Knotweed and a New House.

[8-P]

What sort of house is this? Last house and retire / next house moving on in 5 years etc

Would certainly affect my decision.

[JohneeBoy]

8-P said:

What sort of house is this? Last house and retire / next house moving on in 5 years etc

Would certainly affect my decision.

First proper family home, so one for the next 5-10 years or more.

[8-P]

JohneeBoy said:

First proper family home, so one for the next 5-10 years or more.

In which case for me, it really depends on how good it is. If you cant find any other faults down to the aspect of the garden then Id consider it. Problem is without a crystal ball, who can tell what will happen when you come to sell it in X years time. Ultimately the safe answer is walk away, as always there will be other houses better/as good that pop up next week/month etc

[Andehh]

As has been been said, providing mortgage companies were OK with it I'd be fine with the house. It's not rocket science to kill off, just with all good horror stories bad news spreads fast and gets repeated often!

If it's been dealt with by professionals, has a 10 year gurantee and there is no sign of it now your more then likely in the clear! Heck, another 5-10 years it'll be barely a distant memory!

[Candellara]

We had a similar situation a few years back. Purchased a property subject to the usual - survey etc

Traces of Japanese knotweed were found. We walked away as it's just not worth the aggravation

The postcode of the property / knotweed will no doubt be logged by the nationwide chain of surveyors (Countrywide IIRC)

It'll be a right PIA to move on especially if you need to sell in a hurry

Walk away. There's always another house

[blueg33]

About 25% of the sites we buy have knotweed. We get it treated, and revisit every year for 3 years with treatment if necessary.

After that its gone usually for good.

But it MUST be treated properly, a cheap job skimping on time or materials will not get rid of it.

[Candellara]

It'd drive my OCD nuts :-)

I'd be constantly watching out for the stuff. That's no way to live - but if that does,'t bother you - each to their own etc

Lots of articles about it and some mortgage lenders will not lend on it

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance...

[Andehh]

I am amazed at how many people are saying they would walk away from a house due to Knotweed.

At the end of the day it is only a plant, and there is a whole raft of companies out there set up to remove it. It is now a widely known problem, with a widely known solution. - from successful DIY ones (from our very own Pistonheads) to professionals with multi year guarantees.


The absolutely worst case scenario is that the original professional firm & their 10 year guarantee missed a bit and it grows back, in which case you get the firm to come back and sort it -or- shock horror you spend £5k or whatever it is for a new firm to come and sort it. Especially if it was found in a field 100m++ away

£1 - 5k is a lot, but not for the perfect house you are walking away from over a rather small ''what if''.

[battered]

You can get a £2k bill from a boiler going bang. I moved into my place 18 months ago, boiler is now sick, leaky HX, and I suspect it may soon die and be BER. This is in the normal run of house ownership, so a similar bill in the unlikely event of a treated plant coming back is a similar risk.

[jakesmith]

Andehh said:

I am amazed at how many people are saying they would walk away from a house due to Knotweed.

At the end of the day it is only a plant, and there is a whole raft of companies out there set up to remove it. It is now a widely known problem, with a widely known solution. - from successful DIY ones (from our very own Pistonheads) to professionals with multi year guarantees.


The absolutely worst case scenario is that the original professional firm & their 10 year guarantee missed a bit and it grows back, in which case you get the firm to come back and sort it -or- shock horror you spend £5k or whatever it is for a new firm to come and sort it. Especially if it was found in a field 100m++ away

£1 - 5k is a lot, but not for the perfect house you are walking away from over a rather small ''what if''.

OK if it is at the end of your garden, less treatable if it is coming up through your house and disturbs the foundations. There is no predicting how it spreads & it can grow up to 100m underground per year. I would not touch a house with this problem.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2052337/He...

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-24426190

[Johnniem]

I havent seen anyone mention this so far but Japanese Knotweed is a notifiable problem; i.e. its presence has to be notified to the local authority if it is found in a private property. Se your local authority webbie. As a building surveyor I have treated this stuff but it will take 3 - 4 years to clear. I have a load of bamboo in my garden and it also spreads like mad. Takes a lot of cutting back and is as hard to get rid of. Don't plant that stuff either, unless it is in a secure rootball that limits the spread.

JM

[jakesmith]

Why would a building surveyor have it in their garden!?

[Johnniem]

jakesmith said:

Why would a building surveyor have it in their garden!?

If you are referring to the Bamboo, it was there when I bought the house 2.5 years ago. It looks great but takes a lot of maintenance. Knotweed I have dealt with for clients.

[Andehh]

jakesmith said:

OK if it is at the end of your garden, less treatable if it is coming up through your house and disturbs the foundations. There is no predicting how it spreads & it can grow up to 100m underground per year. I would not touch a house with this problem.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2052337/He...

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-24426190

Oh yeah, at the extreme end of the spectrum, but subsistence, water leaking, dodgy mortar, foundations etc all have their fair share of daily mail horror stories.

For the case of OP, where it *was* in a field 100m away it's a total non issue tbh.

[battered]

I have bamboo in my garden. It's not an invasive variety, it occupies a damp corner near the shed and it's enclosed by a gravel area with a membrane underneath so it's not going anywhere. If it gets overenthusiastic Mr Glyphosate will sort it out.

[brrapp]

Johnniem said:

I havent seen anyone mention this so far but Japanese Knotweed is a notifiable problem; i.e. its presence has to be notified to the local authority if it is found in a private property.

JM

No it's not, this a common misconception. It is actually legal to plant and grow it on your own property(not that many people would nowadays). The only offences with regard to Knotweed are allowing it to spread from your property on to wild or public land and improper disposal of waste. You may be liable to civil action by an adjacent land owner if you allow it to spread on to their land but it is not an offence and not something that a public authority would normally act upon.

My mother's house backs onto land owned by a nearby supermarket, the land is a wooded buffer zone between the supermarket carpark and nearby houses. There are several patches on of Japanese Knotweed in this woodland (the nearest is around 5 metres from my mother's garden and 25 metres from her house), but as there have been no signs of the plant spreading to her property,the supermarket has declined to take any action and my mother is unable to take any action against them.

[Evoluzione]

battered said:

JohneeBoy said:

TLandCruiser said:

Is the development near a railway line?

Within a KM, I'd say. Why?

Knotweed is a problem on railway lines, and propagates itself along the lines. Obviously as these areas are minimally maintained, it gets well established and sets up home. Same with rhododendrons on canals and so on, but at least rhody's are less intrusive and have nice flowers.

How does that work exactly? I know it does, but wondered how. The Railway station local to where I work has a couple of areas of it nearby.

[Evoluzione]

Hope the OP doesn't mind me asking this here, but it seems like a good place. I'm looking at buying a local commercial property and have noticed a clump of it in the garden, it does not bother me in the slightest and I can get rid of it quite easily myself, but should I be mentioning it to anyone? Certainly not any possible lender, but to the owner, estate agents perhaps?
Wondered if it may be a useful tool to lower the price.....

[battered]

Evoluzione said:

battered said:

JohneeBoy said:

TLandCruiser said:

Is the development near a railway line?

Within a KM, I'd say. Why?

Knotweed is a problem on railway lines, and propagates itself along the lines. Obviously as these areas are minimally maintained, it gets well established and sets up home. Same with rhododendrons on canals and so on, but at least rhody's are less intrusive and have nice flowers.

How does that work exactly? I know it does, but wondered how. The Railway station local to where I work has a couple of areas of it nearby.

I imagine that it propagates itself the same as any other plant. Seeds, spreading roots, bits of plant getting knocked off and transported on moving trains. Railway lines are minimally maintained so anything vigorous will spread like hell. Look at the way brambles take over something like a railway embankment.

[Johnniem]

brrapp said:

No it's not, this a common misconception. It is actually legal to plant and grow it on your own property(not that many people would nowadays). The only offences with regard to Knotweed are allowing it to spread from your property on to wild or public land and improper disposal of waste. You may be liable to civil action by an adjacent land owner if you allow it to spread on to their land but it is not an offence and not something that a public authority would normally act upon.

My mother's house backs onto land owned by a nearby supermarket, the land is a wooded buffer zone between the supermarket carpark and nearby houses. There are several patches on of Japanese Knotweed in this woodland (the nearest is around 5 metres from my mother's garden and 25 metres from her house), but as there have been no signs of the plant spreading to her property,the supermarket has declined to take any action and my mother is unable to take any action against them.

You are correct. Developers, however, are, or can be, forced to do something about any incidents of knotweed on land to be built upon.