Hammersmith and Fulham covers Victorian and Edwardian terraced housing across Fulham and Parsons Green, mansion blocks along Hammersmith Bridge Road and Kensington Olympia, and significant redevelopment around Earl's Court, Olympia, and the Fulham Reach riverside. Almost all the older stock carries windows that have received natural light for well over the 20-year easement threshold under the Prescription Act 1832, which means major regeneration schemes, mid-rise residential redevelopment, and significant infill all routinely raise rights of light questions. London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham planning consent does not address that legal position.
We act on Hammersmith and Fulham schemes from the London head office, with reach across Fulham, Hammersmith, Earl's Court, and White City, supported by colleagues in Essex and Hampshire. CHP is RICS regulated and has been advising on rights of light since 2004. The London team handles this work with specialist focus, with most projects requiring daylight and sunlight reports on the same planning submission.
Every Hammersmith and Fulham project starts with a free initial assessment, identifying which neighbouring windows are likely to carry the 20-year easement 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 Hammersmith and Fulham that typically means Earl's Court and Olympia regeneration schemes, mid-rise residential blocks, and rooftop conversions where airspace development advice often runs alongside. Calls go through to a qualified surveyor rather than a call centre.
In most cases, yes. The path forward is usually a negotiated settlement with the adjoining owner, paid in exchange for a release of their legal right to light against the new building. Damages are typically calculated by reference to the share of the development profit attributable to the part of the scheme causing the infringement, and the figure is significantly easier to predict when the rights of light position has been quantified at the design stage. Injunctions are rare where matters are handled properly and early.
Planning consent from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham does not resolve the rights of light position, so the legal track has to run alongside the planning track on every Hammersmith and Fulham scheme that sits close to existing windows. A free initial assessment is the fastest way to put a number on the risk.
