Subsidence, settlement and heave
Should a mine-shaft cap, seen beside the rear lawn, be treated as a verdict on a Coal Authority search this visit was not?
No. A mine-shaft cap beside the rear lawn is a visible cover, not a Coal Authority search, and this visit was not that search. The cap may be concrete, metal or a raised slab in the grass. Looking at it records that something is there and how the lawn sits around it. It does not search mining records, does not say how deep any shaft is, and does not decide whether the cap is adequate. A Coal Authority search is a separate product from the home survey. The report has noted the cap. It has not cleared the ground and it has not condemned it.
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?
A cap is a surface cover over a shaft that may be old or only partly understood from the turf. The survey can see cracks in the slab, and a level lawn does not answer the records. Condition of the visible cap is not a search of past coal working. The two products answer different questions. This one stopped at the garden. The search, if you buy it, speaks to recorded shafts and workings, which the home survey does not.
Order a Coal Authority search as its own product, and give the result to the solicitor with the survey note about the cap. Do not tell a lender the lawn feature was a mining search. A ground specialist would be a further instruction if the search or the cap's condition raises one, which this visit has not decided. Keep the photograph of the cap, if you have one, separate from the search plan. The survey saw a cover. It did not research the coalfield.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What did the cap look like, and was any hollow or crack only at the surface?
- Did this visit include any Coal Authority search, or only the lawn?
- Have you left adequacy of the cap undecided?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the cap as a surface note, not as a mining search.
- Order a Coal Authority search as a separate product.
- Tell the solicitor the visit did not clear or condemn the ground.
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 lawn is even, is the shaft no longer a concern?
No. An even rear lawn around a mine-shaft cap only describes the grass and the cover you can see. It is not a Coal Authority search, and this visit was not one. Records of shafts and workings are a different product. The survey has not decided that the cap is adequate just because the turf looks tidy.
Should the seller's word about an old filling replace the search?
No. What a seller remembers about filling is not a Coal Authority search and not a test of the cap. The survey saw a cover beside the rear lawn and stopped there. Recorded workings, if any, come from the separate search. Pass both the note and any search to the solicitor rather than treating memory as the record.