Portsmouth's naval and maritime heritage shapes a built environment of Victorian and Edwardian terraced housing across Southsea and the older streets, post-war reconstruction in the central area, and ongoing harbourside redevelopment around Gunwharf Quays. Most of the older residential stock has windows that have received natural light for well over the 20 years required to acquire the easement under the Prescription Act 1832. Harbourside regeneration schemes, mid-rise residential blocks, and rear extensions on Southsea terraces all routinely raise rights of light questions, with Portsmouth City Council planning consent not addressing that legal position.
We act on Portsmouth schemes from the Hampshire office, with reach across Southsea, Cosham, Havant, and the surrounding 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, with most Portsmouth projects requiring daylight and sunlight reports on the same planning submission.
Every Portsmouth 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 Portsmouth that typically means harbourside mixed-use redevelopment, mid-rise residential schemes, and rooftop conversions where airspace development advice often runs alongside. Calls go through to a qualified surveyor rather than a call centre.
An infringement does not automatically stop a Portsmouth 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 Portsmouth risk.
