Waterside developments around Portchester and Titchfield sit alongside Fareham's Georgian high street, Victorian and Edwardian terraces in the older residential streets, and post-war suburban estates extending the town inland. 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 town centre regeneration, waterside redevelopment, and significant residential infill all routinely raise rights of light questions. Fareham Borough Council planning consent does not address that legal position.
We act on Fareham schemes from the Hampshire office, with reach across Portchester, Titchfield, Stubbington, and the wider Borough area, 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 bring in airspace development advice where rooftop or upper-floor work is part of the picture.
The right time to instruct is early, before drawings go in for planning consent. On a Fareham project, that means commissioning the free initial assessment at the design stage, when changes to massing, height, or fenestration are still affordable. The appraisal identifies which neighbouring windows could be affected and which look likely to carry the 20-year easement under the Prescription Act 1832, and a full rights of light analysis follows using specialist software where the appraisal flags a real risk.
Where the 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. The Equivalent First Zone and the 50/50 rule are applied to quantify any loss. Our rights of light assessments overview sets out the broader method for design teams new to the process.
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 Fareham Borough Council does not resolve the rights of light position, so the legal track has to run alongside the planning track on every Fareham scheme that sits close to existing windows. Where the work overlaps with the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, we coordinate party wall services from the same team.
