Subsidence, settlement and heave
A Coal Authority search is in the conveyancing bundle. Does a search with no entry force a crack to condition rating 1?
No. A Coal Authority search is a conveyancing search, not a condition rating. A result with no entry does not force a crack to rating 1. Rating 1 means no repair is currently needed, which is a judgement about the element the surveyor saw. The search does not re-rate the wall. Do not tell the buyer a clear mining search has made the crack harmless. The two papers answer different questions.
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?
Conveyancers order mining searches where the location makes them relevant. The Coal Authority is the public body behind that coal information. The report that comes back is not a walk around the living room, and it does not use ratings 1, 2 and 3. A home survey can describe a crack it saw and can give that crack a condition rating. Nothing in a search entry, including the absence of an entry, changes the definition of rating 1. No repair currently needed is about condition, not about a database line.
Do not invent what a clear search proves about old workings, and do not invent categories the search does not print. The limit that matters here is narrower: no entry does not force the crack to rating 1. If the survey marked the crack rating 3, that still means serious and/or urgent, and the buyer is pointed toward written quotations before legal commitment. The search does not withdraw that mark. Show both documents to the solicitor as they are. Resist the sentence that says the crack is sorted because the mining pages were quiet.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What does the survey say about the crack, in its own rating?
- What does the search actually say, as against what someone hoped a blank entry meant?
- Are you being asked to treat the search as a re-inspection?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the Coal Authority search and the crack rating as separate documents.
- Do not tell anyone a blank entry forces rating 1.
- Take both papers to the solicitor without merging them.
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
Is the search a condition rating in another format?
No. It is a conveyancing search. It does not award ratings 1, 2 or 3.
If the crack is rating 3, does a clear search delete it?
No. The rating stays a rating. The search does not force it down to 1.