What Issues Are Found During Conveyancing Searches? (2026 Guide)

This guide covers buying in England and Wales and is general information, not legal advice. Scotland has its own system and searches, so the detail differs there.

Your searches have come back with a flag on them: a covenant, a sewer, a note about former industrial use, a missing building regulations certificate. The instinct is to assume the worst. Don't. Almost every finding falls into one of three groups, and once you know which, you know what to do.

The short answer

The issues conveyancing searches find most often are building work without building regulations sign-off, restrictive covenants, planning enforcement, contaminated or former industrial land, flood risk, a public sewer under the garden, an unadopted road and, in former coalfields, mining and subsidence risk. Each one is usually a dealbreaker, a price issue or an insurable risk, and that decides what you do next.

Dealbreaker, price issue or insurable?

A search flag isn't a verdict. Before reacting, sort the finding into one of three groups, because each points to a different action:

• A problem that can't be fixed, insured or priced away, and that seriously affects whether you can use, mortgage or resell the property. These are rare.
• Price issue. A real problem you can put a number on, such as remediation work, a build-over agreement or higher insurance premiums. You renegotiate, or ask the seller to fix or fund it.
• Insurable or manageable. A legal or technical risk that's unlikely to bite, but that a lender or careful buyer won't ignore. A one-off indemnity insurance policy or a managed treatment plan usually resolves it.

Here's how the most common findings usually sort. It's a starting point, not a substitute for your conveyancer's reading of your own report:

For the full list of searches, what they cost and how long they take, start with our overview of what checks and searches are involved in conveyancing.

Local authority search: the biggest source of surprises

Building work with no building regulations sign-off

The local authority search, made up of the LLC1 and CON29 forms, covers planning, building control, roads and enforcement, so it produces most findings. By far the most common is an extension, loft conversion or window replacement with no building regulations completion certificate. Since 1 October 2023, a council can require non-compliant work to be altered or removed for up to 10 years after it was completed, up from 12 months, and can seek a court injunction even later. Enforcement over sound older work is still unusual in practice.

The usual fix is a one-off building regulations indemnity policy, which protects you and future owners if the council ever acts. For recent work, the better route is often for the seller to obtain regularisation, a retrospective sign-off from building control, so you inherit a clean record.

Worked example. A search shows a single-storey rear extension built 12 years ago with no completion certificate. Rebuilding it would be absurd. The seller provides a building regulations indemnity policy for a modest one-off premium and the sale completes on schedule.

One rule matters here: don't contact the council about the missing sign-off once you're planning to insure, because that can invalidate the policy. Let your conveyancer decide the order of play.

Planning enforcement

A live planning enforcement notice is a different matter. If the council has formally required unauthorised work to be undone, that liability passes to you as the new owner, and it generally can't be insured while it's active. The sensible position is that the seller resolves it before completion, or you renegotiate hard or walk away. A spent or historic matter, or a past planning refusal, is usually just background.

Unadopted roads

The search shows whether the road serving the property is maintained by the council (adopted) or private (unadopted). With an unadopted road, the owners along it may share the cost of upkeep, and there's no automatic right to have the council take it over. Find out what the maintenance arrangement is and whether there's a residents' fund, and consider an indemnity policy against future road charges.

This is especially common on new-build estates, where roads and sewers are awaiting adoption under agreements with the council and water company. Our guide to how conveyancing differs on a new build explains more.

Other local authority entries

The search can also flag conservation area status, tree preservation orders and nearby road schemes. They're rarely dealbreakers, but each limits what you can do with the property, so factor them into your plans.

Environmental search: contamination and flood risk

Contaminated or former industrial land

A flag here usually reflects the site's history, such as a former petrol station or filled ground nearby, not proof of a problem today. It matters because of how liability works under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Responsibility falls first on whoever caused or knowingly permitted the contamination, but if they can't be found, it can pass to the current owner.

Formal contaminated land designations are rare in practice. Most initial flags clear once a more detailed environmental report is obtained. If they don't, the options are for the seller to fund remediation, to renegotiate, or to take a contaminated land indemnity policy.

Flood risk

The environmental search grades flood risk from rivers, surface water and groundwater. A medium or high rating affects your insurance premiums, your lender's appetite and your eventual resale. Check whether cover is available through Flood Re, the scheme that keeps flood cover affordable, but note that homes built after 1 January 2009 are excluded and some leasehold blocks may not qualify. If cover is available but expensive, budget for it and consider renegotiating. If the property genuinely can't be insured, that points towards walking away.

Drainage and water search: the sewer under your garden

The drainage and water search (CON29DW) confirms whether the property is connected to mains water and public sewers, and where the public sewers run.

A public sewer crossing the garden is manageable on its own, but it becomes a price and planning issue as soon as you want to extend. You generally can't build over or near a public sewer without a build-over agreement from the water company, which costs money and takes time.

Worked example. A buyer plans a kitchen extension across the back of the house, and the drainage search shows a public sewer running under that footprint. It doesn't kill the purchase, but it means applying for a build-over agreement, a few weeks' delay and possibly a redesigned foundation. The buyer factors that in and negotiates a small price reduction.

Title checks: restrictive covenants and chancel repair

Restrictive covenants

Restrictive covenants appear in the title documents rather than a search. They're binding promises attached to the land, such as no business use, no further building or one dwelling only, and they can bind you even though someone else made the promise decades ago. There are two very different situations:

• A covenant already breached. If a previous owner built something the covenant forbade and nobody objected for years, the risk is usually insurable. A restrictive covenant indemnity policy covers the cost if the person who benefits ever tries to enforce it. As with any indemnity, don't contact that person once you're planning to insure.
• A covenant that blocks your plans. If the covenant says "no extensions" and your plan is to extend, the risk isn't hypothetical, so it isn't insurable. You can renegotiate, ask the seller to get the beneficiary's consent, apply to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) to modify or discharge it, which is slow and not guaranteed, or accept that the property doesn't suit your plans.

Chancel repair liability

This is a historic obligation, in some older parishes, to contribute to repairing the parish church. For registered land sold since 13 October 2013, it generally only binds a buyer if it has been protected on the register. Where any risk remains, it's usually dealt with by a low-cost one-off chancel repair indemnity policy, the textbook example of an insurable risk.

Coal mining and other specialist searches

Where a property sits over a former coalfield, including much of Nottinghamshire, the Midlands, the North East and South Wales, your conveyancer orders a coal mining search from the Mining Remediation Authority, the operating name of the Coal Authority since November 2024. It reports past and present underground workings, mine entries and recorded subsidence.

Most homes over historic workings are perfectly safe, and a clear report is the usual outcome. Where a flag does appear, subsidence is the main risk: a recorded subsidence claim will prompt your lender to want evidence it's been put right, and a nearby mine entry may justify a structural survey. Depending on the detail, a mining finding can be insurable, a price issue or, for genuinely unstable ground, a dealbreaker.

[LINK TO BE ADDED: once published, link this paragraph to the coal mining searches article]

Other regions have their own specialist searches, such as tin and clay mining in the South West or brine extraction in Cheshire, added only where the location calls for them.

Japanese knotweed: the finding that worries lenders

Strictly, knotweed isn't a search result. No standard search detects it, so it usually surfaces in the seller's answers on the property information form (TA6) or in a survey. It belongs here because it worries buyers and lenders more than almost anything else on this list.

Under current RICS guidance, surveyors assess knotweed by management category rather than the old "seven-metre rule", and the emphasis has moved from eradication to managed control. Where the seller has a documented treatment plan from a professional contractor, backed by an insurance-backed guarantee, most lenders will proceed. The usual result is a manageable one, sometimes with the price renegotiated to cover treatment.

Timing and cost

Search fees are disbursements, third-party costs your conveyancer pays on your behalf, so they're listed separately from a fixed legal fee. Our guide to disbursements in conveyancing explains how they work.

Searches also have a shelf life. Lenders generally won't accept results more than six months old at completion, and a finding that triggers a further report or a renegotiation can eat into that time.

The same thread runs through our guide to common conveyancing problems and what to do about them: a problem caught by a search early is almost always manageable. The real danger is discovering it after the property is yours.

Related guides

For more on searches and keeping your purchase on track, these guides may help:

• What checks and searches are involved in conveyancing?
• Common conveyancing problems and what to do about them
• How does conveyancing differ when buying a new build home?
• What are disbursements in conveyancing?

Frequently asked questions

My searches flagged a problem. Can I still pull out?

Yes. Until contracts are exchanged you can withdraw for any reason, though you'll lose what you've spent on searches and surveys. Most findings are insurable or fixable, so get your conveyancer's view on which group yours falls into before walking away.

The extension was built without building regulations approval. Is that a dealbreaker?

Almost never. A building regulations indemnity policy usually protects you and future owners against council enforcement. For recent work, it may be better for the seller to obtain retrospective sign-off. Either way, don't contact the council in the meantime, as that can void an indemnity policy.

Which restrictive covenants can be insured?

It depends on whether the risk is hypothetical or real. A covenant already breached, with no complaint for years, is usually insurable. A covenant that blocks something you plan to do isn't, because you'd be knowingly breaching it.

Is a public sewer under the garden a problem?

Not in itself. It only becomes an issue if you want to build over or near it, when you'll usually need a build-over agreement from the water company. If an extension is why you're buying, check the sewer's route before you exchange.

The environmental search mentions contaminated land. Should I worry?

Usually the flag reflects the site's history rather than an active problem, and most clear once a more detailed report is obtained. If not, your options include seller-funded remediation, renegotiation or an indemnity policy.

Does Japanese knotweed mean I can't get a mortgage?

Rarely. Most lenders will proceed where there's a documented treatment plan from a professional contractor with an insurance-backed guarantee. A common outcome is a price reduction to cover the treatment.

Do search findings work the same way in Scotland?

No. Scotland has a separate legal system with its own searches, and the contaminated land, covenant and enforcement rules differ. This guide applies to England and Wales.

Speak to a conveyancer who will interpret your searches, not just order them

Anyone can order searches. The value is in reading them: knowing which flag is a simple indemnity policy and which warrants renegotiating or walking away. Our conveyancing team orders, chases and explains your searches, and you'll have a dedicated conveyancer you can contact directly. Our conveyancing is transparent and fixed-fee.

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