Should I remove 1930s chimney stacks?

[DecorDilemma]

I live in a 1930s detached house very similar in style to the stock image attached, and the roof likely needs replacing (we have a persistent leak in one of the "valleys", and a lot of missing/broken tiles all over). The thing I'm agonising over is whether we should keep the chimney stacks, or get them removed to just below roof height in the attic. To be clear, I am not contemplating removing any chimney breasts - just the stacks - so there wouldn't be any change to load-bearing structures.

On one hand, I like the cleanliness of the removal option, as it would reduce the need for future maintenance, and there would be no discontinuity in the roof tiling so it would eliminate some potential leak sites. On the other hand, I'm not sure if chimney stacks are in the category of original features that people think it's a big shame to remove. In general, I like to err on the side of making changes that are in keeping with the character of the house, and I would never change the lovely roofline of the house with, say, a dormer, so I don't know if I should be thinking about chimney removal in the same way.

FWIW, the only room where there is still a fireplace is the living room, and I never plan to use it as a fire (though I will keep the fireplace as a decorative feature).

Remove them.

Fellow old house owner here. I would remove them. Can't afford to remove ours yet but our next door neighbour has and I don't think the house looks worse for it, in fact it took me ages to even notice they didn't have one!
They are a pain in terms of leaks, damp, ventilation etc

@MissAtomicBomb1 Have you had many problems with yours? So far I don't think we've really had any issues with the chimney stacks specifically, but since we're going to have to get the roof done anyway, it would seem silly not to do this now if we're going to do it at all.

Any other opinions from anyone?

Is there any risk of it devaluing the house? I don't plan to sell any time soon, but I suppose if it was likely to put off future sellers when the time comes, that might be a relevant factor.

My attached neighbour and I had out shared chimney taken down this summer - it cost around £1000 including scaffolding. Only thing to bear in mind is if you want a log burner in the future, but no regrets here - no more leaks in to the loft!

Remove. Especially if no underpinning is required and it's a straight forward job.

@DecorDilemma in fairness, we've had no issues with the actual chimney stack. The chimney breast has some damp though. I think it could do with an air brick putting in.
We had thunder storms a few weeks back and our friend's chimney was struck by lightning, caused a fair bit of damage. A freak accident but I'd still like to get rid of ours!

I’m just sorting this out in my own house, 1970s build rather than ‘30s but similar issues. We have a persistent leak in a roof valley that we’ve paid to have repaired twice in the last three years and it still leaks, and then on New Year’s Day we had drips coming through the ceiling from the chimney after horizontal rain. That wasn’t a good start to the New Year!

We finally have the money to replace the roof and take down the chimney. My chimney’s probably not as tall as yours and we have only one, but it’s a 5 bed detached house so quite a big roof. It’s costing us £13.1k which is the most reasonable quote we received for the quality of the work proposed and I got quite a few quotes! My advice would be get them both down when you do the roof. It will save a lot of money and hassle.

I would not remove them, if you have them checked and made good when you have the roof done they will outlive you. Future owners might want to use them, and, assuming they are properly vented already, they are very helpful in ventilating your house.

I'd remove, if they are tall skinny ones like the picture then I'd worry about stability.