Right To Light – How Valuable Is It?

How valuable is a right of light? In the first right of light case to come before the Court of Appeal in more than 20 years, it was decided that interference with a right to light could not be compensated by a monetary payment. Instead, an injunction was the appropriate remedy.

The recent decision of Regan v Paul Properties Ltd involved the development of a new five-storey building in Brighton, the construction of which would block the light to the living room of a first and second floor maisonette owned by Mr Regan. The maisonette enjoyed an easement granting a right to light. The top floor of the development was to be a penthouse flat which, when fully constructed, would reduce Mr Regan’s adequate light to his living room to well below the conventional minimum and significantly less than the light he had previously enjoyed.