What should a conveyancer's environmental search cover in 2026?
A 2026 conveyancer environmental search covers seven risk categories the buyer's solicitor needs to flag during pre-contract enquiries: flood risk (river / sea / surface water + flood zone classification + historical events at the property), radon gas risk band, coal mining or other historic underground works, contaminated land potential under Section 78R of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, landfill proximity, Japanese knotweed risk (and any TA6 disclosure obligation), and energy efficiency status (EPC band + MEES verdict + retrofit cost where applicable).
The retail price for a full environmental search through Landmark / Groundsure / Future Climate Info typically runs £46-80 standalone, often £230-358 inside a full conveyancer search bundle. The chartered-surveyor reviewed reports (Landmark Envirosearch + Groundsure Avista) are gold-standard and include peer-reviewed expert assessment of any flagged risks; the data-only feeds (postcode-level lookup of every category) cost less but require the conveyancer to interpret the findings.
The Stratum conveyancer-suite endpoint at /v1/suites/conveyancer/check bundles the data layer for all seven categories at £19.95 — same data sources (Environment Agency flood, UKHSA Radon Atlas, Coal Authority DHRA, local-authority contaminated-land registers + EA landfill, INNS knotweed, MHCLG EPC) but at postcode-level granularity in a screening-flag format rather than a chartered-surveyor narrative. The output complements (rather than replaces) a full Landmark / Groundsure report for deals where the buyer wants surveyor sign-off; for early-stage flag-and-triage workflows the suite is sufficient on its own.
Source: Law Society — Environmental Searches
Last updated 2026-05-09.