Landowners will be required to declare their intentions to seek rights to light injunctions within a set deadline, under a draft bill proposed by the Law Commission.
The Rights to Light (Injunctions) Bill also proposes a test to clarify when courts can order damages, instead of stopping development or ordering demolition.
Harry Badham, head of development UK at Axa Real Estate Investment Management, said: “Statutory reform of rights to light legislation is well overdue and this draft bill is a step in the right direction towards giving more certainty to the current law, which has become a Gordian knot of complexity and uncertainty.”
The draft bill comes 18 months after the Law Commission launched a consultation on rights to light law following outcry from the development community over the 2011 Heaney case in the high court, which weakened developers’ hands.
“ In the post-Heaney ransom-led world, legislation such as this will help move towards a fair balance between developers, owners and occupiers,” Badham added.
Andrew Tyler, a central London development expert and partner at Knight Frank, said the “key recommendation” to compel landowners to inform developers of their intention to claim would remove uncertainty in the development process.
But he lamented the 229-page report’s lack of guidance on the measure for damages that should be awarded in lieu of an injunction in rights to light claims.
