Subsidence, settlement and heave
You walked the garden and saw no shaft. Why is that walk not the GOV.UK check for coal mining?
A walk is not a mining check. Seeing no shaft in the garden means no open shaft was obvious on that stroll. It does not search recorded coal workings, mine entries or older coal-mining reports. GOV.UK's mining check and a coal mining report are separate products from the home survey and from your own look at the lawn. Many entries are capped, filled or simply not visible at the surface. The survey, even if the grounds were walked, did not carry out the official check. The report has not decided the plot is clear of coal-mining risk.
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?
Coal-mining risk is read from records of past extraction and of mine entries, and from a coal mining report ordered for the purchase. A garden can look ordinary over a capped shaft or over shallow workings that left nothing you would notice. The home survey looks at the building and the visible ground. It does not replace those searches and it does not invent a distance inside which an entry would count. Your eyes are a useful extra. They are not the GOV.UK product the question is about.
Ask your solicitor to order the proper coal-mining search if this area calls for one, and keep the result apart from the home survey. A claim for coal-mining subsidence is not something the surveyor opens by default. Do not tell a lender the garden walk cleared the mining question. If a search then flags an entry or workings, you may need a mining specialist's report. That step has not happened because the lawn looked even. Surface quiet is not a records check.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Has a coal mining report been ordered, as something separate from this home survey?
- Did the survey note any depressions, caps or pipes, or truly nothing at the surface?
- Who will read a mining search if the solicitor obtains one?
What are the typical next steps?
- Do not treat the garden walk as a GOV.UK mining check.
- Ask the solicitor whether a coal mining report is required for this purchase.
- Keep any mining search separate from the home survey when you speak to a lender.
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 surveyor also walked the garden, does that upgrade the stroll?
No. The surveyor's walk is still a visual look at the grounds. It is not GOV.UK's mining check and not a coal mining report. Those are separate products. Two people seeing no shaft does not search the records. Order the check the question is actually about, and do not rename the inspection as that check.
Can a filled shaft still matter if the lawn looked ordinary?
Yes. Records exist because the surface is a poor guide. A filled entry or workings with no scar would not show on a casual walk. The survey has not said the ground is undisturbed below the turf. Let a mining search speak to the records. The grass cannot do that job.