Survey found no support or regs for chimney breast removal. Views wanted

Ithaca

Dafthegreat wrote: »

Pointless indeed. Doesn't give me much other than the cost of the enforcement to rectify not the cost of the work required. I won't accept this as a fix to move the process along. Thanks though as since you mentioned it I wouldn't have known about this!

Agreed, it was a waste of paper for our buyers, especially as the council were vanishingly unlikely to take any action (even if they could given the time that had passed) but we were pretty much packed up and waiting for the removal firm by this point so I figured it would cost me a lot more than £60 to delay exchange/completion by another week while we argued over it so we gritted our teeth and rolled our eyes and agreed to it.

danslenoir

Dafthegreat wrote: »

Hi, if they have had work done on the property and not done to building reg standard and unsafe work surely it's their responsibility to have it out right and was only a matter of time before they got pulled up?

How do you know it was the vendor who removed the chimney breast and that it was not removed historically by a previous owner in accordance with any building regulations in place at that time (which may have been none)?

AdrianC

Dafthegreat wrote: »

Hi, if they have had work done on the property and not done to building reg standard and unsafe work surely it's their responsibility to have it out right and was only a matter of time before they got pulled up?

Lack of BR sign-off doesn't mean it's unsafe. It just means that there isn't a piece of paper saying that somebody from the council thought it looked like it conformed with the then-current BR at the time it was done.

OP - get a builder to have a look and give you a firm opinion and - if they think it necessary - an estimate to rectify it. And DON'T get the vendor to do it. Get them to knock the amount of the estimate off the sale price, and get it done yourself - that way, you know it hasn't been done bare-minimum, or just made to look like it's been done. If they won't, then decide whether to walk away or not.

Okrib

There are a lot of assumptions here.

Firstly, you don’t know whether the current owner removed the chimney breast. It could have been done many, many years ago.

Building regulations weren’t in place several years ago, and even if they were, then they change all the time.

It is highly likely that there will be other buyers (especially cash buyers) who – depending on the situation – would be prepared to take a view on this.

The sensible approach would be to find out as much information as you can through the formal channels. I would be less concerned about the building regs if it was done a long while ago. If you want to have a structural engineer visit then that cost would undoubtedly be one that you would have to bear as you are seeking to satisfy yourself that there is no issue. The current owner seems to have no issue with it.

I would suggest taking an experienced builder round who can inspect for signs of movement, cracks etc and offer an informed opinion. It also depends on how many stories the house is, if they have been removed throughout etc.

I encounter this a lot, I just had it on a sale where a door accessing a garden had been there for more than 20 years – and we couldn’t find out exactly when it was put in. This meant it was unenforceable regardless, but the buyer’s solicitor insisted on indemnity insurance at a cost of £60 which was utterly pointless.

It’s never black and white. The vendor might be bemused by you wanting a structural survey on something that has been like that for over a generation and has never caused any issues!