Very overgrown yard - what are my rights as a buyer?

[DomusAurea]

Hi all, I know that this is one for the estate agent/solicitor but I was wondering if is part of the condition of sale that the garden/back entry to a house should be accessible?

We are buying a house and when we went for the second viewing the back yard was almost unaccessible as plants are totally overgrown. The plants were also blocking access to the back gate.

I'd like to know if you have come across this and how you have resolved it - thank you in advance!

It's not a mature garden. It's a cute (i.e. very small) paved yard whose walls are covered by some really aggressive climber. Large leaves. Then 'decorative' enormous ivy on the side return. Nothing that I cannot control but definitely, for me, on the realm of 'stern control' rather than nature management.

We all manage nature somehow, otherwise we would stop dusting and cleaning and allow lichens to grow in our house. It's all a matter of boundaries, I guess. My boundaries is no climbers from the garden in the kitchen, although it may save me some money in house plants, looking at the bright side.

It's more common to do a second visit within a couple of weeks of the first and before making an offer!

First visit - look with the heart
Second visit - look with the head

Then make an offer (or not).

There is more than a way to skin a cat, I guess.

@hannah061007 , oooh thank you, you shouldn't have, it's lovely.

Three months isn't long enough to turn a perfectly maintained garden into an impenetrable jungle.

Well, maybe not in your garden, but that's exactly what happened there. 😆

Depends on the garden.

I'd want it cleared too OP.

Couldn’t you just ask them politely to cut the greenery Around the back gate before you move in.? Once you have exchanged,,so the vendors know you are the purchaser and not just a random viewer? If it’s such a terrible problem, you could ask it you could get a gardener to do it before you arrive.

Am I the only one who really wants a photo of the yard now :)

I don't have pictures but I could do a diagram?

That would absolutely worked if I were local - I live about 300 km away :( it's a company relocation. However I could do something when we go to do our pre-exchange inspection - I am not a woozy creature and can deal with the triffids, there will be the estate agent there but 20 mins on my own with secateurs should resolve it. I just don't want to do this on moving day - with kids, pets and 4 bedrooms' worth of stuff in a massive van ....

Sounds like Russian Vine, aka mile a minute.

the name is very apt.

that ivy is more of a concern - get that dealt with before it wrecks the mortar of the wall. I was helping DD clear a wall in her garden of ivy a few weeks ago, and large stones were falling out cos the ivy had torn out the mortar.

3 months? Three?? And it has become totally overgrown and inaccessible in that time?

What are you buying - Sleeping Beauty's castle?

Here it is

It's only 2.5 m long - it takes NOTHING to fill 2.5 m with plants, NOTHING (cries)

Absolutely re: the ivy, - it's that big decorative ivy, so I hope it's less vile than the usual one

Our garden can get seriously over grown in 3 months, it's a constant battle, I can well believe a small space becoming inaccessible.

Wrt to 'buy as seen' surely than means you are buying it like when it was viewed, otherwise the vendor could rip paving up, all the plants, cut down trees etc before you get the keys?

Excellent diagram 😂😂😂😂😂

I have perthenocissus henryana growing in part of my garden and it's an absolute thug. In 3 months uncut, it could totally cover your yard.

It's easy and quick to cut back so don't panic. You do need to get the bloody thing out though!

If it takes nothing to fill 2.5m it shouldn’t take much to clear it. Yeah maybe it’s a bit annoying that people selling gave up on maintenance but making it a condition of sale would piss me off as a seller.

Fro something to grow to such an extent and so fast . I'd be concerned it's Japanese knott weed . Unless you are being dramatic

*It's more common to do a second visit within a couple of weeks of the first and before making an offer!

First visit - look with the heart
Second visit - look with the head

Then make an offer (or not).*

That is hilarious. If wait 24 hours before making an offer here and you wouldn't have a chance. Weeks between viewings and two viewings before making an offer may have been the way to do it in the past (or I guess in really slow areas) but is an entirely unrealistic expectation in a lot of places

Selfish sellers, great diagram 😂

Actually think the vine is Satan's Spawn. Japanese knotweed would be good news compared to this.

(seriously: survey did not identify any Japanese knotweed. Also I have had 5 gardens in my life - I know JK - that's not it.)

(more seriously: why is it that people keep banging on denying my own experience, when all gardeners are saying yes, vegetation filling space quickly does happen in small spaces)

Depends what kind of seller you are - I am selling my house for the best part of a 1/2 million and I am keeping the garden in good order because a) I want the money and b) it's the decent thing to do!

And, yes, I am swapping a big garden for a terraced sliver of a house with a 2.5 m long 'garden'. I am moving to an expensive area. That's another thread altogether.