract was to give pleasure, relaxation or peace of mind. Knott v Bolton ((1995) 11 Const LJ 375) had been wrongly decided. The defendant’s second submission was that damages could only be awarded for breach of a contractual duty of care where the promisor guaranteed achievement of the object and not merely undertook to exercise reasonable care. There was no such distinction, and if there were, the law would be seriously deficient. The House of Lords also rejected the defendant’s final submission that the claimant had acted unreasonably in remaining living in the property. The claimant had made the best of a bad job, and his decision not to move had avoided a larger claim against the defendant. There was no satisfactory legal principle which divested him of a claim for non-pecuniary damages.