Ex council house - sub standard repairs

Misterbashi

Hi all, bit of an odd predicament and I'd really like to know where I stand.


My property is a mid 40s semi that is ex council, and prior to the council selling it a long long time ago, they removed the chimney breast from the kitchen and bricked it up.
In doing so, they fitted a supporting timber beam to keep the chimney breast in the upstairs bedroom from coming into the kitchen with a bump in the night.


Fast forward to the start of our kitchen renovation, and upon removal of the plasterboard from the partition wall, the discovery of this horror, and also the source of the cigarette smoke ingress from next door....
Our builders are telling me that whoever removed the chimney breast, failed to install a suitable beam to support the upstairs chimney breast and that it has not been adequately hung from the joists.
Looking at the mess there, it would seem like it's a total bodge job and an accident waiting to happen.


Now, do I just suck it up and get it fixed properly at my own cost, or do I have some sort of claim against the council?
I'm pretty sure that the removal of the chimney breast is recorded in the deeds of the house, I'll have to check again to be 100% sure.


I've almost accepted the fact that it's the former, but it's going to be a large bill, so obviously not having to pay it fully or even partially would be a huge help considering the significant outlay for the kitchen and related works!


Thanks in advance

ThePants999

Very sorry, but you have no claim, unless the person you bought the house from explicitly told you a lie about it and you can prove it.

Slithery

What did the surveyor that you employed before purchasing the property have to say about it?

davidmcn

ThePants999 wrote: »

Very sorry, but you have no claim, unless the person you bought the house from explicitly told you a lie about it and you can prove it.

Or you had a survey done which ought to have spotted it.

Hasbeen

Misterbashi wrote: »

Now, do I just suck it up and get it fixed properly at my own cost,
Thanks in advance

Correct it is your property. They did not sell it to you. They sold it to someone else a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away. Sorry could not resist:(

G_M

Do you own the property freehold or leasehold?


If freehold, it's now down to you.


If leasehold (with council as freeholder?) then depending on what your lease says, it may be down to them.

diggingdude

I'm wondering what your reasoning would be that the council is liable?

RelievedSheff

Suck it up. You own the house it is your repair bill.

phill99

No. it is nothing to do with anybody else, except you.

Davesnave

Whatever else may be true, the chimney hasn't collapsed in a 'long, long time' so the argument that the support provided was inadequate is contradicted by the facts.


It may be deemed inadequate now, but now isn't then. Now, people mindful of the potential for litigation, tend to over-specify, or in modern parlance 'cover their @r$es.

Davesnave

davidmcn wrote: »

Or you had a survey done which ought to have spotted it.

Doubtful, if it's under the bedroom floor and above the kitchen ceiling.


Questions might have been asked, though.