Party walls and boundaries
The solicitor has ordered a chancel repair search. Why does that search not belong in the crack section of the survey?
The chancel repair search the solicitor has ordered does not belong in the crack section of the survey. A chancel search is a legal enquiry. A crack is something seen in the building. The two do not describe each other, and putting the search beside a crack implies a link the inspection did not make. The survey records the condition of the building. It does not carry out, interpret or replace that search.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Buyers hear both items in the same week and fold them together. The search asks a question about a possible repairing liability attached to the land. It does not measure a wall, date a crack or explain why plaster has split. Nothing in the order for the search changes what the surveyor saw on the day of the visit.
Keep the search in the solicitor's file and the cracks in the survey. If a crack needs explaining, explain it from the building: where it is, how wide it looked, and what else moves with it. Do not invent a sum the search might lead to, and do not tell anyone the search has found, or cleared, a structural defect.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Have you placed any chancel comment inside your notes on cracking?
- Which cracks, if any, are you describing from the building alone?
- Are you leaving the chancel search entirely with the solicitor?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the chancel search out of the crack section of your reading.
- Ask the solicitor to explain the search in the legal papers, not in the survey.
- Describe any crack from what was visible, without borrowing the search.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the search comes back clear, do the cracks disappear?
No. A clear search would still be a legal result. It would not repair, explain or delete a crack the surveyor saw in the building.
If the search is positive, has the wall failed?
No. The search is not a crack and not a structural test. It does not diagnose the walls, whatever result the solicitor later reports.