In article ,
"Earl Kella" writes:

I wonder what course of action to take now. It may be difficult to prove
that they did the works as the owners previous to them have since passed
away, so I guess our neighbours statements are our only chance.

Could be worth a browse through all the papers stuffed in with
the deeds. You might, for example, find the estate agent's sheet
describing the property back then, or something else which might
be useful.

In my house, at some stage someone removed the bottom of a
chimney, and made that area into a doorway into a bathroom.
In browsing back through the deeds, I can tell this was
done before 1974, because there's an application for a home
improvement grant in 1974 which outlines that area just as
it is today. (Interestingly, the home improvement grant was
paid, but not all the work described on it was done.)

I think you should be able to get your deeds back from the
building society now, as they are no longer of any value to
determine ownership or charge on a property if it's registered
at the land registry. Some building societies are sending
them all back to the owners anyway now (Nationwide for one,
ISTR).

--
Andrew Gabriel