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Original poster

Invasive plant on property we are due to purchase

53 replies

Mentalblip · 27/02/2022 11:10

So, we put an offer in on a property last winter. Been to see it 4x since and got a survey. Turns out there’s a load of bamboo (much more than first met the eye) so commissioned a proper bamboo survey.
This revealed over 130sq m of bamboo of the running/spreading variety with significant spread into one neighbours garden and minor but definite spread to another neighbours garden. It’s over 20m from any property thankfully.
quote well into a 5 figure sum for killing it with herbicide (all gardens to prevent it respreading) and then removing it (our garden to be).
Wwyd? Try to renegotiate? Run?
Words of wisdom appreciated 

OP posts:
SwedishEdith · 27/02/2022 11:51

It just needs digging out. It's a few days' hard work and then needs to be kept on top of for a few years. It is not a 5 figure sum to remove it.

cutebutstabby · 27/02/2022 11:55

We had this at our place. If you like the house buy it and dig the bamboo out. Over the next couple of if years the odd bit will poke through and so you dig that out as well. Honestly it's not that bad.

Original poster
Mentalblip · 27/02/2022 12:01

@cutebutstabby

We had this at our place. If you like the house buy it and dig the bamboo out. Over the next couple of if years the odd bit will poke through and so you dig that out as well. Honestly it's not that bad.
Had it spread to the neighbours gardens? Trouble is there is a lack of side access at the place to get a big digger through:/
OP posts:
ClarasZoo · 27/02/2022 12:05

I don’t think it’s just a bit of afternoon digging if it’s 130 square metres! Just knock £15000 off price and buy!

Original poster
Mentalblip · 27/02/2022 12:17

@ClarasZoo

I don’t think it’s just a bit of afternoon digging if it’s 130 square metres! Just knock £15000 off price and buy!
Yes quite it's really not just a bit of digging 😂 Also due to spread to other gardens there is liability etc and negotiation with neighbours. Fricking nightmare!
OP posts:
Original poster
Mentalblip · 27/02/2022 12:21

Two quotes said the same, partly due to a side access issue.

OP posts:
MaggieMooh · 27/02/2022 12:22

Run like the wind. You will never get rid of bamboo.

LemonViolet · 27/02/2022 12:32

You could buy it and start a business selling bamboo canes?

Sorry not helpful.

If everything else is perfect, and you don’t want bamboo, and you’d actually have the £15K cash available to do the work if they reduce the price, then ask for the price reduction or walk. If the price reduction wouldn’t actually give you any available cash (just a smaller mortgage) then I probably wouldn’t do it.

ShirleyBadass · 27/02/2022 12:35

@LemonViolet

You could buy it and start a business selling bamboo canes?

Sorry not helpful.

If everything else is perfect, and you don’t want bamboo, and you’d actually have the £15K cash available to do the work if they reduce the price, then ask for the price reduction or walk. If the price reduction wouldn’t actually give you any available cash (just a smaller mortgage) then I probably wouldn’t do it.

Panda sanctuary?
CurlyhairedAssassin · 27/02/2022 12:39

I disagree that a big of digging every now and again will do it. Who wants to do that for the rest of their life?! You''re relaxing with a G&T in the garden and notice a bit of new growth of something in the corner and your heart sinks. Nah.

LemonViolet · 27/02/2022 12:40

Ohhh yes. Get some red pandas 😍

(Sorry)

CurlyhairedAssassin · 27/02/2022 12:41

I think the people saying it's ok are the ones who've planted invasive bamboo in the first place and are trying to make themselves feel better about it . I'm seeing more and more large areas of bamboo on properties which have clearly got out of hand and become unmanageable. I wish people wouldn't think it's a quick fix to screen something off.

TakeYourFinalPosition · 27/02/2022 12:44

We’ve just bought a house with bamboo outside… it wasn’t mentioned on the survey or anything. It’s gone a bit wild somehow since we viewed and completion, but I was just planning to hack it back a bit.

Is it really awful?! Ours is two plants either side of the path outside the back door. It’s probably about six foot tall now.

SwedishEdith · 27/02/2022 12:47

@CurlyhairedAssassin

I think the people saying it's ok are the ones who've planted invasive bamboo in the first place and are trying to make themselves feel better about it . I'm seeing more and more large areas of bamboo on properties which have clearly got out of hand and become unmanageable. I wish people wouldn't think it's a quick fix to screen something off.
Or people who bought houses not knowing that's what it was and have dealt with removing it after it was obvious it was a spreading pest.
burnthur5t · 27/02/2022 12:59

Some types of bamboo is a nightmare to get rid of. You can dig it up but even if you mis a tiny bit it can grow again. I've seen videos on YouTube

My dad has loads of bamboo. It's lifted up big concrete slabs and has also started coming up in his lawn. He's not that bothered about it but others would be

We have some bamboo ourselves. DH tried to remove it twice but it just keeps coming back. It's just started appearing again now. We just cut it down when it gets to about a foot high. The roots have disappeared under bushes that we want to keep so we can't easily trace them and a few under a fence

We would never plant any again without doing proper research

Daenerys77 · 27/02/2022 12:59

It sounds like a lot of bamboo. If you really like the house, tell the vendors they need to get the work done before you will proceed to exchange of contracts. My own inclination would be to find a house without a bamboo problem, but I can't dig for toffee.

Toomanypeople · 27/02/2022 13:25

Next door have bamboo. I have spent many many hours digging it up from our garden and trying all-sorts to stop it regrowing. It has lifted our small patio and ruined our lawn, god knows how much it has taken over their garden as I can't see into it. I would avoid if possible

TheNoodlesIncident · 27/02/2022 14:09

I would avoid that house like the plague, sorry. We have a similar problem with Japanese Knotweed and it's just being a nightmare.

I saw a newspaper article of someone whose bamboo had spread under the house and it was growing up through the skirting boards in the living room. I might have thought it exaggerated for usual reasons but for the passion flower my friend's NDN had, started growing in through my friend's house through the living room wall...

Some plants are insanely difficult to get rid of, it's not a matter of "Oh, I'll just dig it out at the weekend". A proper systemic weedkiller is not negotiable. It's up to you if you want to reevaluate your offer to take account of the problem, or ask that the vendor sorts it beforehand for your existing offer. Personally, I'd walk away unless the house was utterly perfect except for the bamboo and that the owner was prepared to attempt to redress the problem.

Gardeningdream · 27/02/2022 14:11

We have a very large garden with invasive bamboo down the bottom, it really doesn’t take over ten grand to deal with it. Even hiring a bloke with a digger to bring it up and resoil would only cost a few hundred. We just keep on top of ours. People are writing like you wake up one morning and it’s spread ten feet.

Original poster
Mentalblip · 27/02/2022 15:13

@Gardeningdream

We have a very large garden with invasive bamboo down the bottom, it really doesn’t take over ten grand to deal with it. Even hiring a bloke with a digger to bring it up and resoil would only cost a few hundred. We just keep on top of ours. People are writing like you wake up one morning and it’s spread ten feet.
It's running bamboo mind not clumping so spreads further.
OP posts:
PriamFarrl · 27/02/2022 15:18

This is about someone with a bamboo problem.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/gardeners-warned-think-twice-before-22952544

ChateauMargaux · 27/02/2022 15:21

We bought a house with bamboo.. we will be fighting it forever. Unless it's a very special house... I would run. Plus the chemicals required to kill it are incredibly nasty in many ways... I wouldn't want to be anywhere near them in space or time.

seven201 · 27/02/2022 15:50

It took us a few days to heavily reduce it in just our front garden before we sold our flat. It's definitely not anywhere near a quick job unless you can fit a digger through. I'd only buy if it was fully removed from the garden and neighbouring gardens before exchange. Or given an even bigger chunk of money to sort it yourselves. Sounds a right pain!

Original poster
Mentalblip · 27/02/2022 16:36

If you were asking for money off for this would you write an email or call the agent?

I think that's the plan. Full amount off or we walk

OP posts:
Original poster
Mentalblip · 27/02/2022 16:36

@LemonViolet

You could buy it and start a business selling bamboo canes?

Sorry not helpful.

If everything else is perfect, and you don’t want bamboo, and you’d actually have the £15K cash available to do the work if they reduce the price, then ask for the price reduction or walk. If the price reduction wouldn’t actually give you any available cash (just a smaller mortgage) then I probably wouldn’t do it.

Good point. Luckily I do have the cash but I hadn't thought of this and it's far from ideal!
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