Do you need planning permission to remove a chimney?

The listed buildings Act stops anyone altering a listed building in a way that harms its special architectural or historic interest, unless consent has been given. A chimney stack is often part of that character, especially on an older house, where stack and pots shape the skyline. If you are unsure whether the house is listed, the council's records will show it, and a purchase survey often notes it.

If your house is listed, then, taking a chimney down needs listed building consent from the council, and the consent has to be in hand before work starts. Straight repair is handled differently from taking a stack away, and the council can tell you which category your job is in.

Churches and other places of worship follow consent routes of their own, which depend on the denomination and the building. Our page on chimneys in conservation areas covers the wider area rules for ordinary homes.

An Article 4 direction is how a council withdraws chosen permitted development rights from a mapped area. Each one lists what it takes away, and some name chimneys. Portsmouth's directions for Old Portsmouth and the Castle Road streets cover taking down or changing chimney stacks. Havant's direction for Langstone covers demolishing any stack in view from the street.

Arun is different. The directions we know of there, one for houses in multiple occupation and one at Craigweil House in Aldwick, take away no roof rights. That does not leave a conservation area free of controls, so it is still worth asking.

Chichester District Council has directions of its own, and what they cover for a particular address is a question for its planning team. Give them the address and ask whether any direction touches chimneys. A short phone call is cheaper than putting a stack back. Our chimney removal page describes the work itself.

Planning and structure are separate questions. The Planning Portal explains that removing a chimney breast always draws in Building Regulations approval into play, since the breast belongs to the structure of the building. A breast can be supporting the stack overhead, and the walls and floors beside it may lean on it. Before any breast comes out, someone should check what it carries, and the person doing the work should show you how the load will be supported.

If the breast backs onto a wall shared with next door, your neighbour must also receive a party wall notice before work begins. That holds whether or not the stack above is coming down too.

Building control for the breast goes to your council's team or to a registered building control approver. Arun's own team can be reached by email at bldg.con@arun.gov.uk. Our guide to chimney breast removal regulations walks through the steps, so read it before you hire anybody to do the work.

Removing a stack leaves a hole in the roof, so the job is a roofing job as well as a building one. The opening has to be closed, the tiles or slates made good around it, and the junction made watertight again. It is the same patch of roof where lead, soakers and flaunching used to do their work, and it should not be left to chance. Ask whoever takes the stack down who answers for the roof around the opening, because a gap between two trades is how leaks begin.

If only the stack above the roof line is coming down and the breast stays, ask the planning team and building control what applies to your house before you begin. A neighbour's job is not a safe guide, because directions, listings and structure vary house by house.

A redundant flue still needs to be dealt with properly, with the roof closed over the top. That roof side of the work is ours, and the debris leaves with us. The chimney repairs page lists the other jobs on a stack.

Work through the questions in order. First, is the property listed? Second, does it fall in a conservation area? Third, does an Article 4 direction apply? Last, is the breast on a party wall? Then ring the council's planning team with the address, and put the breast question to building control.

Inside the South Downs National Park, the park authority decides planning in the Arun, Horsham, Adur and Worthing parts, while the district council deals with park applications in the Chichester and East Hampshire sections. Building control stays with the district council. Our page on roof planning in the South Downs explains who to ask.

When you are ready, we survey the roof and stack, photograph both and say plainly whether removal or repair is the better route. We walk you through consent, and where a Building Regulations notification applies we handle it. We then put one total price in writing.