NUISANCE: THE USE OF GENERATORS

MEANING OF NUISANCE

It is common in local parlance to hear something like, “he has constituted himself into nuisance”. Nuisance here is taken to mean an act which is an irritation or annoyance to other people. In law, this definition is similar, but goes further to mean an interference with the rights of others through conducts which amounts to annoyance or irritation.

Nuisance is not actionable per se. This means that the victim of nuisance must establish by evidence that he suffered damage or an injury as a result of the act of nuisance committed by the defendant. The defendant will not be held liable for nuisance if the victim cannot proffer evidence of damage or an injury.

There are two types of nuisance: public nuisance and private nuisance. I shall deal with each of them briefly in this discussion.

Use Of Generators
I must touch on this issue because it is an issue which has generated so much bad blood between neighbors, co-tenants and occupiers of adjourning premises.

In view of our abnormal circumstances where light is not available when needed, majority of people, especially in the towns and cities have resorted to the use of generators for power. The situation has virtually turned every citizen into an independent power producer (IPP). In many houses, the number of generators have doubled the number of occupants, as some people possess two or more generators to take care of their power needs. The number of occupants in many habitations can easily be determined by the number of generators. The situation is worse in tenement buildings with quite a number of rooms, some as many as 20 or 30. And you could find an average number of about 15 generators in such a house, depending on the population. This has not left out the industrial and manufacturing companies as everybody rely on power for their daily activities.

The manner of use and types of generators are, therefore, as varied as the idiosyncrasies of the users. There are some users who only require the generators to provide light for a few hours before switching it off. Others would normally switch off their generators before midnight when they are ready to sleep. There are others too who prefer to leave the generators working till daybreak.

The cacophony of noise generated by these generators can better be imagined. It is a bit fair for those living in flats, who can afford to put their generators on the balcony and shut out the noise. But it is terrible where you have 10 to 20 generators working at the same time in a tenement building and all the generators are installed at the back of the windows.

There have been many complaints and acrimonies as a result of generator use. I have witnessed situations where co-tenants, even those living in flats have taken up their neighbors in fight that the noise from the generator is preventing them from enjoying sound sleep. This has also created so much argument on the rights of each occupant of the house to the use of generators.

No doubt, every occupant of a premises is entitled in law to the use of generator for his/her convenience. But the generator must be used in such a way that it does not interfere with another man’s right to peaceful enjoyment of his premises. It is clearly wrong for me to leave my backyard or balcony and then put my generator in the backyard or balcony of my neighbor where the noise will disturb him. It is nuisance for me to place my generator in such a way that the fumes from the exhaust are directed at my neighbor such that he is disturbed by it. It is nuisance for me to block my neighbor’s access route by the way I install my generator. It is actionable against me if my generator spills oil which flows to my neighbor’s premises. It is nuisance if my generator is positioned in such a way that the smoke blackens or stains my neighbor’s premises.

I want you to please take particular note of our peculiar situation before suing for nuisance. The bottom line is to determine if the defendant’s use of his generator is reasonable in the circumstances. The question to ask yourself before you take a legal action is, how will an average, reasonable man react to the way the defendant uses his generator?