Hello this is my first post and apologies if it’s a regular , in process of buying a property the two chimneys do not have liners…does this conform to regulations or must I have them inserted? House is about 40 years old thanks for any help advice
If the chimneys are sound (gas tight) then no, however you may find very poor performance from your wood burner without them being lined and even better insulated as well. you will also use a lot more wood and then be upset when we all say told you so. 
Hi Steve and welcome.
It’s up to you what you do with your chimneys, but if you are fitting wood burning stoves then it’s better to have a liner. Chimney should be swept beforehand.
Thanks John , the log burners are already in place and it seems the notaire is raising the fact they are not lined as an issue
Thanks Mark. Yes the chimney is being swept prior to sale it’s an issue that seemingly has been picked up by the notaire,
Blimey I thought I could send a young urchin up the inside dragging it behind thank you for your advice steve
Can’t find fault with that Notaire, may cause a ripple but for the right reasons.
Yes, thank you
Hello Steve and Welcome to the Forum.
Your Notaire is doing a great job… safeguarding your interests… 
From what I have gleaned… if the chimney is being used as an “open fire” , a liner is recommended but not obligatory. However, if a wood burner/insert or whatever is being used then a liner definitely IS obligatory…
Good luck with your house purchase… but make sure the chimneys are brought up to specification… then you can sleep safe and soundly in your beds…
A little note here…
My French partner has a wood burner with the straight pipe that sits on the curved elbow at the back of the chimney.
A professional has just swept his chimney and says no problem it doesn’t need lining.
However the same sweep found that 2 of the neighbours who had liners had problems.
The first one she discovered that the liner had been crimped whilst installing and could be dangerous, because the metal ‘flanges’ /leaves on the inside risk splitting under heat and causing a fire. She has noted this on their insurance paper and they are going to have it changed before the Winter.
The second one was a recent installation in a 2nd home, a new wood burner with the elbow and a piece of straight pipe that was connected to the liner. The liner was unsupported for the whole length of the chimney without any holding brackets leaving the whole weight on the straight pipe and elbow.
The other mistake with the installation was that the elbow was the old type and not the T shape with the trap at the bottom. As she explained if something falls down the liner ( a bird or whatever) then it will sit in the elbow and block the chimney. With a T and trap then you can remove the trap and whatever is in there will fall out. Also without the trap the chimney can’t be swept!
Hope this makes sense, I was present and saw the 2 instances but difficult to explain properly !
Hello Ann thank you for that detailed description. It’s most helpful. We have asked that the sweep have a detailed look. I think our problem is understanding if it’s compliant or not as the vendor is saying they will not negotiate on price and we are picking up a number of costs ! Thank you
Morning Stella
Thanks for that it’s most helpful. It is a burner but not insert model. It’s a clarification to better understand our negotiating position or not as the case may be! Best wishes steve
I will be surprised if a woodburner dosen’t require a liner steve, our whole flue is steel and stainless, unlined it would be a chimney fire waiting to ignite 
Hi Steve… I may have misled you by putting in the / … the information is relevant for BOTH wood burning stoves and inserts…
Lining a chimney need not cost the earth and is money well spent… provided a proper Installer (Qualified and Insured) does the work. Bad workmanship, poor quality fixtures and fittings… these are often (but not always) the result of someone choosing to do something “on the cheap”… and often come back to “bite on the bum…”
From first-hand knowledge: The immediate questions asked by Investigators on-site, after a local house burned to the ground. Who installed the wood-burner?? Was the chimney lined?? Who lined the chimney ??
Phew, the wood-burner/chimney/liner were A1… the whole mess was the result of an electrical fault… (electrics done on the cheap) … aaaargh
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Only bits of converting our barn I didn’t do Stella, roof, electrics, woodburner installation, jobs for professionals!
I’m not sure that that genarliisation is true. I now have a woodburner with a professionally installed liner, for many years I had a different woodburner with a self installed liner and before that a woodburner with a short pipe leading into the stone chimney. The chimney sweep suggested that a full flue might make the woodburner burn more efficiently but he never suggested that using a swept chimney was a fire risk.
Odd installation that, fortunate you didn’t have a fire Dave perhaps.
Why Bill? What’s to burn in a swept stone chimney? The house survived for 400 years without a lined chimney what’s changed?
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How the log burner ‘drew at all’ with a wee bit of tube poked up the chimney is suprising, an open fire is an entirely different situation. I’m not arguing about it, it’s just ‘common dog’ to understand, why your pro’ suggest a liner to make the fire draw properly.
Whats to burn, soot residue, and ‘possibly’, rafter ends, which often run into the chimney structure. 
Most chimneys in old houses were built with open fires in mind. The flue is wide and narrow. An open fire is unlikely to get enough “draw” to burn properly if a liner is installed.