Colin Oakley outlines the thorny issues that can arise from rights to light & the Law Commission’s attempts to address them
There has been a glut of writing on rights to light since the High Court’s decision in HKRUK II (CHC) Ltd v Heaney [2010] EWHC 2245 (Ch), and the effect that it has had on the development industry and those who advise it.
This article is not primarily about Heaney, although it is possible that it would not have been written had that case never been litigated—or indeed had it progressed to an appeal. Instead, this article is about the Law Commission’s recent consultation paper on rights to light.
The Law Commission’s project on rights to light grew organically from its work on the general law of easements, covenants and profits à prendre. That project culminated in a 2011 report containing our recommendations for reform and a draft bill to implement them, to which we await the government’s response. During the course of our earlier project it became clear—even before Heaney—that
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