Subsidence, settlement and heave
Where a report pairs a Coal Authority search with a crack in the gable, what stays open about a cause the search product is not there to prove?
A Coal Authority search and a crack in the gable do not share a cause just because they are named together. What stays open is the cause. The search is a separate product from the home survey. It reports mining information. It is not there to prove that this crack came from mining. The survey recorded the crack: where it is and how it looks. It did not turn the search into a diagnosis, and it did not test the ground. Several ordinary causes remain possible.
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?
Cracks in a gable can come from thermal movement, a lintel, roof spread, moisture, or ground movement, among other things. A mining search can show past workings or a shaft in the area. Presence of that information is not proof that this crack is the result. The home survey does not carry out the Coal Authority product, and the product does not describe the crack the way a surveyor does. Pairing them is a prompt to keep both, not a finding that one explains the other.
Send the search and the survey crack note to the solicitor as two documents. If the crack needs a cause established, that is a structural question for someone instructed to investigate it, not a sentence in the mining search. Do not tell a lender the search has explained the gable. Do not drop the crack because the search came back without a dramatic entry. The cause the search is not there to prove stays unproved.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What does the crack note record about position and appearance?
- What mining features, if any, does the separate search actually report?
- Has anyone been instructed to investigate the cause of the crack?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the Coal Authority search apart from the crack note.
- Do not treat the search as proof of the crack's cause.
- Instruct an investigation of the crack if the cause needs to be established.
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
Did the home survey carry out the mining search?
No. A Coal Authority search is a separate product from the home survey. The survey recorded a crack in the gable. It did not produce the mining search, and the search did not diagnose the crack. They stay two documents.
Can several causes still sit behind one gable crack?
Yes. The cause stays open. Mining information, even when the search contains it, is not proof. Lintel movement, moisture and ordinary shrinkage can still be in play. The survey has not chosen among them, and the search is not there to do that choosing.