House has only a single chimney breast

sj15

Hi, hope you guys and girls can help.
I'm looking to purchase a 2 bed Victorian mid terrace house. 
I noticed it has a chimney breast all the way from the master bedroom to the ground floor lounge.
But in the dining room and 2nd bedroom it is missing, presumably been removed.
I'm getting a survey done but just wondering if this is common? Assuming the worst case as I always do, that this was done as a bodge job, would one chimney breast provide adequate support to the whole chimney? 
Or would it still require some sort of support? Appreciate any guidance as it will take me a few weeks to get a survey arranged and fed back. 
Just also wanted to add that there is significant damp on the wall where the chimney breast used to be..
Should I run a mile?

anselld

If a chimney remains above where the breast is removed then yes it must be adequately supported.
No reason to run a mile (yet).  If it has been done properly there will be records and it will be perfectly safe.
Damp could be a number of things..
     chimney not capped off or ventilated correctly,
     problem with roof or flashings,
     wall incorrectly plastered after chimney breast removal (hydroscopic salts from past combustion products remain in the brickwork and if they are not adequately treated they attract moisture to form damp patches).

jimbog

anselld said:

 If it has been done properly there will be records and it will be perfectly safe.

Thousands were removed in the 60's and 70's and no records would likely have been produced yet alone kept, and yet are perfectly safe

akira181

It's something the surveyor should be able to tell you, ask them specifically to check and report on it.  If it wasn't done properly, I'd expect to see cracks in the plaster unless it's been freshly plastered.  But if there's damp, there's going to be some repair works involved, which could be used to haggle the price depending on how serious it is.