Neighbour removing chimney breast

arsenalboy

My neighbour has asked me to meet with their architect. We are mid terrace and they wish to remove chimney breast at ground floor level in the rear tenement. This will require some work to the party wall to take some sort of steelwork on their side. We should not be affected if done properly.

I am aware that this comes under the Party Wall Act and there is a procedure to follow where they serve me with documents of the work to be done.

Does anybody know whether in these circumstances I should employ my own architect/structural engineer, obviously at my neighbours expense to ensure all is okay.

Or is this over the top?

Billy_Bullocks

It's up to you, if you're happy what they're telling you is correct and it will be done right then there's no need.

arsenalboy

Billy_Bullocks wrote: »

It's up to you, if you're happy what they're telling you is correct and it will be done right then there's no need.

My concern is that as a lay person how do I know whether the proposed works are going to be okay.

I am looking for what my rights would be if something went wrong and I hadn't had the works professionally vetted. Would I be legally able to claim redress or could it be claimed I hadn't followed due diligence?

Billy_Bullocks

arsenalboy wrote: »

My concern is that as a lay person how do I know whether the proposed works are going to be okay.

I am looking for what my rights would be if something went wrong and I hadn't had the works professionally vetted. Would I be legally able to claim redress or could it be claimed I hadn't followed due diligence?

Your rights would be the same either way.

abssorb

The works will be subject to Building Regulations and your neighbour will very likely do it all properly if there's an architect.

Your local council will have a Building Control dept, and all councils have their own advice version of the general building regs.

This might be helpful:

http://www.hyltonchimneys.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Charnwood-Chimney-Stack-Removal.pdf