Advice on survey recommendation (chimney masonry)

mangog

Hi all,

I have a question about our survey results that I'm hoping to get your thoughts on. I've read everything I can but I'm still not sure what I should do next.

We're FTBs, buying a standard 1901 mid terrace with 2 beds, a box room, and the bathroom downstairs, off the kitchen (this extension was added in around 1970). Most of the stuff on the survey was as you'd expect for a house that age - nothing to worry me, and we have been sent guarantees/documentation for most of the points raised by the surveyor. All in all it's a very safe bet for the property type and had been well cared for by the current owners.

The only point of confusion is that the surveyor noted that "some chimney breast masonry has been removed in kitchen and box room above". Apparently this requires Buildings Regulation approval so our solicitor raised it with the vendor's solicitors, who came back with the response that the vendors have no knowledge of this and there was no evidence of it when they put in a new kitchen in 2013. Now, this doesn't bother me at all - I've lived in a variety of Victorian terraces in the same area for the last 13 years as a tenant, and I'm 99.9% sure they will have all had the exact same work done at around the same time - probably in the 60s - and will be in the same position regarding building regs. I've never had any problems and I've never heard of anyone having issues. However - as a buyer, SHOULD I be doing more to investigate this? Can I just accept it and go ahead, or will this cause problems with my mortgage/insurance/selling the house in future? We plan to live there for a good few years so selling isn't something I'm worried about right now, but I know it's something to bear in mind.

We love the house - we want to buy it and we're not scared off by this because it really feels like it comes with the territory when you're buying a terrace that age (and that is what we want to buy, so there's every chance it'd be an issue with any house we like!) But I just wanted to canvas opinions and ask what my options are here, and if I can reasonably just accept the risk and go ahead.

Thanks for your thoughts!

thelem

Is there any evidence that the chimney was ever there is the first place? Is it still there on the roof? Is there anything in the rooms to show that it was there, e.g. ceiling cornicing that goes around the old chimney breast?

What does your solicitor think about it?

It sounds like the sort of thing people get indemnity policies for, but I don't know if they really serve any purpose.

Mossfarr

I think I'd be more worried if your surveyor had said that ALL chimney breast masonry had been removed and the chimney stack was unsupported (as mine was).
The concern seems to be only that there is no building regulation approval not that its structurally unsound - if he thought it was unsound he would have recommended you engage a structural engineer to investigate further.

You should be able to get an indemnity policy in case the building control bods take any action in the future.

mangog

Thanks so much both! Much appreciated. I can't seem to quote posts so I'll try to answer below:

Thelem:
We saw no evidence of it at all, but I guess we weren't particularly looking! Perhaps this is worth going back to check out ourselves? I'll ask our solicitor for her thoughts.

Mossfar:
Yes, the concern certainly seemed to be about getting documentation - he said he had no reason to suspect that it was "anything other than satisfactory" but that he had not been able to determine whether support has been provided. He said if there was no approval document we should consider "further investigations". I'm not really sure what that would involve. The report also says "the stack has been removed externally but masonry remains in the roof space" - not sure what that means!

It sounds like what we need to do is ask the solicitor to discuss and indemnity policy with the sellers - am I right in thinking that they would pay for that as part of the sale?