Subsidence, settlement and heave
The mining search is older than the survey, which describes a crack seen this month. Which document describes that crack?
The survey describes the crack seen this month. The older mining search does not. A Coal Authority search is a conveyancing search, not a condition rating, and an older search cannot describe a crack the surveyor has only just recorded. Answer questions about that crack from the survey paragraph. Keep the search for the conveyancer's mining question. A quiet or busy older entry is not a description of the plaster.
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?
Dates are the whole point. If the search was produced before the crack was visible, it was answering whatever mining question it answers on the records it used then. It was not standing in the room. The survey is the document that says what the crack looks like now, where it is, and what rating, if any, the surveyor gave it. Rating 3 would mean serious and/or urgent. Rating 1 would mean no repair is currently needed, beyond normal maintenance. Only the inspection can speak in those terms. The older search speaks in neither.
Do not stretch the search forward so that it covers damage noted this month, and do not invent mining categories to explain the crack. The allowed limit is simple: an older search does not describe a crack seen this month. If someone needs to ask whether mining is relevant to the ground, that is a further conveyancing or specialist question, not a reason to prefer the stale search over the fresh description. Put the survey sentence in the reply. Put the search date next to it so the order of the papers is obvious.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What date is on the mining search, and what date is on the survey?
- Which paragraph describes the crack the surveyor saw?
- Is anyone treating the older search as if it had inspected that crack?
What are the typical next steps?
- Use the survey when you describe the crack seen this month.
- Do not say the older search already describes it.
- Show the solicitor the two dates side by side.
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 a clear older search force this month's crack to rating 1?
No. A search with no entry does not force a crack to rating 1. An older search is even less a description of new damage.
Is the Coal Authority paper a condition rating?
No. It is a conveyancing search. The rating, if there is one, is in the survey.