Japanese Knotweed

[ohyesido]

Went to view a 3 bedroom ex council house that has recently come on the market today. It's in a very desirable location, large garden and although it needs a lot of work to modernise it, I think it is a very good prospect.

Turns out there is this parasitic plant in the garden next door, and the property is concrete rather than brick.

My DH is unenthusiastic and thinks no mortgage provider will lend on it, and that we won't be able to sell it in the future.

I on the other hand think we can reasonably purchase it for well under the market price and the plant isn't even on the land.

Would we be mad to invest in this property?

I wouldn't because of the plant. If its Japanese knotweed that stuff is very very very difficult to get rid of

I wouldn't.

If it's Japanese knotweed I'd also be very cautious. It spreads very easily, even just from walking near it and it spreads via mud on your shoes. It significantly lowers the value of your property and costs thousands of pounds for specialist removal (and may need several attempts before it's actually gone).

No. I wouldn't go near it with a bargepole, even if it was up for sale for 50p.

I would go for it at the right price.

It does cost thousands to eradicate, so I would really have to get it at the right price.

I would also want to know who owned the land next door and the plans to eradicate it, and would want something formalised in that regard.

Everything will sell at the right price, so if you don't buy it somebody else will.

Japanese knotweed is not parasitic. Parasitic means growing on another plant, like mistletoe. It is however very invasive and difficult and expensive to eradicate.

The problem is that it’s coming in from next door. If it was just your garden it could be treated but you can’t force your neighbour to deal with it. I would pull out of the sale.

I wouldn’t buy it, if the JK is on an adjacent property’s land, then you really need them to treat it before it spreads into your garden. It’s very invasive and takes several years after you have it, to be considered removed.

Thank you all for your informative answers, the house previously received an offer but the buyer pulled out when a survey revealed the presence of the knotweed.

The property next door which has the growth is council, and I believe they are duty bound to deal with it as it's the council's land.

This would be our first time purchase and I don't think in terms of selling it, I just want to live in it really so I can't really see how it is that much of an issue.

It is up there with something like termites or subsidence. It can potentially be a huge worry, and headache. You'd be right it will be hard to sell, mortgage or insure the home. It would be enough of a worry for me to leave it I think.

Op it might be on council property but it might take time for them to sort it. As previous posters have said it can hang around for years. I would be avoiding it like the plague. Also can you still get mortgage id there is knotweed in close proximity??

Buy somewhere else. It's not worth the ball ache it will cause it takes years to get rid of it and it will probably spread into your garden. It's roots can also damage the structure of buildings

Id probably also knock next door and let the tenants know so they can tell the council. A lot of people aren't aware they even have it in their garden

Never mind the knotweed - the house is concrete and not brick? It's not the dreaded RAAC concrete is it?

If it was in your garden I would, but it's in someone else's and they probably won't pay to clear it so run away.

I wouldn't have a property with JK on, or near, it as a gift.

Pull out now and save yourself a lot of grief.

The property next door which has the growth is council, and I believe they are duty bound to deal with it as it's the council's land.

Yes. But they won’t.

I have lived adjacent to Network Rail land infested with JK : they knew, were constantly reminded and lobbied, and did nothing.

I lived next door to a council property with JK: they knew and were constantly reminded and lobbied and did nothing.

However….. check whether a concrete / non standard construction house is mortgageable. The post war concrete houses near me can’t get any mortgage lender to lend on them.

I guess I'm going to have to concede defeat on this, i just hoped that it would not be that big a problem.

The EA was very insistent that the infestation was under control, but it's dawned on me that we're never going to get a mortgage on the property.

Frustrating as we've so far been gazumped twice, and the most recent purchase we attempted fell through because the house had cladding in the walls and failed the fire risk assessment.

How do people actually manage to buy houses?

App won't let me thank individual posts for some reason