To not tell ex-neighbours our garden had Japanese knotweed in it?

[HarderToKidnap]

We recently sold our house. Mid terrace Victorian with a tiny well kept garden.

I have just realised, as in the last twenty minutes, that the garden was riddled with Japanese knotweed. I thought it was just a rogue plant.

I still regularly see our old neighbours, both sides. One I know wants to move soon. If she knows our old garden had JK in it, she will have to declare this when selling and it can make it impossible for the buyers to get a mortgage.

Alternatively, if I tell her, she can watch for it on her land and get rid immediately. But she might tell new person in our house about it (unlikely) an they may seek legal recourse.

I'd like to leave her in blissful ignorance really. If she knows I think she will feel compelled to declare it on that sellers fOrm. She's pregnant and a worrier and doesn't need it really.

The other side will be in that house til they die and as keen garden eras I'm sure will notice immediately if it start growing in their garden.

So can I leave pregnant ex neighbour in ignorance of the JK?

Seriously...that shit aint pretty And it LOOKS like a weed OP...how could you not know!

cate16 i was just thinking the same it looks exactly like bindweed , we have that , was the stem woody and thick or like ivy op ?

cate16 if my cafe-owner knew about bindweed there'd be no stopping him . He'd basically grown the canes up the inside of this obelisk with all the frothy stuff coming out the sides. Likewise the trellis side of the pergola. If he'd got hold of bindweed it would have been covering the building! Still, suppose it proves the adage that a weed is only a plant in the wrong place.

DH has done some digging. The question wasn't asked on our sellers form but is on the new version. Legally, we're in the clear.

I really want to just leave this. Seems totally OTT for a blummin plant. Also thinking back it probably came from pregnant neighbours garden as it appeared just next to the fence first. If the rhizomes were coming in form any other direction other than under the fence then we would have had shoots elsewhere.

I think Japanese Knotweed looks a bit like little white buddleia flowers stuck onto bamboo canes and coveered with runner bean leaves. Bindweed looks like white morning glory (think they're related?).

AwfulMaureen, it is sort of pretty. It does look frothy in a dark corner... And if you like buddleia (I don't) you'd probably think JK's quite attractive.

i would keep quiet op , your house is sold its not your problem now , and it could cause problems for the neighbour selling.

Are you surfeit wasn't bindweed??

Could you slip a pamphlet on jk through the neighbour and yr sellers letter boxes? That way they know rather than letting it run rampant.....

What time of year did you sell the house OP? If it was the middle of winter, the surveyor couldn't be expected to pick it up as it dies right back. If it was in growth, I'd say that's the surveyor's issue.

I would tell them. Then they can all start planning to kill it.

The surveyor came in July, it was in full growth. He did go outside but focused on the back of the house. The garden is v small tho so he could have taken it all in at a glance.

I'm sure as I can be it was JK. I am absolutely not a gardener though so I hope I'm wrong!

I would say nothing. If someone else finds it then it becomes their problem.

Dh company deals with jk a lot. He says that if it is on your property you are legally obliged to inform local council asap and to have it eradicated.

It's nasty stuff & needs to be killed onsite & disposed of properly, if you yank it out & bin it, it gets into landfill, and can spread underground through the countryside

What colour were the flowers? Could it have been this

www.dibbinsdale.co.uk/management/invasive-species/himalayan-balsam/

In any case, if it was there in full view when the surveyor visited, their claim would be against him.

Omg this is nasty stuff and can destroy houses and cost tens of thousands of pounds and years to eradicate.

I passed on a cheap buy to let when I found out about the JK.

It's not a notafiable weed, but your buyers would be commuting an offence every time they chop it back and dump the cuttings. I personally couldn't allow anyone I know to unwillingly commit an offence, nor be a part of this dreadful plant to spread further throughout the country.

Keep quiet about it. Once you tell neighbours they will be obliged to admit if asked. It is the responsibility of the mortgage company's surveyor to spot it. However, if they do, buyers will find it very difficult to get a mortgage.
DS found a lovely house, but when the surveyor looked over the fence and saw JK on an adjoining property, not the one DS was hoping to buy, no mortgage was available. It is all hysterical nonsense, but sadly banks and other mortgage providers have the whip hand.

yes i agree their surveyors should have noticed it immedialty it may not be knot weed it could be the other one that does have nice flowrs

Aaargh - some years ago, a Japanese lady and her husband moved into a house a few doors down from mine. They made a gorgeous, Japanese-style garden, and planted JK, not realising ...

When they moved, the surveyor for the purchaser noticed it. The JK had spread to the house next door, and mine was next in the terraced row! Luckily, a specialist plant pest firm called in, took ages to poison the damn stuff ... it hadn't quite reached my garden!

A family member of mine who is a property lawyer goes pale at the mention of the stuff - it's REALLY bad news! You can read more about it here:
japaneseknotweed.co.uk/treatment_services/page/commercial

As for what OP should do, I don't know ...

God no, say nothing to anyone ever! They'll accuse you of knowing before the sale and cause no end of legal trouble.

I thought we had JK but it was Himalayan balsam. Grows prolifically in the summer - we've got a stream in the garden and it's all along the stream so we can't get rid of it as it will just get washed down again. :( But at least it's not unsightly!

What Belacorus said.

If you hadn't recently Googled it you'd still be in blissful ignorance.

Never Google Japanese Knotweed