House next door - Victorian terrace, recently sold. New owner is doing a full renovation with plans to rent out as HMO. We have never met new owners but the builders arrived 3 weeks ago. House has been completely gutted- back to brick in every room. They are digging down in the cellar and have so far filled at least 2 10 ft skips with clay/soil.
Today there has been a lot of very loud bangs. We are concerned they are removing parts of the chimney breast (apparently they told other neighbour this was a possibility). Our fireplaces are back to back with theirs and the chimney stack is on our roof.
I have tried to contact building regs at the council several times but no one returned the call. I called the number of the contractor but he hung up when I mentioned party wall and the chimney. I also contacted the company they are using for building regs but they couldn't say anything "because gdpr.....??"
Any party wall experts who can advise on what I need to be saying and to how to get this checked out? We are concerned about both the digging out and the possible chimney works and the fact we have had no communication around this. We can't even find out who owns the house. Help!