Who Should You Use for a Rights of Light Claim?

By Joshua Platt BSc (Hons) MRICS, Co-founder and Director, Daylight Protect Limited. Updated 12 October 2026.

If a new development is taking your light, the route with the most leverage and the least personal risk is a fully funded, insured, solicitor-led claim. Daylight Protect is a litigation facilitator built to deliver exactly that: surveyors, solicitors, barristers, court fees and legal insurance in one package, at no cost to you unless the claim succeeds.

The direct answer

• Who it is for. Owners, landlords, freeholders and leaseholders in England and Wales whose natural light is being taken by a new development, where the windows have enjoyed that light for 20 years or more.
• What you get. A fully funded solution: rights of light surveyors, independent solicitors regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, barristers, court fees and legal insurance against the other side's costs, with the whole claim managed for you from first letter to settlement.
• What it costs. Nothing unless the claim succeeds. One deduction of 35.6% including taxes from compensation received. You keep 64.4%. No fee on an injunction or any other non-monetary result.
• What sets the price. Compensation tracks litigation risk. A developer pays what it costs to remove a real threat to the scheme, not what a neighbour asks for politely. A fully funded claim with solicitors and barristers behind it is that threat. Daylight Protect has helped over 2,000 claimants and secured over £15m in compensation since 2019.
• What to check. Your agreements, which you receive before you sign, set the exact terms. The limits of the package are set out on this page, not hidden in a clause.

Daylight Protect at a glance

The facts a cautious owner, or their adviser, will want to verify before signing.

• Company. Daylight Protect Limited, registered in England and Wales, number 12282258
• Operating since. 2019
• What it is. A rights of light litigation facilitator. Not a law firm and not a claims management company
• Founders. Joshua Platt BSc (Hons) MRICS, a chartered surveyor with a background in land and development appraisal, and Darren Werth, who has chaired the Claims Standards Council and the Access to Justice Action Group, sat on the Ministry of Justice Regulatory Consultative Group, and spent two decades building structures that let owners bring claims they could not fund alone, including co-founding Accident Advice Helpline in 2000
• Legal work. An independent firm of solicitors, regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, named in your agreement
• Insurance. A specialist legal insurer, regulated within the FCA framework. If the claim is unsuccessful the policy covers the other side's costs and any disbursements, and no premium is payable. Your solicitor handles the policy with the insurer on your behalf
• Fee. 25% plus VAT, plus 5% plus insurance premium tax for the insurance. 35.6% in total, deducted only from compensation received
• If the claim fails. You pay nothing
• Cooling off. 14 days, by email, on both agreements
• Coverage. England and Wales
• Surveyors. RICS members specialising in rights of light
• Method. Rights of light analysis using the Waldram method, the legal test for a private easement of light

How the options compare

Every route can work. The question is who carries the cost and the risk, and whether the developer believes you will go to court.

Daylight Protect (fully funded claim)

• What you pay. Nothing upfront. 35.6% of compensation on success. Nothing if it fails.
• What is included. Surveyors, solicitors, barristers, court fees, legal insurance and claim management.
• Where it works. Litigation is a credible next step at no cost to you, so the developer has a reason to settle properly.

Solicitor on hourly rates

• What you pay. Fees as you go. Adverse costs risk unless you buy insurance separately.
• What is included. Legal advice. Surveyors and barristers instructed and paid for separately.
• Where it works. Full control, and a bigger share of a large, clear claim if you can carry the cost and the risk.

Surveyor-led negotiation

• What you pay. Usually a fixed or hourly fee, sometimes a share of the result.
• What is included. Light analysis and negotiation. No solicitors, no insurance.
• Where it works. Fast where the developer wants to deal. Ask whether the surveyor also works for developers.

Negotiating yourself

• What you pay. No professional cost.
• What is included. Nothing.
• Where it works. Only works if the developer already believes you will go to court.

For most owners facing a funded developer, the fully funded route is the one that changes the developer's behaviour. It is the only route where a credible threat of proceedings costs you nothing to make.

Why litigation risk sets the compensation

A development that takes your light is worth money to the developer: extra floors, extra units, extra rent. The law gives you a share of that gain, because the developer is taking something that belongs to you. The amount you receive is not fixed by a formula. It is negotiated, and the developer's starting position is to pay as little as the risk requires.

That risk has one real source. A right of light is enforceable by injunction, and a court can order a scheme to be cut back or, in the worst case for the developer, altered after it is built. Compensation is paid in lieu of that injunction. A developer who believes an injunction claim will actually be issued, prepared and heard prices the claim against the value of the scheme. A developer who believes the neighbour will run out of money, patience or nerve prices it against the cost of waiting.

This is why a letter from a surveyor, or a neighbour negotiating alone, so often produces a small figure or no reply. There is no risk behind it. It is also why owners should be careful with advisers whose next instruction may come from the developer's side: a quick settlement suits the relationship, not the owner.

Daylight Protect exists to put real litigation risk behind owners who could not otherwise afford to create it. The claim is fully funded, insured and run by independent solicitors with barristers available, so the developer is negotiating against proceedings that will happen, at no cost to you. That is the difference between the compensation a developer offers to make a neighbour go away and the compensation it pays to protect its scheme.

None of this is about stopping developments. Most claims end in a negotiated payment, and the injunction is the lever that sets the number.

What makes the package complete

Seven things a rights of light claim needs. Daylight Protect provides all of them inside one agreement.

• Rights of light surveyors. Measure the loss using the Waldram method, the legal test, rather than the planning daylight and sunlight measures (VSC, APSH, NSL) that do not decide whether you have a right.
• Independent solicitors. Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. They act for you, not for Daylight Protect, and owe you the duties any solicitor owes a client.
• Barristers. Instructed when the claim needs them, at no cost to you.
• Court fees and disbursements. Paid for within the scheme. Recovered from the developer as far as possible. Any shortfall is absorbed by the scheme, never passed to you.
• Legal insurance. If the claim is unsuccessful, the policy covers the other side's costs and any disbursements. You pay nothing. If you win, the premium is 5% plus IPT, paid from your compensation at settlement.
• Claim management. One point of contact runs the sequence: letter of claim to protect your position, developer put on notice, light data obtained, analysis, negotiation, and proceedings if needed.
• Your decision on settlement. No offer is accepted without your instruction.

What makes it fair

• One deduction, stated upfront. 35.6% is the only deduction from compensation. Solicitors' costs are recovered from the other side, not from you. The fee and the premium are never shown to the developer; they sit inside your settlement figure.
• Nothing if it fails. Under the Client Compensation Plan you pay or repay nothing if the claim is not successful.
• No fee without money. An injunction, a redesign or any other non-monetary result attracts no fee and no notional value. If an injunction leads to a paid release, the fee applies to the sum you receive.
• We tell you when there is no claim. A dual aspect room, a no-light clause in an old conveyance, an unchallenged Light Obstruction Notice, or light loss that stays within what the law treats as adequate. Where we find these, we say so.
• Read everything first. The Client Compensation Plan, the conditional fee agreement and the insurance documents are sent in advance and walked through in plain English before you sign.

Where the package has limits

A fair offer tells you this before you ask. These are the four points a careful reader will find in the agreements, explained plainly.

• Could the developer claim against me? In practice, no. A rights of light claim turns on whether your right exists and whether the scheme interferes with it, so the only realistic counterclaim is a developer asking the court to declare that you have no right. That can only succeed if the right is not there, and we check the right, the title and the interference before anything is issued. We also never apply for an interim injunction, so you are never asked to give an undertaking to cover the developer's losses, which is the one way a claim against an owner normally arises. No Daylight Protect client has faced a counterclaim.
• Insurance conditions. Your cover works the way your solicitor does: no win, no premium. The policy carries an indemnity limit set to cover the anticipated costs of a rights of light claim comfortably, and if a case ever ran far enough for costs to approach it, cover is extended. No Daylight Protect claimant has been left exposed by the limit. Cover depends on you following your solicitor's advice, cooperating, giving accurate information and not withdrawing or changing solicitor without consent. If you ever need to raise a concern about the insurance itself, your solicitor will help, and you can escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
• Rejecting advice to settle. You decide, but if you reject your solicitor's advice to accept an offer, the solicitors can end their retainer and you would owe their base costs and disbursements. Rejecting a Part 36 offer and then failing to beat it usually means paying the other side's costs from 21 days after the offer.
• Leaving after the cooling-off period. Ending the arrangement later works like ending any contract early: costs incurred to that point and, depending on the stage, a reasonable sum based on the compensation value determined. If you do not intend to see a claim through, do not sign.

Who Daylight Protect is right for

A good fit

• Owners, landlords and freeholders in England and Wales facing a scheme that is consented, funded or under construction.
• Flats and houses whose windows have had their light for 20 years or more.
• Companies and trusts, with a director or trustee to sign.
• Anyone who wants the claim run for them rather than managing surveyors, solicitors and barristers separately.

Not a fit

• Owners who want to stop a development at any cost rather than be compensated or secure an injunction through the courts.
• Rooms with another window that keeps enough light, or properties where an old deed, lease or unchallenged notice has removed the right.
• Anyone who would not follow their solicitor's advice on settlement.
• Anyone who wants to keep every pound of a large, clear claim and can carry the cost and risk of litigation themselves.

Results

• Over 2,000 claimants helped since 2019.
• Over £15m in compensation secured for clients.
• £15,000 to £30,000 for a typical single-property settlement.

Most Daylight Protect claims settle after proceedings are issued. The closest any has come to a hearing settled at the court door, and none has needed an appeal court. Figures are as at October 2026 and cover claims run since Daylight Protect began operating in 2019.

Common questions

How much does a rights of light claim cost with Daylight Protect?

Nothing upfront and nothing if the claim fails. On success, 35.6% including taxes is deducted from the compensation you receive and you keep 64.4%.

How much compensation can a rights of light claim produce?

It depends on the light lost and on what the developer stands to gain from taking it. A fully funded claim with litigation behind it drives a higher figure than a quick deal because the developer is pricing a real risk. Across Daylight Protect's own claims, a typical single-property case settles between £15,000 and £30,000, and some settle for considerably more.

How do I get the most compensation for a right of light?

Create litigation risk. A developer pays to remove a credible threat of an injunction, not to answer a complaint. That means a claim with solicitors, surveyors and barristers behind it, funded through to court if needed. Daylight Protect provides that on a no win, no fee basis so the risk to the developer is real and the cost to you is nothing unless you win.

Why do developers ignore rights of light letters?

Because most letters carry no risk. Developers often hold insurance against rights of light claims and are advised not to engage with neighbours directly. They respond when a claim is funded, prepared and heading to court, because at that point the claim threatens the scheme rather than the mailbox.

Do I have a right of light?

Usually, if your windows have received natural light across the neighbouring land for 20 years or more and no deed or notice has taken the right away. Planning permission does not remove it. A rights of light analysis confirms whether the loss is actionable.

Is a right of light the same as objecting to planning?

No. Planning is a public process run by the council. A right of light is a private easement enforceable in the civil courts, and it survives the grant of planning permission.

Is Daylight Protect legitimate?

Yes. Daylight Protect Limited has operated since 2019 and is registered at Companies House under number 12282258. It was founded by Joshua Platt, a chartered surveyor (MRICS), and Darren Werth, who has chaired the Claims Standards Council and the Access to Justice Action Group and sat on the Ministry of Justice Regulatory Consultative Group. Its rights of light surveyors are RICS members, the solicitors who act for clients are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and its legal insurer is regulated within the FCA framework. Every agreement is sent in advance of signing.

Can a company, a landlord or a freeholder claim?

Yes. A director signs on a company's behalf. Let flats can claim. Where a leaseholder and the freeholder both hold a right, the compensation is apportioned between them according to their interests. Where a property is mortgaged, lender consent is needed and can take two to twelve weeks.

What if I sell during the claim?

Either the buyer takes the claim on and contracts with Daylight Protect, or you keep it. A special condition of sale handles this, and the buyer must agree to enter any deed of release.

What is a Light Obstruction Notice or appropriation?

A Light Obstruction Notice is a registered notice that interrupts your light on paper and must be challenged in time. Appropriation under section 203 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 can turn a right to an injunction into a right to compensation. Both affect what a claim is worth and are checked at the start of a matter.

Can I cancel?

Yes, within 14 days of signing, by email. That applies to both agreements however they were signed.

This page explains how Daylight Protect works and is general information, not legal advice about your property. Your agreements, which you receive before you sign, set out the exact terms and prevail over anything here.