What to do if…
a chimney pot, cap, or top section looks shifted or loose after high winds

What to do now

1. Create a clear drop zone immediately. Keep everyone away from the affected side of the building, including gardens, driveways, paths, and entrances under or near the chimney. If it is windy, allow extra distance and do not linger outside to watch it.

2. Move people before moving possessions. If a car, bin, bike, or delivery is under the chimney, move it only if you can do so without walking or standing underneath. Leave property where it is if moving it would put you at risk.

3. If anyone could be hit immediately, call 999. This includes pieces actively falling, a pot or cap rocking or hanging loose where people are nearby, or debris falling into a road, pavement, shared entrance, school route, shopfront, or neighbour’s access now.

4. If there is a public risk but no immediate danger to life, report it to the local council or local authority dangerous-structure route. The GOV.UK reporting tool is for England and Wales; in Northern Ireland, councils are the first point of contact for dangerous or derelict properties. In Scotland, local authorities have dangerous-building powers and duties, so use your local council’s building standards or dangerous buildings contact route.

5. Contact the right person for urgent make-safe action.

   • If you own the home, contact a competent roofer or chimney specialist and say there is a possible loose chimney pot, cap, cowl, or masonry after high winds.
   • If you rent, report it to your landlord, letting agent, housing association, or council repairs service as an urgent external safety issue.
   • If a shared chimney stack may affect a neighbour, warn them from a safe place and avoid standing under the stack while doing it.

6. Stop using anything that vents through that chimney until it has been checked. This includes open fireplaces, wood burners, multi-fuel stoves, and some gas fires. A gas fire or gas flue should be checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer with the right competence; a solid-fuel appliance or flue may need a suitable chimney, HETAS, or solid-fuel professional.

7. Do a quick indoor check only if it is safe. From inside the home, look for new cracks around the chimney breast, fresh damp patches, fallen soot, grit, brick dust, or debris in the fireplace. Do not enter a loft, balcony, flat roof, or upper area if there is any risk from movement, loose materials, or weather.

8. Treat fumes or illness as urgent. If you have used a fire or appliance and smell fumes, feel dizzy, sick, weak, breathless, confused, or unusually sleepy, stop using the appliance, get fresh air, and seek urgent medical advice. If you think a gas appliance may be leaking carbon monoxide, call the free National Gas Helpline on 0800 111 999.

9. Take evidence from a safe place. Take photos or video from ground level, across the street, or another safe position that is not underneath the chimney. Send these to the roofer, landlord, repairs team, council, or insurer.