I live in a late-Victorian terrace. My next door neighbour has recently removed a chimney breast from the front rooms of his house. I was not consulted about this work and was away at the time it was done so did not know it was in progress. He says he has fitted gallows brackets in his loft to support the reamining brickwork and has consulted with the local authority buildings control department about it.
He now wants to remove the chimney breast from his rear rooms, and has happened to mention this to me in passing, which is how I have found out about it. So far I have managed to stall him.
I have several queries here:
a) is he legally obliged to obtain my consent to work of this type (Party Walls Act?) and if so, how is this done?
b) bearing in mind the rear chimney breast in my house was removed some 20 years ago by the previous owners, and my neighbour now wants to remove the chimney brickwork on his side, are there serious structural implications here? For example, will the fitting of gallows brackets in his loft be sufficient? Should we engage a structural engineer? Should I be concerned? I'm thinking that I probably should be.
Info please! Phil London