Update | Residential property: CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme Order, changes to chancel repair liability, the rights to light consultation

The last few months have seen some major developments in the UK's residential property landscape. New permitted development rights could change the face of Britain's residential property market for a generation, the rights to light consultation has closed - potentially affecting many homeowners and the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme Order came into force on 20 May 2013.

Here I will consider some of the key ?legal changes of the past three months, ?and their implications.

Commercial to Residential rules introduced

On May 30, the government introduced sweeping changes to the UK's planning system. Automatic approval is now given to a large number of developments, including larger home extensions, enabling many buildings to be used as schools, and authorising the changing use of offices ?to homes.

The rules which came in last month are a more restricted amendment of the rules than the 2011 proposals, as it is only offices and not all commercial uses that will benefit, although this does not prevent a landowner first taking advantage of already existent permitted development rights to convert to an office, and then convert to residential, in both cases without the need for planning.

Planning consent would still be necessary however if any external works were required to the building in order to convert to residential and there are other limitations, such as areas of contamination, high flood risk or where conversion would have a large impact on traffic infrastructure, then planning consent would still be required also.

Seventeen Local Authorities have been granted exemptions from the rules, with applications for these exemptions particularly popular from London boroughs and particularly the City - which raised concerns the changes would affect the financial hub.

The driver for these changes is the perceived urgent need to increase housing supply, also evidenced by the like of the new "Help to Buy" equity loan scheme available from 1 April 2013 whereby the government will provide 10-20 per cent interest free (initially) loans to buyers of new build residential properties.

Energy efficient

Property and energy are increasingly inseparable and this month saw an important date in both calendars.

The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme Order came into force on 20 May 2013 meaning the number of fuels which are covered by CRC will be reduced from 29 different fuels to just two (electricity and gas) and the Performance League Tables (which given the previous dropping of the proposals for penalising poorer performers based on performance in those tables seemed inevitable) have been abolished, although participants' aggregated energy use and emission data will continue to be published. Further, the date for the surrender of CRC allowances will be the end of October in each year, extended from the current July date.

Where a lease of a building is in place the new rules provide for the CRC liability to lay with the tenant in longer lease cases (over 30 years) rather than landlord.

The majority of participants in the controversial CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme will no doubt welcome this change to the Scheme which reduces the administrative burden upon them. Over 2,000 required participants based on their energy usage must measure and report their emissions from the electricity and heat they use, and purchase allowances from the government to cover these emissions. Hitherto the scheme has been beset with criticisms over its complexity and cost of implementation.

Most of the other 46 simplifications will take effect in 2014 and in 2015/16, the government is to review the overall effectiveness of the scheme and has also stated that they will remove the tax element of the CRC as a "high priority" when public finances allow, whenever that may be.

The changes and government stated intentions, while welcome from a regulatory burden perspective, perceive an uncertain future for the scheme and for landlords and tenants in particular this will make the task of implementing tenancy documents which seek to fairly attribute responsibilities and liabilities for compliance under the scheme rather tricky.

Changes on the horizon

A date for the calendar - from 13 October 2013, chancel repair liability (CRL) will no longer be an overriding interest which binds a purchaser of land whether or not they knew of the liability in favour of the Parochial Church Council (PCC). This means that the only way for the PCC to continue to be able to charge CRL to property owners in their parish is to ensure that a notice of the potential liability is entered in the Land Registry title to the property (or by lodging a caution against first registration in the case of ?unregistered land).

In some areas the PCC are actively registering their rights against properties in advance of the deadline. However the good news for property owners is that those properties who hitherto may have been subject to such liability will no longer be liable if the PCC fails to register its rights by the deadline and there is a subsequent sale of the property for value.

Rights to light: consultation closes

The Law Commission's rights to light consultation closed recently after opening in February this year. This consultation has highlighted the issue of rights to light which are usually only considered by homeowners when there are proposals to develop neighbouring land. It has also prompted those potentially affected by a change to the law to consider protective applications to secure their light rights.

Ask any estate agent and they will tell you how much easier it is to sell a property with rooms lit naturally rather than artificially. Therefore, a nearby development which restricts a property's access to sunlight can prove very detrimental to the look and feel of a property and by implication affect its value.

It is important to know that these rights are not considered by the local authority as part of the planning application process -hey are a private right that the landowner must seek to protect themselves.

The Law Commission is now looking to abolish the ability to acquire the rights available to property owners through "prescription", otherwise known as "long use" to acquire a right to light.

Currently, a building may acquire a right to light if it has been that way without consent or agreement for an uninterrupted period of 20 years. This is rarely registered and this ambiguity can predictably create difficulties for those looking to build new developments adjacent to existing properties.

The law governing interference with these rights can still be problematic. There is often uncertainty over whether the likely or actual interference with the natural light is sufficient to be "actionable" and if so whether the court will grant an injunction preventing or removing obstructions or whether it will award damages instead.

However, rights to light are often the only option for a homeowner faced with an unwelcome neighbouring development if it has been granted planning permission.

If the Law Commission's proposals are adopted in full, then it will mean that homeowners could face more difficulties in opposing nearby developments that impact on light to their homes - though there may be little or no immediate loss in value to homes attributable.

Although, for homeowners who have not already claimed prescriptive rights, they could be left struggling and without a remedy if a nearby development impedes their light and this could go on to see the value of their home adversely affected.

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