Chimney breast removal and half a chimney

[Clarehandaust]

So my neighbours a twat
I want to remove the chimney breast from my bathroom
It would make so much more sense to take down the chimney above it rather than do anything else with it
Neither of us use it, but she is a dickhead that we’ve had all sorts of arguments about gardens etc .
She won’t contribute to the cost she’s got no money
So I am quite tempted to just leave her with half a chimney
However, I am trying not to be a dickhead myself and obviously I don’t want to be in the bath one day when a brick lands on my head from her half of the chimney
Anybody know what my options might be?
Thank you in advance and happy New Year, everyone

So you want the chimney removing and she’s a twat for not paying for it?

You’re and completely unreasonable expecting your neighbour to pay for work you want doing and she doesn’t. If I were in her position and you left the chimney stack unstable I’d sue for damages. And win.

Your option is to pay for a steel beam to be inserted in your ceiling to take the weight of the chimney above. Then your part of the chimney can be removed. If this will cost more than removing both chimneys and making good you could offer to pay for both to be done instead, but she may not want the hassle.

You options are to ask her nicely for consent and hope she says yes and pay for all the work yourself. Or not do the work. If she doesn’t consent, you can’t legally go ahead.

I think you might also need a party wall agreement and to pay for her to have a separate surveyor if she wants to.

No, I completely accept that. I will have to pay for this.
She’s a twat for lots of other reasons

I’ll pay I’m not bothered about the money.
I’m more worried about if she doesn’t want her half of the chimney removing which again is her prerogative
Can we leave half a chimney stack up?
And what happens if it then collapses onto my property because I understand that’s not insurable?

I don’t think that’s true, jingle

Is it a shared chimney? My house originally had 3 chimneys, 2 of which were just mine, and one a shared one with my neighbour. The shared one would have serviced the kitchens and back bedrooms. I knew, from the survey when I moved in, that the shared one needed a lot of work, but had been ignoring the issue. When I needed some other work doing which meant I had a lot of scaffolding up it seemed worth looking at. However the neighbours are a young couple in their first home and have been doing a lot of work themselves on their house and I wasn’t sure they’d be able to split the costs. I had a chat with them, and said I’d cover the scaffolding as it was up any way - in actual fact it needed quite a lot of extra scaffolding but I didn’t spell that out. We removed the chimney down to roof level.

I get on v well with my neighbours so that bit was quite easy, but I really don’t see how I could have removed half of the chimney and just left their half there. I think it would have needed rebuilding - which is more expensive. As part of the works I had one of the other chimneys rebuilt and that cost more than the removal of the bigger chimney at the back.

To carry out any work you’d need a party wall agreement. Without your neighbours consent you’d need to take legal steps first and you’d be carrying the costs www.gov.uk/party-walls-building-works

If she doesn't want 'her half' of the stack removed then no, you cannot remove just your half. It is a shared structure. You can instead keep the stack and support it below the roof line with a steel beam, allowing you to remove your chimney breast/s below.

Annoying it is shared and she’s one of these people that seems to have just given up on the house completely.
Lived there for 40 years and it’s falling around around her ears and she literally just doesn’t care
There are safety concerns surrounding it like bits of the brick of actually chipped off and last time we had a storm part of her chimney was in my garden which was one of the arguments because I would like to do an extension to the property but I wouldn’t risk it in case her chimney fell through.

Obviously, mine needs as an absolute minimum repointing as well if I was to do nothing else but again I’ve been told it’s pointless doing my half.

That seems very sensible

That’s a rather different statement from you can’t go ahead, isn’t it?

She might care about the house but just not have any money for repairs. Not great but I am not sure you can do anything if that is the situation unfortunately. I like the idea of repointing it and getting a steel put into your loft space.

Both of those statements may be true but she is a bit of an arsehole because she takes herself off on holiday which is her prerogative and as long as it doesn’t affect me it’s fine but
Bits of chimney falling off obviously do so it would be nice if she was keen to get her bit sorted out at the same time but hey ho

You can’t remove the chimney on her land because it’s not yours
If you remove yours you must repair as necessary and ensure hers is left structurally sound and your works havent been detrimental

A party wall award will require information on this from a structural engineer

You must get a party wall award and pay for her party wall surveyor if she wants one. If both surveyors don’t agree you will also have to pay for a third party to make the final assessment

However
You won’t be allowed to remove someone else’s property without their written agreement

As you want the work done it’s all on you

Personally I’d stick a steel in to support your existing chimney and
because it will look better externally

Maybe if you say you will be having scaffolding up and she just needs to pay a small amount for the repointing? Worth a try...

It’s on you to make it safe if you are removing your part

re repointing. The pointing on my chimneys was in such a state that they were nervous about redoing it, hence rebuilding the one at the front, and removing the one at the back.

Sounds a nightmare with her. I don’t know what can be done if she won’t co-operate even if you offer to pay. I have some sympathy about being in the receiving end of neighbours wanting to do expensive things, after issues with a shared drive that they wanted to redo in mega expensive stone, but basic repairs to keep the house safe are a necessary part of house ownership.