Published by HouseCheckup

How to Check Subsidence Risk Before Buying a UK Property (2026 Guide)

Last updated: 2026-09-05

Quick answer

For subsidence risk, start with the relevant official source: BGS GeoSure data. Check its location resolution and coverage. HouseCheckup Complete at £24.99 can organise available screening findings, but unknown records remain unknown and a favourable result does not replace professional investigation.

Services compared

#	Service	Price	Entry tier	Coverage	Best for	Link
1	PostcodeCheck	Free area report; buyer report £3.99 one-off	Free postcode-area report advertised	Area information; confirm paid address coverage	Free area context and a lower-priced optional buyer report	Visit
2	HomeBuyerCheck	Premium £4.99; Premium+ £6.99 one-off	Free initial checks advertised	Confirm the address and each dataset's coverage	Lower-priced consumer reports and advertised ownership/company context	Visit
3	MyPropertyScan	£9.99 one-off; free preview	Free preview advertised	Check address support and topic-specific methodology	A consumer report with a published methodology and PDF offer	Visit
4	HouseCheckupOur product	£9.99 Lite / £24.99 Complete	Free topic checkers; address reports are paid	Coverage varies by topic and UK nation	One property's available screening records reviewed by a person	Try it
5	Move iQ / Sprift consumer reports	Key Facts 1 £14.99; Key Facts 2 £19.99; Full Spencer £24.99	Public sample and contents information	Check the selected property and bundle	A named property or property-and-local-information bundle	Visit
6	Groundsure Homebuyers	From £92.60 + VAT	Published contents and sample information	Confirm product and address eligibility with the provider	An environmental-search product selected with your conveyancer	Visit
7	Official public sources	Free online lookups where offered; official documents/searches may have fees	Yes, for the linked public information services	Choose the appropriate national and topic-specific source	Answering one clear question directly at its source	Visit

How this guide was prepared

HouseCheckup publishes this guide and sells one of the services discussed. Entries are ordered to explain different buying uses, not by an independently measured quality score. Prices and stated contents were checked against the linked public offers on 5 September 2026; we did not purchase every competing report or test its accuracy. Confirm the selected product, VAT, access limits and renewal terms before paying.

Detailed reviews

PostcodeCheck

Free area report; buyer report £3.99 one-off

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PostcodeCheck advertises a free area report and a £3.99 optional buyer report. The two products should not be treated as having identical detail, and we have not bought the paid output.

Pros

Free starting point
Buyer-report price below both HouseCheckup tiers

Cons

Area statistics are not a building assessment
Paid report quality not independently tested here

HomeBuyerCheck

Premium £4.99; Premium+ £6.99 one-off

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The public offer lists Premium at £4.99 and Premium+ at £6.99, with a £2 upgrade. It advertises ownership, company, tribunal and AI-assisted information. Those descriptions are not our independent validation of individual report findings.

Pros

Lower published entry price than HouseCheckup
Public tier descriptions

Cons

Paid output not tested by us
A company record is not a solvency or title opinion

MyPropertyScan

£9.99 one-off; free preview

Visit site

MyPropertyScan advertises a £9.99 full report with PDF. Its ground methodology describes BGS Engineering Geology at 1:1 million scale, a directional screen rather than a parcel-level GeoSure assessment or foundations inspection.

Pros

Published methodology
Free preview and a named one-off price

Cons

Broad-scale ground source has important resolution limits
Generated paid report not tested by us

HouseCheckup

£9.99 Lite / £24.99 Complete

Try it

Available public records assembled for one property and reviewed by a person, with findings and coverage gaps emailed to the buyer. Sources and location resolution vary by topic and nation. This is screening, not a building inspection, formal valuation, legal opinion or official conveyancing search.

Pros

One-off purchase
Human review and an emailed report
Source-dependent findings and coverage gaps

Cons

No automated valuation or mortgage offer
No guaranteed result for every topic
Does not replace official searches or a survey

Move iQ / Sprift consumer reports

Key Facts 1 £14.99; Key Facts 2 £19.99; Full Spencer £24.99

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The Sprift-hosted consumer purchase page lists Key Facts Property at £14.99, Key Facts Property & Local at £19.99 and Full Spencer at £24.99. These are different bundles, separate from Sprift's professional platform.

Pros

Direct consumer purchase path
Three named report levels

Cons

Entry price is not the full bundle price
We have not independently tested the paid results

Groundsure Homebuyers

From £92.60 + VAT

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Homebuyers is advertised from £92.60 plus VAT and lists contaminated land, flood, ground, radon and other environmental risks. Avista is a different product from £138.90 plus VAT and expressly includes CON29M; its scope should not be attributed to Homebuyers.

Pros

Named environmental-search assessments
Published product-specific risk lists

Cons

Higher price than consumer screening reports
Does not inspect the building or replace the whole conveyancing search pack

Official public sources

Free online lookups where offered; official documents/searches may have fees

Visit site

Use the relevant official flood service, EPC register, school inspection body or HM Land Registry transaction data for the question you have. Sources differ across the UK. Combining them yourself takes time and does not produce a survey or legal opinion.

Pros

Direct source and methodology
Useful free starting point

Cons

Different geographic coverage and location resolution
The buyer must interpret and reconcile separate records

Verdict

Use BGS GeoSure data as a starting point for subsidence risk, and confirm its geographic and location limits. A map category or absent record cannot clear the property. Commission any specialist assessment your surveyor or conveyancer recommends; a paid screening report is a separate optional source of context.

Go straight to the report

Review the report for your chosen home

Complete (£24.99) brings available source records, flags and questions into a human-checked report. Some sources describe a postcode or wider area; coverage and resolution are stated. Review the contents before paying, and take inspection and legal questions to your surveyor and conveyancer.

Try or search any UK postcode

£24.99 one-off · no subscription · Human-checked and emailed to you. See a sample report · Review report options and coverage

Frequently asked questions

Six main mechanisms: clay shrink-swell (most common in London/South-East, where clay-rich soils expand when wet and contract when dry, particularly near tree roots); mining-related subsidence in former coalfields (Yorkshire, Northumberland, South Wales); soluble-rock dissolution (chalk, limestone, gypsum); compressible deposits (peat, soft alluvium); landslide-prone slopes; and running sand. BGS GeoSure maps each separately.

Depends. Past, fully-remediated and monitored subsidence is often acceptable; active or unresolved movement typically isn't. Lenders may require a specialist structural-engineer's report (£500–£1,500) before lending. A property with documented historic claims may also face insurance loadings or limited insurer panels. HouseCheckup reports available screening records and coverage gaps; it does not provide a legal opinion, inspection, investment model or guarantee that a risk is absent.

Yes statistically — ABI claims data concentrates in the London/South-East clay belts. Particular risk where mature trees (especially oak, willow, poplar) sit within 10–15m of the property. HouseCheckup reports available screening records and coverage gaps; it does not provide a legal opinion, inspection, investment model or guarantee that a risk is absent.

Over 800 mapped caves underlie central Nottingham (mostly Sherwood Sandstone-cut). Most are stable, but some properties sit above unmapped voids or stress-fractured zones. HouseCheckup reports available screening records and coverage gaps; it does not provide a legal opinion, inspection, investment model or guarantee that a risk is absent. If flagged, a ground-survey is the formal follow-up.

Generally yes for active, accepted claims — but only after the insurer's own loss-adjuster confirms the cause. Typical excesses are £1,000–£2,500 on subsidence claims (vs ~£100 on standard claims). HouseCheckup reports available screening records and coverage gaps; it does not provide a legal opinion, inspection, investment model or guarantee that a risk is absent.

Use free information first. A paid screening report is optional and useful only if it answers an information gap. It does not replace a survey or the official searches your conveyancer recommends.