Legal Update
February 2013
Rights to light: important reforms proposed by the Law Commission
Consultation Paper
The Law Commission published its eagerly awaited
Consultation Paper containing its recommendations for
reforming the law on rights to light early this week.
The consultation is vitally important to landowners,
developers and occupiers seeking to defend right to
light claims.
The Law Commission’s objectives
The Department for Communities and Local Government
(DCLG) expressed an interest in the Law Commission
undertaking a review of the law relating to rights to light,
following the High Court decision in HKRUK II (CHC) Ltd
v Heaney [2010] EWHC 2245 (Ch), 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. It
has been suggested that the case has made it increasingly
difficult to resolve right to light disputes swiftly and simply.
The primary aim of the consultation is therefore to
investigate whether the current law by which rights to
light are acquired, enforced and extinguished provides
an appropriate balance between the important interests
of landowners and the need to facilitate appropriate
development of land.
The Law Commission has three key objectives in mind:
• To introduce greater certainty and transparency
into the law, making disputes simpler, easier and
quicker to resolve.
• To ensure that rights to light do not act as an
unnecessary constraint on development.
• To ensure that the important amenity value of rights
to light remains protected under the law.
The Law Commission’s proposals
The Law Commission is proposing the following
changes to the current law:
• For the future it should no longer be possible to
acquire rights to light by prescription. This reform
will not affect rights to light which have already
been acquired.
• A statutory test, to clarify the current law on when
courts may order a person to pay damages instead of
ordering a person to demolish or stop constructing a
building that interferes with a right to light.
• A statutory notice procedure, which requires those with
the benefit of rights to light to make clear whether they
intend to apply to the court for an injunction.
• The power for the Land Chamber of the Upper
Tribunal to extinguish existing rights to light which
are obsolete or have no practical benefit.
Other areas on which views are invited
The Law Commission is also seeking views on three
additional areas:
• Whether the test for when an obstruction of light is
actionable is too uncertain.
• Whether the current law on damages for infringing
a right to light should be reformed.
• Whether the law on abandonment of a right to light
should be reformed.
Responding to the consultation
If you would like to respond to the proposed reforms in
the Consultation Paper please send an email to
[email protected].
The consultation closes on 16 May 2013.
If you have any questions about the proposed reforms
and how they may affect your business, please contact
your usual Mayer Brown contact or Philippa Harris.
Philippa Harris
Professional Support Lawyer
T: +44 20 3130 3742
E: [email protected]
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