To expect a 5% reduction in asking price because we found japanese knotweed?

[DontBeNastyAveAPasty]

TLDR - survey brought up Japanese Knotweed and we don't know if we're unreasonable asking for a reduction on asking price

We're in the process of buying our first home...a tiny Victorian mid-terrace in desperate need of a refurb. It was on for a fair price and the sellers estate accepted a slightly lower offer based on the fact we are FTB's and local to the area.

Whilst the survey brought up all the things you'd expect of an old home...damp, woodworm in the attic and a small chimney leak....it has found a very small Japanese Knotweed plant on the border of the property, about 6m away from the house.

The sale is going through via power of attorney so there is no money to sort issues prior to contract, so we have proposed reduction to the asking price of 5% so we can sort the issue (which we are happy to do). The estate agent has yet to get back to us two days later where before they were very responsive, now I'm wondering if we've gone too far with the negotiations!

The long and short of it is the lender will only agree our mortgage with a treatment plan in place, so it's us having to front the cost of a JK survey and start of treatment before we've even bought the house. It's a hefty amount of money but we honestly adore this house and can really see it becoming a beautiful family home. Surely without agreeing to a reduction the property is essentially un-mortgageable, and therefore would likely need to be auctioned for a much lower price?

I guess I'm mainly looking to hear from people who have both bought and sold properties with JK. Was the property value drastically reduced? Was the cost of removal more than you thought? I know it's not the demon that older generations believed it to be...but I also know it's not to be taken lightly.

TIA

I’d not buy it myself. It’ll cost many thousand to get rid of it.

I wouldn't even consider buying a property with Japanese Knotweed.

It would be a walk away from me too. Nightmare to sort out

You need some serious specialist advice from somebody outside of MN. Although it would also be worth posting this in the Property/DIY section rather than AIBU.
Just the thought of buying somewhere with such close proximity to JK would send me running and screaming. It is going to cost a fortune to get rid of and even after treatment there's no guarantee it won't rear its ugly head. Definitely speak to a specialist before you do anything.

I bought a property with JK. It had come from the house next door which was owned by the council. They paid for a treatment plan and the bank who was giving our mortgage accepted it. From memory the treatment plan was £1-2k and it cleared it up pretty swiftly. There wasn't a huge amount though and it's very common in London.

Whether your price reduction is reasonable really depends on the purchase price and extent of the problem. If it's not a large amount of JK, as the seller i'd expect you to get a quote from a JK company and knock that amount off the price. If the house is worth a lot and the treatment plan is a couple of thousand then I'd think 5% would be very unreasonable. Having said that if it was a huge amount of JK and the removal would cost a lot/the purchase price isn't that high, 5% might be reasonable.

How much money is 5% of the house?

I'd walk away too.
Sorry.

Nor would I consider a property with Japanese knotweed or invasive bamboo. I mean why would you take the risk? Why take on what is potentially thousands of pounds of liability and worry when you don't have to? I think you are being very naive and being seduced by your vision of what you can do with the place or what you might be able to do with the place. And the idea of paying for a survey and starting treatment before you even own the property is not something many buyers would take on. The bank is protecting itself but you seem to be going in like a lamb to the slaughter.

It depends - if it is genuinely a single plant (and not a vast stand the other side of the fence) then treatment should be relatively cheap. Stem injection with glyphosate dealt with our knotweed within a couple of years (and that was a stand about 3ft in diameter).

Your problem is that your mortgage lender is now aware and therefore you have to use approaches acceptable to them.

You could give the vendor the choice of taking the 5% reduction now or putting an equivalent amount in escrow out of which the knotweed survey and treatment will be paid, with any excess reverting back to them in 2/3/4 years when the treatment plan is completed. Your solicitor should be able to get something set up to that effect.

Thanks everyone for your input on buying a house with Japanese Knotweed...I have of course done my due diligence and have spoken to about 3 companies all dealing with knotweed removal, who have all assured me that JK is not the total concrete-breaking monster its been portrayed as for generations. It was even downgraded by the RICS a few years ago which is why it's easy enough to get a mortgage, so long as treatment is in place. It's easily removed but it is merely time consuming...time which we fortunately have, especially seeing as the plant isn't even directly on our land and being only 50cm high is in it's baby stages.

@AmusedTraybake 5% de-value is what my many google searches turned up....5% being minimum for a small plant not causing disturbance, up to half price de-valuation if extensive. The devalue lies in always having to tick that box on the TA6 form that asks if JW knotweed has ever been present on the property.

@JW13 thank you so much for your input! The purchase price is sub-£200k so very low by standards of the area. Great to hear it was so easy to be rid of....that's what we've been told by the specialist who's seen it :)

FWIW the treatment plan has been quoted at just under £2k....not 'many thousands....'

@macshoto that's really super useful to know about escrow, thank you!

Our neighbour had JK that they didn't know about. It took over the bottom half of the garden but they also didn't look after it as a whole.

After I told the landlord about it they had it treated. 3 years on and it's seemingly dead. They'll continue treating it until it's truly gone.

Do the neighbours have it as well? Might be worth talking to them too as if it's present on their land it'll have to be treated too.

@DontBeNastyAveAPasty Based on that I wouldn't be totally outraged by your proposal but I would probably counter offer at 3-5k off the price. I'm quite a tough seller though, others might be more generous!

I bought a place that had JK at the border. It cost £1800 to get a treatment plan I place. If the house value is £200k, you are asking for a 10k reduction which doesn't seem at all reasonable.

I looked at a house with JK once and it was priced well below market value due to the issue. As you can see from these responses it makes a property difficult to sell which means you could ask for a bigger reduction. You should cover yourself in case it turns out to be a bigger more expensive problem.

A hard no from me.

We are currently having 2 pretty substantial JK plants treated in our garden which are off shoots from council owned property next door

I’d agree with your assessment that it's not at all the nightmare scenario it's made out to be!

We have one plant being injected and a smaller one sprayed. The company also have a 10 year guarantee which is reassuring

The council are paying about £5k in total to treat the plants next door and ours

I think 5% feels right as although treatment plan may be £2k, if you want to do any digging around that area or lay concrete for a new shed or border work you'd need to engage in this company to come and excavate the area as the root system will need to be taken out by professionals (otherwise it'll die on its own within the 10 years from the treatment). So asking for a bit more off will mitigate these potential costs

Op, I think has answered this:

"5% de-value is what my many google searches turned up....5% being minimum for a small plant not causing disturbance, up to half price de-valuation if extensive. The devalue lies in always having to tick that box on the TA6 form that asks if JW knotweed has ever been present on the property."

I honestly have no idea why people are so terrified of Japanese Knotweed. It's really not that big a deal.

Japanese knotweed is really not that bad! My mum had some on an unadopted piece of land just outside her front fence, the most annoying thing was finding out it was close to her house but that no one was actually responsible for sorting it so she paid for a 10 year plan and it's nearly at the end now and at every yearly check there was no evidence of regrowth. It was treated and it never came back. She had no trouble selling the properly either, just passed on all the paperwork as it was still in the process of being treated. She had absolutely no idea what it was and was lucky someone passing by actually recognised it and knocked on her door. But it's really not that big a deal, I would say that's a fairly reasonable request taking into account how much it costs for one of those 10 year treatment plans xx

It sounds reasonable. You are asking for a larger reduction than the cost to remove it but as someone else said you will have to tick the box you had JK when you sell and as you can see from some reactions on here it will reduce the pool of potential buyers.

Personally I'm having utter hell trying to get rid of bind weed. This doesn't damage my property but it takes over my garden in a matter of days. I will now never buy a house with bindweed or any other type of plant known to be problematic like bamboo or JK. It's just stress

There's a weird mythology around Japanese knotweed. It's really common and the advice you've received (and your approach) sound sensible.