Law Commission consults on reforms to law on rights to light
The Law Commission has launched a consultation on proposed changes to the law relating to rights to light.
The four provisional proposals are:
- For the future it should no longer be possible to acquire rights to light by prescription.
- A new statutory test will be introduced to clarify the current law on when courts may order a person to pay damages instead of ordering that person to demolish or stop constructing a building that interferes with a right to light.
- A new statutory notice procedure would be introduced requiring those with the benefit of rights to light to make clear whether they intend to apply to the court for an injunction (ordering a neighbouring landowner not to build in a way that infringes their right to light), with the aim of introducing greater certainty into rights to light disputes.
- The Lands Chamber of the Upper Tribunal should be able to extinguish rights to light that are obsolete or have no practical benefit, with payment of compensation in appropriate cases, as it can do under the present law in respect of restrictive covenants.
The Law Commission said: “This project investigates 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 considers the interrelationship of rights to light with the planning system, and examines whether the remedies available to the courts where rights to light are infringed are reasonable, sufficient and proportionate.”
The consultation paper, which can be viewed here, examines the law relating to the entire life-cycle of a right to light, from creation to extinguishment.
The Law Commission said it had three key objectives in mind, namely to:
- Introduce greater certainty and transparency into the law as it relates to rights to light, making disputes simpler, easier and quicker to resolve;
- Ensure that rights to light do not act as an unnecessary constraint on development;
- Make sure that the important amenity value of rights to light remains protected under the law.
The Department for Communities and Local Government had previously expressed an interest in the Law Commission taking on such a project.
This followed the High Court decision of HKRUK II (CHC) Ltd v Heaney [2010] EWHC 2245 (CH), [2010] 3 EGLR 15, in which the court granted an injunction requiring partial demolition of a building which obstructed a neighbour’s right to light, in circumstances in which many expected the court to decline that relief and award the payment of damages instead.