Chimney

akimi

We are currently in the process of selling our property. We are close to exchange and have just been asked for building regs for a chimney breast that was removed in the ground floor of the property.

As this was removed prior to our purchase we don't have any info to provide. The buyer is requesting we pay for a structural engineer to carry out an inspection (£600) Does this seem reasonable when you consider that the chimney breast is only two bricks wide at the top and shared with next door (semi detached) I've measured upstairs and only half a brick was removed from the ground floor.

Any advice on this would be much appreciated.

Aylesbury_Duck

They probably want to understand how it was removed and whether the appropriate precautions were taken to support anything above it.

It's up to you. If you say no, they might get nervous and pull out. Are you prepared to lose the sale over £600?

akimi

I understand what your saying but my point is that only half a brick has been removed so due to the construction the rest are all tied in to the remaining stack. Would this even require any additional support and if so what would be sufficient ?
Nothing was mentioned on our survey when purchasing so it's not something we have ever looked into.

robatwork

How much interest was there in your house when they offered on it?

Call their bluff and just say no if you think you can easily resell.

Or say yes and pay the money if you're desperate to move and they were the only interest

Or go halves if it's halfway.

Aylesbury_Duck

akimi wrote: »

I understand what your saying but my point is that only half a brick has been removed so due to the construction the rest are all tied in to the remaining stack. Would this even require any additional support and if so what would be sufficient ?
Nothing was mentioned on our survey when purchasing so it's not something we have ever looked into.

I'm not sure what you want me to say? I can't assess your chimney from here and it's clearly something that your buyers are concerned about. If you think there's no need for it to be surveyed or that it requires little or no remedial work, go back to them and say that. They might accept that, they might walk away or they might reduce their offer. That's a chance you'll have to take if you don't want to pay for a survey.

Section106

akimi wrote: »

We are currently in the process of selling our property. We are close to exchange and have just been asked for building regs for a chimney breast that was removed in the ground floor of the property.

As this was removed prior to our purchase we don't have any info to provide. The buyer is requesting we pay for a structural engineer to carry out an inspection (£600) Does this seem reasonable when you consider that the chimney breast is only two bricks wide at the top and shared with next door (semi detached) I've measured upstairs and only half a brick was removed from the ground floor.

I would ask for a structural engineer's inspection of any property I was buying that had undocumented structural alterations carried out. That is perfectly reasonable.

Whether the £600 cost is reasonable or not will depend on where in the country the property is.

What exactly do you mean by "half a brick"? Has the ground floor chimney breast been removed or not?

akimi

Section106 wrote: »

I would ask for a structural engineer's inspection of any property I was buying that had undocumented structural alterations carried out. That is perfectly reasonable.

Whether the £600 cost is reasonable or not will depend on where in the country the property is.

What exactly do you mean by "half a brick"? Has the ground floor chimney breast been removed or not?

Yes it has been removed on the ground floor but after checking in the loft space and in the upstairs bedroom the chimney breast only protrudes the party wall by about 4 inch.

I will add that a full structural survey was carried out by our buyer almost two months ago and no issue was raised now a week before exchange this gets raised by our buyers solicitor.

This may be the final straw for us as we have been more then fair throughout the process making numerous concessions along the way and agreeing to any request.

Aylesbury_Duck

Sounds like they've already sunk quite a bit of money into the prospective purchase so if you're prepared to take the risk of losing them, call their bluff. It could of course be a last-minute price drop tactic as well.

bearshare

Usually the buyer pays for any surveys (unless maybe if they disco er something that has been deliberatly hidden). Just say you would benhappy for them do have another survey, but they should pay.

PurAsc

Do you have any documentation from when you bought the house that mentions this?

If the work was done before you purchased the house, I'd have thought Building Regulations would have had to have been satisfied then? Perhaps speaking to past estate agents who have previously sold the property might know more about it and be able to shed some light on the situation.