Hackney's built environment ranges across Victorian housing in Hackney Central, Dalston, and Stoke Newington, Georgian terraces in De Beauvoir, warehouse conversions in Shoreditch and Hackney Wick, and mid-rise development across the borough. Almost all 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 warehouse conversion projects, mid-rise residential schemes, and significant infill all routinely raise rights of light questions. London Borough of Hackney planning consent does not address that legal position.
We act on Hackney schemes from the London head office, with reach across Shoreditch, Dalston, Stoke Newington, and Hackney Wick, 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, and we can pull in our rights of light assessments overview where it helps the wider design team understand the process.
Every Hackney project starts with a free initial assessment of the proposed scheme against the surrounding context. We identify 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 the 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 Hackney that typically means warehouse-to-residential conversions in Shoreditch and Hackney Wick, mid-rise residential blocks across the borough, and conversion projects on Victorian housing. 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 a Hackney 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 Hackney risk.
