16 Jul My Neighbours tree is blocking my light. What are my rights?
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I'm having problems with light
Believe it or not, a common theme in tree surgery jobs is neighbour disputes over trees. Which lets face it, it’s not ideal to have neighbourly drama! A majority of the time it can easily be settled with the help of being clear on what your rights are and/or if you can come to an agreement/compromise.
In today’s article we will be covering what your rights are if your neighbours tree is blocking your light. So, lets get our specs on and our legal bible out. Let us enlighten you to the rights of light act 1959. Although – this doesn’t give you a blazing gun for resolving the issue, so make sure to keep reading! If it seems unlikely that you can acquire a Right to Light in terms of your tree, you can explore the option of a High Hedge notice which we have an article on.
The first step that will almost always be advised before going onto your rights is to try and resolve the matter civilly.
Talk to thy neighbour
It’s time to test out your conflict resolution skills – well, I’m sure most neighbours will be willing to communicate so hopefully you won’t have to test them! It’s a good first step to talk to your neighbour and explain the problem you are experiencing. Some neighbours will both contribute together towards the work that needs doing depending on the boundary lines and if the tree spreads over both.
Before you approach your neighbour it’s a good idea to check if the tree is in a conservation area or has a TPO in place. You can find out about this in our article ‘What’s a TPO/Tree Preservation Order? Save yourself a fine’. This means that you can be sure what work can go ahead on said tree to ensure you don’t waste effort or time. You can propose what you would like and then give your neighbour some time to think about it. In most cases if you are both parties are being reasonable this is a simple and peaceful solution.
What is the Rights of light act?
So perhaps the neighbourly chat didn’t go too well and you want to find out the other avenues you can explore. Which leads us onto… The Rights of light act. It’s essential what your rights are to light in terms of being a property owner and is delegated to the Planning Law section of legislation. In this act they specify the light in question as passing over somebody else’s land and through your ‘defined apertures’ e.g. your windows in your house or even conservatory. This does mean however that it doesn’t apply to your garden now receiving less light. It also means that this is not in relation to direct sunlight but natural illumination.
Let’s say that you’ve always enjoyed the sunlight that we so rarely see in the UK (so much so that the NHS advises everyone to take vitamin D throughout the Autumn and Winter) and then a new property development comes along, or perhaps a tree has had a massive growth spurt in your neighbours garden, to the extent that it diminishes the light through your apertures that causes a nuisance – the rights of light act can be put in place. This means that you can take action through this act to gain your light back.
Establishing your right to light
Although the rights of light act is put in place to protect the amount of light you receive it does have some conditions and outlines.
The first and main condition is that you must have received the same level of light for more than 20 years, entitling you to the rights of light. It’s important to note that if the light is diminished within those 20 years, you do not meet the mark for the rights of light and you will no longer be entitled to the rights of light. You can seek advise about this from your local Planning department.
Enacting the Rights of Light Act and what will happen
So how do you go about enacting the Rights of Light Act?
The key piece of paperwork you will need to acquire is a right of light certificate from The Tribunal. The in-depth process for applying for this and where to apply for it can be found here. On page 8 they outline helpful sources for obtaining legal advice and finding a solicitor. Unfortunately to obtain this certificate it will cost some money. ‘The Tribunal’s fee is £1,320 for issuing a certificate, plus an additional £330 if a temporary (emergency) certificate is requested.’
As it’s an investment there’s general advice on what to do before you apply for the certificate to ensure you have everything you need to ensure it’s successful. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (rcis.org) have great advice on this which can be found here. This involves getting evidence to support your case through trustworthy professionals so that it will stand up when being reviewed.
If your application for the Rights of Light certificate is successful it will result in either one of two outcomes – the first being damages, which is a sum of money to compensate for the loss. The second is an injunction which requires the owner/developer who is responsible for the development or trees to demolish or reconstruct or in the case of a tree – reduce or remove it to ensure that your light goes back to normal.
Rounding it up
As this is a costly process which not everyone can afford it’s definitely worth trying to sort out the situation civilly. If this does fail other avenues such as Citizens advice would be worth reaching out to as there may be other avenues you can explore, such as a High hedges notice.
Did you find any of this helpful? Have any questions?
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Posted at 11:46h, 01 Novembercertainly like your website but you need to take a look at the spelling on quite a few of your posts Many of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very troublesome to inform the reality nevertheless I will definitely come back again
info@MT-Trees.co.uk
Posted at 07:44h, 28 NovemberGood Morning,
We’re sorry to hear that and we’ll get on it right away! Thanks for letting us know and we’re glad you’re sticking with us.
MT Trees Team