Rights to light practice is no longer the mystery that many surveyors assume it to be. Although this so-called dark art has remained a closely guarded secret for many years an open and honest debate has now opened up about the future of professional advice in this area.

Part of this involves a frank assessment (and a clear explanation) of existing methods and this should encourage contributions from many who have not previously been involved in this specialist area of practice. Chartered surveyors who already provide advice in the related area of party walls and neighbourly matters will be particularly interested in these recent developments.

David Parratt’s important contribution to this debate was highlighted in last month’s RICS Built Environment E-Brief when he discussed some problems and anomalies of current practice. The debate has also been unfolding within the pages of Structural Survey, starting with Michael Pitts’ seminal article in the journal’s John Anstey Memorial Issue in 2000. This examined the underlying basis for modern rights to light practice and questioned the continuing relevance of the so-called “grumble point” and “50/50 rule”.

The journal is now promoting an in-depth debate on the subject and two further articles have since appeared. All three Structural Survey articles are available from the PDF Downloads column on this page.

Paul Chynoweth, legal editor of Structural Survey and the author of the two most recent articles, would be happy to discuss further contributions the journal’s rights to light debate with potential authors: p.chynoweth@salford.ac.uk

This article was first published in the Structural Survey Journal.

For more information please visit the Structural Survey website.