Letter From Proximity About Rights of Light? | Daylight Protect

Proximity has no connection with Daylight Protect. This is independent information for property owners who have received correspondence from them. All statements about the firm are drawn from its own published material and were checked on 11 June 2026.

Proximity's name describes its product: the firm advises developers on everything that can go wrong with the neighbours, bundling party walls, access and oversailing licences, rights to light, daylight and sunlight, solar glare and construction nuisance into a single coordinated service it has trademarked as Proximity Risk. For you, the bundle is the thing to watch, because one of those items is not like the others.

• Proximity is a specialist firm of chartered surveyors acting for developers, with a focus on pricing neighbour risks early in a project's appraisal. On this scheme, your right to light is one of those priced risks.
• Party wall matters and rights of light are separate legal regimes. One comes with a statutory process and a surveyor whose fees the developer pays. The other comes with nothing unless you arrange it.
• When the same friendly point of contact handles both, the difference blurs, and the blur only ever costs the neighbour. Keep the files separate and check your claim free of charge.

Who are Proximity?

Proximity is a specialist consultancy of chartered surveyors advising on what it calls Proximity Risk: the full set of third-party issues a development can trigger with its neighbours, spanning party walls, access licences, oversailing, rights to light, daylight and sunlight amenity, solar glare, construction damage and construction nuisance. Its own material emphasises getting involved early in the development process and putting credible figures on these risks for the developer's appraisal. The team is experienced and the proposition is commercially astute. The implication for you is the same one that runs through every page in this series: by the time their letter reached you, your property had already been assessed, categorised and, in all likelihood, given a number.

Why does bundled contact need extra care?

Because the bundle contains two very different things, and the friendlier the process, the easier they are to confuse. Party wall matters run under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996: a statutory framework with notices, awards, and the right to a surveyor whose reasonable fees the developer pays. It exists to let works proceed while protecting you from damage. Rights of light have none of that. There is no statutory dispute procedure, no appointed surveyor, no developer-funded adviser acting for you. A right to light is a private easement, typically earned through 20 years' enjoyment under the Prescription Act 1832, and it is dealt with by private negotiation or, ultimately, the courts. We explain the difference in full here: rights of light and party wall are separate regimes. When one coordinated adviser handles both streams for the developer, a cooperative mood from the party wall process drifts naturally into the light conversation. Cooperation in the first costs you nothing. Cooperation in the second is the product being collected.

What might Proximity's letter be asking for?

Any of the standard items, sometimes several at once, which is itself the tell. A party wall notice or schedule of condition arrangements, which follow their own statutory track. A request for access to survey your windows for light modelling: handle on advice, since conduct is weighed if a dispute later reaches court. A notification or offer on rights of light, drawn from the risk figures prepared for the developer's appraisal. A deed of release for signature, permanent and binding on every future owner of your home. Or reference to a light obstruction notice under the Rights of Light Act 1959, the one item with a statutory clock attached. Whatever arrives, sort it into two piles before responding: party wall in one, light in the other. Nothing you sign in the first pile should touch the second, and anything that tries to bridge the two deserves a specialist's eyes before yours reach the signature line.

What should I do before responding?

Acknowledge receipt if asked, engage with the party wall process as the statute provides, and commit to nothing on light: no figures, no history of your windows, no signatures. Then get the light question independently assessed by someone whose fee does not come from the developer, because on rights of light, unlike party walls, no such person is provided for you. The value of your claim will turn on the one variable the developer's appraisal cannot fix in advance: whether you can credibly enforce it. The honest comparison of your options is here: claims company vs your own surveyor vs solicitor.

How can Daylight Protect help?

The Daylight Protect Claim Plan handles your whole claim on a no win, no fee basis. Specialist solicitors act for you, and insurance included in the plan pays the expert bills, the court fees and the other side's costs if the claim fails. Our fee is a percentage of your compensation, paid only when you win. Everything is set out in writing before you start, and if your claim is unsuccessful you pay nothing. The developer's appraisal already contains a number for you. This plan is how you make sure it is the right one.

Find out what your claim is worth →

Daylight Protect is a litigation facilitator, not a firm of solicitors. We arrange and manage rights of light claims on a no win, no fee basis; legal work is carried out by independent specialist solicitors who act for you. Our fee is payable only if your claim succeeds.

Frequently asked questions

Is Proximity's letter genuine?

Yes. Proximity is an established specialist consultancy and coordinated neighbour contact is a normal part of how developments are run. Genuine letter, developer's instruction, and two legal regimes inside one envelope.

The party wall surveyor is being paid by the developer to act for me. Doesn't that cover the light issue too?

No, and this is the single most expensive misunderstanding in this area. The party wall appointment exists under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 and ends at that Act's boundaries. Your right to light sits entirely outside it, and nobody is appointed or paid to protect it unless you make that happen.

They've given me a figure that covers "all matters." Should I take it?

Treat any all-matters figure as a flag, not a convenience. A single payment that quietly includes a release of your light bundles your most valuable right in with routine construction goodwill. Have the light element separated, valued independently, and negotiated on its own terms before anything is signed.

This article is general information about rights of light in England and Wales, not legal advice on your specific circumstances.