Removal of chimney breast in house

cherry76

Just had a nightmare of surveryor's building report. It is going to cost loads and to make matters worse I just found out the removal of chimney breasts require building regulations and the work is illegal as no application has even been submitted to the council. According to CS, I can put it right and they can investigate the work but it will cost a lot. This is the report from surveyor. I think I will have to walk away from thishouse, I feel gutted. £750 in the drain.

"In the rear of the living room and the kitchen, the original chimney breasts have been removed. Support should be provided to the remaining sections of the chimney breast in the bedroom and bathroom above but any support that is provided is concealed within the depth of the floor and could not be inspected. As there is no visible sign of support, there is a strong possibility that no support is provided. Removal of the chimney breasts requires building regulation approval and a check should be made with the local authority building control office to see whether this was obtained, which may provide confirmation that support was provided. If there is no building regulation approval and the present owners are unable to confirm the arrangements, the floors or ceiling should be opened up to check that support has been provided or for support to be installed."

silvercar

£750 in the drain.

Actually it could be the best £750 you ever spent.


All the surveyor has said is that there may or may not be support. Check with the council, if there is no support the sellers need to sort it PDQ. They will encounter the same problem with whoever buys the house, so it is in their interest to sort it.

Harry_Powell

I agree with previous poster, this is a problem for the seller, not for you. This happened to my brother when he was looking to buy his house a few years ago. The house had a loft conversion that did have planning permission but no completion certificate. The seller had to get in touch with the council and sort it all out. They ended up having to make some minor changes due to a change in planning legislation between when they finished the loft conversion and requested the completion certificate. It made the loft conversion look better TBH.

Your seller will have to apply for retrospective planning permission for the removal of the chimney breast and will receive a completion certificate once a representative from the planning office has approved any work carried out.

If you didn't have the survey done you could have bought an unsafe house. Thank your stars that the surveyor found this now and the seller will have to foot the bill.

mlz1413

Well done supports are hidden as they are in the cavity between floor and ceiling (downstairs) and/or in loft (upstairs)

If they have got them a smallish hole for inspection and then filling/plastering will be all that is needed - all for the seller to worry about.

If it hasn't got them £750 well spent not to buy a house that isnt's correctly supported. Which is excately what a survery is for.

AMILLIONDOLLARS

Had this problem in the house I am now living in. Breast removed in the Lounge. We had to remove the breast in my daughter's bedroom which was sited above and make the Breast safe in the loft. Building Control came in to inspect and pass the work. We did not have to seek permission, as I think the work had originally been carried out in the late 70s when through lounges were all the rage!!

AMD

botchjob

Sounds like a typical surveryor's report to me, and is not necessarily something to get too worked up about without further investigation. You should get a quote for the work and then deduct that from your offer. But it would also be interesting to know when the chimney breast had been removed, as this would give you a pretty good idea if there is any real problem.

I sold a flat once where the buyer had a full survey done, which – in typical surveyor fashion – picked up on the fact that part of an external chimney breast had been removed. The buyer (a nervous FTB) got slightly freaked by it, fearing the house would collapse at any time. We worked out that the chimney breast work must have been done 25+ years previously, when the house had been converted into flats, and had stood happily since then with no cracks or other scary signs. The buyer calmed down after that.

The problem with surveyor reports, particulary for FTB’s is that the can scare the bejesus out of you with things that aren’t necessarily going to be a problem in reality. Still, it gives you some bargaining power to negotiate the price down. Personally, I always get a full-report done, on the simple premise that at the very least I’ll be able to cover the cost of it in a slight drop in price with what it picks up. And if a house needs significant work, it’s the best money you can spend.

cherry76

Oh dear, there is not much time for investigation, time limit is end of June. Sellers are desperate to move and my contract runs out in August and I need to let EA knows by next week whether I am staying or not. " months notice they want.

My gut feeling is telling me to walk as it is going to cost loads to put things right but I fell in love with the house. The kitchen and bathroom are new and the surveyor cannot tell if the kitchen floor is timber on concrete or timber with no concrete, the house is a period one over 100 yrs. It needs to be checked and if it is timber with no concrete, it will cost £3500 to put it right as it will need ventilation,but he said that can wait for another 5 yrs. The electrics are not earthed and it is a modern unit.

I do not really understand much about the survey and it is really scary. Would anybody with more experience care to check my report for me, please? You would need to pm me your email address. I have got it as a PDF. I have posted the costings before and here is the link. I had to pay surveyor extra £100, I guess to make it easier for me to negotiate. I do feel for the vendors as they are selling the same price they bought at a loss. I guess, it is their own fault if they did not investigate the chimney breast before.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1729655

Regarding the chimney breast, since surveyor cannot tell whether there is support or not. Who can tell, according to council, no record for planning permission in that address? Thanks a lot, have not been able to sleep due to all these hassles.

poppysarah

Don't rush because of deadlines. Make sure you're aware of all costings and inconveniences

AMILLIONDOLLARS

It didn't cost me that much to have the removal of the chimney breast done. To be on the safe side I would say between 1-1500k, to remove, plaster the wall and secure in the loft if you went down my route. Why not get a builder to quote. In my case it made the rooms bigger so that was an added bonus

AMD

lovemotown

Now youv'e got ME worried!

I plan to put my house on the market shortly and my builder friend took our chimney breast out about 15 years ago.

Are we saying I should have got planning permission as I know loads of people who have taken them out, (including my adjoining neighbour) without planning permission!

Will this be a problem if I find a buyer??

silvercar

You don't need planning permission, but you now need building regs consent. I don't know whether you needed anything 15 years ago, other than for it to be done in a safe manner.

The rules have changed over the years, including restricitions on the size of chimney that can be supported by gallow brackets.

Remember also that the concern is mainly when a chimney breast has been taken out downstairs and remains either upstairs or in the loft. If it has been totally removed, ground to sky, there is nothing needing supporting.