Period housing on Andover's high street and the older residential streets sits alongside post-war expansion through housing estates to the north and east. Most of the older stock has windows that have received natural light for well over the 20 years required to acquire the easement under the Prescription Act 1832, which means conservation area schemes, infill near the town centre, and significant rear extensions all routinely raise rights of light questions. Test Valley Borough Council planning consent does not address that legal position.
We act on Andover schemes from the Hampshire office, with reach across Stockbridge, Whitchurch, and the surrounding Test Valley villages, supported by colleagues in London and Essex. CHP is RICS regulated and has been advising on rights of light since 2004. The local Hampshire team handles this work faster than London-led practices, and we can pull in our rights of light assessments overview where it helps the wider design team.
The starting point on every Andover project is a free initial assessment of the proposed scheme. We identify which neighbouring windows are likely to carry the 20-year easement under the Prescription Act 1832 and the points of the proposed massing most likely to cause an issue. A full rights of light analysis follows using specialist software, with existing and proposed light levels modelled and tested against the Equivalent First Zone and the 50/50 rule for each affected room.
Where modelling shows likely infringement, the cutback analysis tests design variations including reduced ridge heights, set-back upper floors, and adjusted fenestration until the scheme works for both the planning case and the rights of light position. For Andover that typically means conservation area infill near the high street, residential extensions on period housing, and small mixed-use redevelopment. Where the work overlaps with the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, we coordinate party wall services from the same team.
An infringement does not automatically stop an Andover scheme, but it does expose the developer to either an injunction, which can require alteration or in extreme cases demolition of the offending part of the building, or a damages award calculated as a share of the development profit attributable to the lost light. Most matters resolve through negotiation, with a release of rights agreed in return for a settlement payment to the adjoining owner.
Quantifying the position before drawings are signed off gives the design team room to cut back massing, reposition windows, or rework the upper floors at a stage when changes are still affordable. Where settlement is the right route, we handle the negotiation through to a deed of release. A free initial assessment is the fastest way to put a number on the Andover risk.
