Subsidence, settlement and heave
A coal mining search is in the legal pack and the survey found no crack. Why does a quiet wall not cancel that search?
A quiet wall does not cancel the coal mining search. The search is a Coal Authority product about mining records, and it is separate from the home survey. The survey found no crack it could see. That is a comment on the walls on the day. It has not searched the mining records, not cleared a shaft or a working, and not decided that the ground is untroubled because the plaster is quiet. Absence of a crack is not a substitute for the search sitting in the legal pack. The two results answer different questions and both can stand.
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?
Mining risk is about what the records say of past workings, shafts, adits and related ground, not only about whether a crack has already appeared indoors. A wall can be undecorated by movement and the records can still show something a buyer should read. The surveyor looks at the building. The Coal Authority search looks at the mining information for the location. One does not delete the other. No crack is not a reason to throw the search away.
Ask the solicitor to explain what the coal mining search actually reports, including any shaft, working or further enquiry it flags. Keep that advice with the legal pack. Tell the surveyor, if you speak again, that the no-crack sentence must not be rewritten as a mining clearance. If the search recommends a further mining report, that report is another product. The home survey has not become it merely because the walls were quiet.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you record no visible crack without carrying out a coal mining search?
- Have you left shafts, workings and records outside the survey?
- Is the quiet wall a building comment rather than a cancellation of the search?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the Coal Authority search separate from the no-crack sentence.
- Ask the solicitor what the search actually reports.
- Do not treat a quiet wall as mining clearance.
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 is clear and the wall is quiet, has the ground been proved?
A clear search and a quiet wall are two quiet documents, not a ground investigation. The survey still has not dug, monitored or tested the ground. The Coal Authority search remains its own product. Together they are reassuring only to the extent each one actually says, and neither one is a borehole.
Does a hairline crack you noticed yourself cancel a clear search?
No. A crack you noticed is something to put back to the surveyor or a structural specialist. It does not rewrite a Coal Authority search, and a search does not diagnose that crack. The products stay separate. The survey, as written, found no crack. Your later observation is a new point, not a reason to bin the search.