Taken off Chimney stack in conservation area

happypie

Hi, during renovation I had taken out entire chimney (breast and stack) from my house, before doing that I spoke to our council's planning team over the phone, the lady was bit unsure if I needed planning permission as my house is in conservation area. She said you should be okay to take it out as its your house but if you need official/formal answer then you can apply for lawful development certificate and you will come to know. Because my builder already started on renovation and couldn't wait for 6-7 weeks so I decided to take it off (thinking that planning lady also thinks I can take it off and she has said this to me on phone). Anyway this was 2 years ago. So far I haven't got any letter from council regarding unlawful development. However I would like to put this matter to end for my peace of mind. Shall I apply for retrospective planning permission or lawful development certificate for this work? If its refused do I need to put chimney back up? It would be impossible as there is nothing to support it now. If its not viable to put it back (in reasonable amount of money), will council issue fine to me and put this matter to end? how much that could be? Will appreciate helpful input. Thanks. PS: my house is in conservation area but not listed building.

frayedknot

If no-one's noticed it's gone in 2 years I wouldn't worry. (Until you come to sell)

WorkHealth

I would try and get this sorted as it will come up when you sell. 
I think if council haven't taken action by now I wouldn't worry about council action if they've not been told but I'm selling now and this type of thing has to be declared and flags as an issue. I'm not sure best way to resolve it, maybe ask on the house selling board or a legal board or take legal advice. Take advice before contacting council as if you tip off council you then can't get indemnity insurance. I'm selling (not conservation area) and one building reg issue has come up and my solicitor says I will probably need to buy idemnity insurance to cover which she says is fairly cheap, maybe £200 or so but think it depends on the issue, mine's a minor one. 

TELLIT01

The OP seems to have taken the 'advice' they wanted to hear i.e. the person they spoke to didn't think it would be a problem, and not the part the same person said about "if you need official/formal answer then you can apply for lawful development certificate and you will come to know"  A high risk strategy, although one they seem to have got away with to date.

happypie

WorkHealth said:

I would try and get this sorted as it will come up when you sell. 
I think if council haven't taken action by now I wouldn't worry about council action if they've not been told but I'm selling now and this type of thing has to be declared and flags as an issue. I'm not sure best way to resolve it, maybe ask on the house selling board or a legal board or take legal advice. Take advice before contacting council as if you tip off council you then can't get indemnity insurance. I'm selling (not conservation area) and one building reg issue has come up and my solicitor says I will probably need to buy idemnity insurance to cover which she says is fairly cheap, maybe £200 or so but think it depends on the issue, mine's a minor one. 

Yeah I want to sort it out so I don't have any issues when I sell it.

Jeepers_Creepers

Hi Happypie. 

When do you think you'll be likely to sell up? If not for at least a year - and the longer the better - then personally I think I'd wait as long as possible before bringing it to Planning's attention and trying to confirm its legitimacy; the longer it remains unchallenged, the less likely the council will try to enforce any change - it becomes more churlish by the year :-)

And it'll also be near impossible for them to challenge your claim that you did contact them for advice at the time and were told "You should be okay to take it out as its your house..."

As said above, be ready to go "Oh! I am surprised..." when you come to sell and (if) it's challenged by the buyer's solicitor; "Dearie me - I'd best get an indemnity arranged then...".

Bringing it to anyone's attention before then suggests an element of doubt on your part.

WorkHealth

This implies it should have had planning permission and building regs as in a conservation area. 
https://www.aleurassociates.com/the-engineers-blog/chimney-breast-removal-the-building-regulations
At this stage I wouldn't alert council until throughly researched how to solve it as if you do you will not be able to get indemnity insurance and sometimes banks require that to lend. 
We bought a house with chimney breast removed (But left above) but our surveyor said it would be cash buyers only as no structural support in place. We resolved that by adding back chimney breast with building regs approval and a specialist builder. We also needed a party wall agreement as it was terraced and on a party (shared) wall. 
I would look into resolving it now as if it is via the council it maybe slow and could also cause problems in a sale but don't alert council until you are certain its correctable via them. 

Mickey666

WorkHealth said:

I would try and get this sorted as it will come up when you sell. 
I think if council haven't taken action by now I wouldn't worry about council action if they've not been told but I'm selling now and this type of thing has to be declared and flags as an issue. I'm not sure best way to resolve it, maybe ask on the house selling board or a legal board or take legal advice. Take advice before contacting council as if you tip off council you then can't get indemnity insurance. I'm selling (not conservation area) and one building reg issue has come up and my solicitor says I will probably need to buy idemnity insurance to cover which she says is fairly cheap, maybe £200 or so but think it depends on the issue, mine's a minor one. 

I’m not convinced by all these ‘it will be a problem when you sell’ comments.  

Much will depend on how the work has been done and whether it’s obvious there’s a stack missing, making the property look ‘odd’.  If it has been removed properly and sensitively then I doubt any potential buyer will notice (unless they desperately want a chimney) and it’s proven that none of the neighbours and the council have either noticed or cared.  It’s two years ago, for goodness sake - how much digging do we think people really do when buying a house?  Treat the house as it exists today, not how it might once have been altered in the past.  All that really matters is that the current state of the house is structurally sound.
Of course, a conveyancing solicitor will give different advice because they have to consider the worst possible case and advise their client accordingly, but meanwhile back in the real world pragmatism tends to reign supreme.

happypie

WorkHealth said:

This implies it should have had planning permission and building regs as in a conservation area. 
https://www.aleurassociates.com/the-engineers-blog/chimney-breast-removal-the-building-regulations
At this stage I wouldn't alert council until throughly researched how to solve it as if you do you will not be able to get indemnity insurance and sometimes banks require that to lend. 
We bought a house with chimney breast removed (But left above) but our surveyor said it would be cash buyers only as no structural support in place. We resolved that by adding back chimney breast with building regs approval and a specialist builder. We also needed a party wall agreement as it was terraced and on a party (shared) wall. 
I would look into resolving it now as if it is via the council it maybe slow and could also cause problems in a sale but don't alert council until you are certain its correctable via them. 

Actually building regulation is required only if I were to remove breast and supported stack (as its structural change and requires proper steel for support). If you remove entire chimney then building regulations are happy and don't care. I can't resolve it, i mean i can't really rebuild chimney. only way to resolve it would be to get council's approval i think. but as I am reading all replies, I would better ignore it as long as I can.

Jeepers_Creepers

I agree.

I would actually wait to see if it even came up as an enquiry during the sale. This is a non-issue. Unless someone actively makes it an issue. And then you address the issue :-)

"Did the house use to have a stack?" "Yup. Removed it during renovations so as to increase room sizes and reduce ongoing maintenance." "PP required?" "Nope - I called them to check, and nope..."