Chris Bacon wrote:

surveyor wrote:
Removing chimney breasts is notifiable work under Building Regulations
ie a building regs application should have been made.

How is Joe Bloggs supposed to know all this? It's easily within
the realms of D-I-Y, as is re-jigging bathrooms, doing drains,
and a host of other things.

I hate beaurocracy but I would hope most people would consider talking to
building control when removing bits of masonry holding up X-tons of masonry
above (partial removal) or holding up floor joists (total removal).

At least those people who know that you should talk to BC when knocking out
load bearing walls

I wonder why people are so keen to remove chimney breasts - one of my
criteria of house hunting of late is that it should have a chimney - at
least one that can be opened, relined and reinstated. I like open fires
from time to time and I still remember being grateful in the early 70's
that we were still toasty warm in one room at least when all around was
black for 6 hours at a time ;-) Even this year, a lot of houses in my
village were without electricity for a day or two thanks to April snow
bringing down trees across the power lines. If that had affected us in our
rented modern house, we would have been turning into the family Frosty.

Cheers

Tim