Japanese knotweed identified on survey

[OttilieKnackered]

Hello all.

As the title says really. Haven’t had the full survey back yet but EA has phoned to get ahead of it and vendors have already said they will pay full cost of removal.

Would you still go ahead? If so is there anything I need to get in writing?

This reminds me of an episode of Homes Under The Hammer where Lucy stepped into the garden, waxing lyrical about all the things you could do with the house and garden, all while standing in front of a massive stand of JK. She made no reference to it, which I found surprising.

Lenders are usually the most cautious party so if you managed to get a mortgage that speaks to the lower risk.
As long as it’s really common in your area, and the knotweed isn’t from a recurring source.

Lenders are usually the most cautious party so if you managed to get a mortgage that speaks to the lower risk.
As long as it’s really common in your area, and the knotweed isn’t from a recurring source.

We viewed one house which was perfect. In an area with sought after schools, the same house without knotweed would have listed for 50K more at least.

However… it was next to a railway which is where the Kw came from. The owner sued national rail and got a 10 year treatment plan paid for. But it would always reappear because of the location!

Been on the market for 3 months , loads of viewings but no offers.

there’s plenty of choic so nobody would touch it with a barge pole. The seller is an LL as well… guess he/she CBA deal with the aggro and is just cashing out while they can.

I have posted about this on another thread as we are in a similar position but the property does not have it at the moment but has had it in the past.

Personally i have come to the conclusion there has been a lot of hysteria in the last 10 years around it for little reason. The RCIS guidance has changed which means the wind is changing, they would not change the guidance if there was any risk, because it would open the surveyors up to all sorts of legal issues, i very much doubt it will be an issue to people in another 5-10 years. If a mortgage company will lend that is your answer, they would not lend if they could not get their money back from quick sale.

Its not a reason to buy a property that is not right for you but also think about every pt% that interest rates go up will be more money you spend on interest on a mortgage elsewhere, or renting, it doesn't take long to add up to the cost of treatment or maintenance, if it is a home you like and are happy there.

I think it will be proved to be abit of a nothing burger/money making machine in future in my opinion.

And yes .. to your original question.. get it all in writing through your solicitors. and ensure that is done well in advance of getting to further down the line, so they can't withdraw the offer of treatment at the last minute.

I've got direct experience of knotweed. It grows at a truly phenomenal rate. It's likely if your garden has it that other neighbours do too. So you have the risk of it re-spreading. I've seen it breaking my neighbours concrete patio. My main concern would be regrowth from neighbours if you're looking at a terrace.

We walked away from a purchase with this problem. Although it was 7 years ago so we may make a different choice today. The seller claimed not to know about the problem and the mortgage valuation on the house was consequently zero. It would have delayed our purchase by a few months and frankly we couldn’t be bothered - didn’t love the house enough to put up with having chemical treatment done in what was a fairly small garden (we had a toddler at the time), or a load of work to dig it out. I just wanted to move into a nice house, without major issues.

Surveyor said the problem seemed to be confined to the far end of the garden, but we suspected the problem had spread from the rough land behind the house, where we assume someone dumped some contaminated soil.

i knew someone in our town who had battled for years to get a railway company to take responsibility for eradicating some knotweed behind her home, as it kept returning to her garden from the railway-owned scrubby banks beyond. She said it was a nightmare so we were spooked about a similar problem getting a big company or LA to sort the source of the problem out.

our worry was the problem could spread to our neighbour and it would appear to be spread from our property and we would be held liable.

On MN most people say Japanese knotweed isn’t a problem, and I think it’s true. But be aware there are some people like me who won’t fancy it, no matter how many times people on MN tell me it is not an issue and anyone who thinks different is being illogical. I just don’t want a garden with this problem.

Hello all. We have had the survey report which is pretty doom and gloom and the JKW survey itself.

To summarise:

• it’s 1.5m from the rear elevation
• it’s right on the boundary with the neighbour
• the garden itself is only 8m long

Our instincts are that there is every chance it’s in the neighbour’s garden and therefore we could have a huge battle on our hands trying to get them to deal with it. Or, if it goes the other way, issues with them blaming us and having to pay to fix theirs.

Excavation not possible due to small space and proximity so herbicide the only option, and all of the small garden would effectively be close the site of the herbicide.

Therefore, I think we will pull out. Helpfully, our solicitor is on leave until Thursday. Are we doing the right thing?

I would not even entertain progressing the purchase. Even if you aren't bothered it will definitely be an issue when you want to sell.

I would definitely pull out based on hat you’ve described, yes.

Re: evacuation though - perhaps call the company that did the survey, I would have thought it might be possible although extortionately expensive. They’d have to carry waste through the house as well assuming no other access. If you really really want to buy you could explore whether that is possible.

There is a lot of mass hysteria on the issue of Japanese knotweed. The RICS guidance is changing, or has changed already, and is becoming less harsh to reflect precisely this. It seems like one of those stories the tabloids latch on to create mass panic. It's everywhere in certain parts of London; if it were as bad as the tabloids make it out to be then we'd have very tall weeds everywhere and entire parts of the London housing market would be unsellable - none of which is clearly the case!

I must know about a dozen people who have bought and sold houses with Japanese knotweed, and none has ever had any issue.

If you are buying, ensure there is an insurance-backed guarantee for the treatment. The seller should pay upfront for the entire treatment, which lasts years, and there needs to be an insurance-backed guarantee so that the insurer will pay if the knotweed removal company goes bust. Many lenders ask for this.
TBH I think it's extreme: these policies cover for values between £800 - 1500 (the cost of finishing the treatment) and it doesn't make much sense to deny a mortgage on a house worth, say, >£500k because of an £800 expense, but, whatever, this is what most lenders insist on.

I think even with that plan in place with the knotweed growing just 1.5 metres from the house it will be an issue for many lenders. Minimum 4 metres was the limit when we were looking to buy and came up with this issue.

Is the house cheap enough to make resale a sensible gamble? If not I wouldn't