Subsidence, settlement and heave

When is a Coal Authority search more relevant than another photograph of a crack?

When the house is in a former coalfield and the question is whether mining has affected the ground. Another photograph of the same crack does not answer that. The Coal Authority is the public body for coal mining. A search is a desktop report, not a structural design.

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?

Your solicitor normally orders mining and other searches where they are relevant. A home surveyor is not the Coal Authority and does not replace that search. If the survey mentions possible mining movement, ask the solicitor whether a coal search is already in the pack and what it says. Read it with them. Do not decide from the street name.

Mining movement, clay shrinkage and a leaking drain can look alike to a camera in the kitchen. The investigation follows the likely cause. In a coalfield, do the search and ask an engineer if the surveyor has recommended one. Outside a coalfield, a coal search may be the wrong spend. Ask the solicitor. Fees for searches are the supplier’s current fee. We do not invent them.

What should you ask your surveyor?

Are you suggesting mining, or refusing to guess the cause?
Which cracks would an engineer need to see alongside a mining search?
Is this outside what a visual survey can decide?

What are the typical next steps?

Ask the solicitor about the mining search before you commission a second survey of the same crack.
Give any engineer the search result so they are not guessing about the coalfield.
Do not treat a clear coal search as proof the crack is harmless. It only addresses mining records.

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

Does a coal search cover chalk mines or brine pumping?

No. Different ground risks have different searches. Ask the solicitor which searches this address needs.

Will the surveyor order the search?

Not as part of a normal home survey. The legal pack is the solicitor’s work.