Status: We intend to start this project in early 2012, publishing a consultation paper in early 2013
A "right to light" is an easement that gives landowners the right to receive light through defined apertures in buildings on their land. The owners of land that is burdened by the right cannot substantially interfere with it - for example by erecting a building in a way that blocks the light - without the consent of the benefiting owner.
Rights to light are valuable: they give landowners certainty that natural light will continue to be enjoyed by a property – increasing its utility, value and amenity. The right may enable landowners to prevent construction that would interfere with their rights or, in some circumstances, to have a building demolished. Where a development has taken place, but a court does not order its demolition, the court may award substantial damages. It may not be clear which remedy the court will order and landowners may succeed in preventing development even if they raise the issue after building has commenced.
The Law Commission’s recent work on easements, covenants and profits à prendre reviewed the general law and did not examine specific easements. It did, however, highlight the need for further work on rights to light. Such rights can have extremely important practical consequences for development. They will usually (and much more commonly than most easements) arise by long use rather than any express agreement between landowners. There will have been no activity on the burdened land to highlight the use, and the right will rarely have been registered. As a result, in many cases those burdened by and benefiting from rights to light will be unaware of their existence. The planning system does not take account of private rights of this sort, and so rights to light can impact on development even where planning permission has been granted.
The project
This project will investigate whether the law by which rights to light are acquired and enforced provides an appropriate balance between the important interests of landowners and the need to facilitate the appropriate development of land. It will examine the interrelationship with the planning system, and it will examine whether the remedies available to the courts are reasonable, sufficient and proportionate.
Next steps
We will review, in discussion with Government, how to take the project forward in the light of consultation responses. If the project proceeds to a final report with draft bill, we anticipate that publication will be in early 2015.
