Japanese knotweed dilemma

[LOVELYDOVEY05]

My best friend wants to do a right to buy on her council house but there is the dreaded plant in her garden. The council are neither really treating it nor suggesting she could move elsewhere. Any advice?

She should move away as soon as possible or talk to her neighbour who has the knotweed, that plant is really bad

It can be dealt with as long as a treatment plan is in place but it’s expensive and takes some time. People would be wary of buying a property with it so she’d find it hard to sell on if she ever wanted to move.

I doubt she’d even find a lender willing to lend on a property with JKW

She might get lucky and find someone who doesn't know anything about it and buys the property unless they have to let the buyer know

The council should really deal with it as the landlords. I'd get any treatment well under way with someone else paying if I could just because of the expense. It does take a long time to get rid of it but it's not onerous, not after the initial removal. After that you have to let it grow and get the bits that have grown injected on a yearly basis.

She might get lucky and find someone who doesn't know anything about it and buys the property unless they have to let the buyer know.

Assumes: 1. they don't need a mortgage to buy it. 2. They don't get a survey. 3. She is OK being prosecuted if she fails to prevent its spread on to neighbouring land, or in the alternative she's happy paying tens of thousands to have it removed.

She should run for the hills.

You do hear people say that it isn't as bad as mortgage lenders make out and just needs a good treatment plan - but personally I would not touch a house with this issue.

I live somewhere in London where it's not uncommon and its vigour is unbelievable (as in penetrating concrete unbelievable).

I'm away to Google this, but what on earth is Japanese knotweed?!? Is it deadly???

Its a plant that grows rapidly in the summer taking over gardens etc if not controlled

stormcloak it's not deadly (unless your husband panicks and kills you) but it's very invasive -growing through roads, concrete, your house etc - and you can't (generally) dig it out - the roots are massive and a tiny fragment of root can grow into a new plant so digging it up makes it worse. It can cost thousands of pounds and take years to treat - plus whatever damage it's caused.

It is a notifiable weed and as far as I know, the council as landowner would be legally obliged to treat to eradicate it, and the buyer's mortgage lender will insist on a transferable guarantee from a professional eradication conpany.

From details on RHS website.

In my experience it can be dug out. We had experts in who did just that. The waste had to be taken away in special containers and disposed of correctly. A membrane was put down under the grass. Then when small sections came back it was injected.

We had it badly, massive clumps and out of control. It had got into next doors garden too.

The bulk was dealt with in one go with the digging out. Then the chaps came back yearly to do the injecting. The initial clear out made the real difference although the follow up is eaqually important.

The council should pay, but if your friend buys the property then of course she will take on the responsibility, particularly of the follow up treatments.

In my experience it's a time and money issue.

She wouldn't get a mortgage so I'm with the majority- no, steer clear!

Thanks for your advice. They want to move but the Council will not let them do it. Unfair. They have also lost a lot of money already because they were going to sell another place to buy it and now they cannot ie paying rent instead of nothing if they had been able to buy it

Its not true mortgages are having to lend these days as nearly 10% of all households have JK or are in JK effected areas.