i just brought the semi next door and want to knock through both front living rooms (the wall between the houses) - Do I need structural engineer / permission from the council?

You will have to do any work to building regs. And even though you can put a door through you will need to get planning permit ion to tern into one property or you will still have to pay 2 council tax bills, some councils are fine about this but it depends on area. I would have looked into this befor buying next door. But good luck

The works you want to do will need to be approved by Building Regulations which you should be able to do under a Building Notice. I would guess that if you go to your Local Authority for this they will charge you the fee based on the cost of works given to you by your builder. Planning permission is NOT needed to reduce number of houses by knocking through but it is required if increasing the number of houses e.g. 1 property split into two or three houses/flats. The Council tax should only be covered by one bill but with the size of the 'one property' increasing then this may change the rateable value thereby changing the amount paid. Check with the Council Tax team in your Local Authority as they may send an inspector out to discuss with you on site before you do the work. I would also check with any other rates paid e.g. water due to the rateable value changing. regards Louise UK Property Services