Subsidence, settlement and heave
A Coal Authority subsidence claim is a separate process from the home survey. Who inspects that claim, and why is it not your surveyor by default?
The Coal Authority inspects a coal-mining subsidence claim, not your home surveyor. GOV.UK's mining check and a coal mining report are separate products from the home survey, and a claim to the Authority is a further process again. The surveyor describes the building on the day of the visit. The surveyor does not open that claim by default, does not decide that mining caused the damage, and does not run the Authority's investigation. The condition report stays a condition report. The claim has its own inspectors.
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 subsidence claims exist because coal workings can damage buildings, and the route for that damage is not a paragraph in a home survey. The survey can record cracks, tilted floors or doors that do not fit. Those notes may be useful to you. They are not a claim form, and they do not start the Authority's procedure. A mining search ordered through the solicitor is another product again. None of these papers appoints the surveyor as the person who decides the claim.
Ask the solicitor whether a coal mining search is in hand, and keep any claim correspondence away from the survey text. If you believe damage should be claimed, that is a matter for the Coal Authority's process, not a request the surveyor sends by default. Do not tell a lender the surveyor has agreed the damage is mining subsidence. The report has not made that finding. It has looked at the house. The claim, if there is one, is inspected elsewhere.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Does the Coal Authority, not the home surveyor, inspect the claim?
- Is a mining search a different product from the home survey?
- Does the surveyor open a subsidence claim by default?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the claim and the home survey apart.
- Ask the solicitor about any mining search.
- Do not say the surveyor has decided the cause was mining.
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
Can cracks in the survey be attached to a claim as if they decided it?
They can be shown to the people who inspect the claim. They do not decide it. The survey recorded condition. It did not investigate mining history or award anything. GOV.UK's mining check is a separate product. Pass the survey to your solicitor if a claim is being discussed. Do not describe the surveyor as the Authority's inspector.
Does a clear mining check mean the house has no structural cracks?
No. A mining check is about coal mining, not a tour of the plaster. The home survey is where cracks are described, and only the cracks that were seen. One product can be quiet while the other is not. Keep both. Do not let a mining printout stand in for the condition report, or the reverse.