When Do I Have The Right Of Light?

     You as a property owner have the legal right to a certain amount of light and you should know those rights.  In your home, or in your office building, you have the right to light.  Over half of the room should be lit by natural light.  This can be compared to the light provided by a candle placed one foot away, and should be the least amount of light provided.  This is a concept that needs further explanation.

     Let's say you've been working at your office building for the last 20 years or more, and you've always enjoyed sitting at your desk working as the morning sunshine beams through the window.  Having sunshine come through your windows has allowed your creative mind to work efficiently.  Then your neighbor decides to build a ten story office complex building right outside your window.  You're actually disturbed that your invigorating morning enthusiasm is about to be blocked by this new building.  Don't fret, because there is an old English law taken from the English Prescription Act of 1832 that will actually come to your aid.  It is your "Right Of Light".  This right of light protects you from losing the illumination that you've enjoyed for the past 20 years or more, and allows you the upper hand.  You are entitled to forbid any construction or other obstruction that would deprive you of that illumination. Your neighbor is required to get permission from you in order to block your light.  Your neighbor has to take into account that when he builds his new building project, he is not infringing on your right to light.

     If you decide that you don't want to forfeit your right to light, you could claim that the building has to be smaller.  A dollar figure could be added to the cost of you giving up that right so the building project can continue.  What about the fact that you don't want the project to built at all.  You even have that option available.  There has actually been issues like this where the new building was designed, and then ordered to be dismantled or redesigned in order to not obstruct the right to light of a neighboring building owner.  Can you imagine what that would do to the old adage of loving your neighbor as you love yourself?  Those friendly little chats that you and your neighbor had each morning hanging over the fence would turn into heated debates.  Don't you think this type of problem could cause some major issues with your building project?  This is why you need to be careful and have someone in place that knows exactly what you're up against!  This could be one of the most subjective planning issues of your new building project.  Great interest will be given to how you overcome this project hurdle. They will want to be satisfied that the window is not interrupted from skylight by your building project.  Primary and secondary windows are usually what type of windows categorized.  Secondary are usually windows that aren't given much attention, and usually aren't as important as a primary window.  Most of the light that comes into your office is from a primary window.  Secondary windows are often ignored by the planning departments in their impact assessments.

     The job of the building project manager is a tough job, because he has to take into account several different types of hindrances.  Your neighbor putting up a large garden wall or tall shed is one example.  Another one might be commercial developments.  Some of the fixes that an Access Consultant would suggest would be to offer a dispute resolution, or an expert witness.  Preparation and registration of light obstruction notices would be completed.  With technology today, we can even create 3D models to simulate certain aspects of the building project.
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