Coal mining search recommended (not required) - will this affect buildings insurance?

HuddleHound

Hi all

My partner and I are first time buyers. We've had our offer accepted, survey (homebuyers) completed and received our formal mortgage offer.

In our survey, it suggests that we get a coal mining search as the property is in Bristol. However, this isn't a requirement from our mortgage lender so we thought we might not bother. If the mortgage provider hasn't requested a coal mining search, can the insurer request that one is completed/ reject any insurance request?

Thanks

oscarward

is there much history of mining in the area ? when we bought our first house (in the black country) we had to have a survey to ascertain if any pits were under the property boundaries, there were none. When we sold the criteria had changed, the buyers told us, to any pits nearby. Somewhat surprised to hear there was an old coal pit under our neighbours property. It had been capped off and was safe. My wife's sister discovered an old well beneath her kitchen, again capped off , which she discovered when renovating the house.


There used to be a web site which told you were they were but that was 18 years ago. The black country is riddled with them so back to my first question.


edit found it http://mapapps2.bgs.ac.uk/coalauthority/home.html

HuddleHound

Thanks for your help Oscarward. Yes, plenty of mining history in the area - nearby roads are all named after mining related terms and our house is a miners cottage. Thanks for the link to the map! I can see nearby mine entries.

Which makes me think we should get one done, but it seems strange to me that the mortgage lender wouldn't make this a condition of lending? Not sure if this matters at all, but the house is>120 years old and shows no obvious subsidence.

oscarward

good luck whatever you decide, if there's no subsidence on nearby properties then you may well be safe.


15 years after we bought our present property we were told that it ws built on an old sand pit. According to the borough surveyor who told us we would have to have piling done to put up an extension. Explains why so many properties near us have been underpinned :-)

angrycrow

I am also in the black country so a mining area. We had to get a survey for our mortgage but no issues as none of the shafts were within 20 meters. It's never even been asked about on home insurance.