The short answer
Sometimes. Taking away a chimney breast, jamb or flue that juts out of a shared wall is work the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 covers in section 2(2)(g), and it needs a notice served with two months' warning ahead of the start. Other work on a shared stack is worth checking with a party wall surveyor, who deals with these questions, not building control.
On a terrace or a semi, the chimney often belongs to both houses. That changes what you must tell your neighbour before the work starts.
What the Act says about chimneys
A party wall is a wall standing on the line between two properties, or one that two owners share. In a terrace or a semi-detached pair, the chimney breast and stack often sit inside that wall, so the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 reaches them.
Which chimney work does section 2(2)(g) cover?
Section 2(2)(g) gives the owner doing the work a right to cut back footings and any chimney breast, jamb or flue sticking out of the shared wall. GOV.UK lists the removal of chimneys from shared walls as notifiable work. That takes in removing a breast to gain floor space, and taking down a stack that stands on the shared wall.
It is not the whole picture. Removing a breast also needs Building Regulations approval, which the Planning Portal says applies every time, since a breast is a structural element of the house and its removal changes how loads are carried. The two rules run side by side. One protects your neighbour's wall, and the other protects the structure of the house.
Our pages on chimney breast removal and chimney stack removal cover the work itself.
Two months' notice and the neighbour's reply
The timing is the part most owners miss. Under section 3(2)(a), the notice has to be with the neighbour 2 months before the day the work is due to begin. A builder cannot arrive on the Monday after you have mentioned the plan over the fence, and a date that ignores the two months will have to move.
What if your neighbour stays silent?
Silence is not consent. GOV.UK warns that you cannot take a lack of reply to mean the neighbour agrees. Once the notice is served, a neighbour can agree, can agree with conditions, or can dissent, which starts a dispute. In that case GOV.UK says each side needs a surveyor if you cannot settle it between you.
These are the Act's rules as published, and this page is general information, not legal advice. A party wall surveyor will tell you how the Act applies to your wall and will draw up the document that records what has been agreed. Build the two months into your plan from day one, and give your chimney contractor the date so scaffold and labour are booked once the notice period ends. A rushed start is the commonest way to turn a friendly neighbour into a hostile one.
The surveyor route, not building control
Party wall questions go to a party wall surveyor. Building control is a different office with a different job, and it will not settle a dispute over a shared wall.
Who deals with what?
The surveyor looks after the Act: the notice, the neighbour's response and any award that sets out how the work is to be done and who pays for what. Building control looks after the Building Regulations: that the structure left behind is sound. In the Taunton area that is Somerset Building Control, on 0300 303 7790, whose service spans several former districts. Its own approval does not settle anything between you and your neighbour, and a surveyor's award does not tick any Building Regulations box either.
Breast removal is neither cheap nor quick. MyJobQuote gives £1,200 to £3,500 as a typical UK range for chimney breast removal (Aug 2026), before any party wall fees. Those fees depend on whether your neighbour consents and how many surveyors are appointed.
Planning permission is a third question again. Our answer on planning permission for chimney removal deals with it separately, so keep it apart in your mind from the notice. Three separate approvals can apply to one breast: the Party Wall etc. Act process, Building Regulations approval and, in a few cases, planning consent.
Planning the chimney job around the notice
The best order of events is simple. Survey first, notice second, work third.
What does the roofer do while the notice period runs?
We look over the stack from the roof, take pictures of it, and describe the job: whether the stack comes down to the roofline or further, and how the roof is made good where it stood. Hand those pictures and the written price to your party wall surveyor, who will want to know what is planned. Roof work on the stack above your own roofline is ours. The wall below belongs to the surveyor's process and to the builder who takes out the breast.
If the stack is only being repointed or capped and nothing is cut from the shared wall, ask your surveyor whether a notice is needed at all, rather than assume either way. The chimney repairs page shows the range of stack work. Once you know what you want, ring 01823 297042 and we will fit the survey into the notice period.
More on shared chimneys
What if my neighbour does not answer the notice?
You cannot treat silence as agreement. GOV.UK says that no response does not mean the neighbour agrees, and that if the two of you cannot settle matters, a surveyor has to be appointed. Speak to a party wall surveyor before you book scaffold or labour, so the start date is not wasted.
Who do I ask about a shared chimney breast?
Ask a party wall surveyor about the notice and the neighbour. Ask Somerset Building Control about the Building Regulations approval that removing a breast needs. Ask us about the roof side: the stack, flashing, flaunching and making the roof good. Each of the three answers a different part of the job.
The full picture: Chimney repairs in Taunton · More short answers