Worrying Scenario, Knotweed on newbuild.
Discussion
Dear All, around10 to 12 weeks ago, a mate of mine moved into his 600k newbuild on a small development of around 12 houses. He was puzzled what was sprouting up in his back garden. But just removed it, when cutting the grass.
However , a few days back he was astonised to learn from a prospective purchaser of another property on the site , that the land has a history of Japanese Knotweed, which is indeed what was sprouting in his back garden. Apparently 6 of the houses on the site were in the process of selling, all the buyers have pulled out.
The prospective purchaser stated that his solicitor had picked up the problem with the weed in their searches, as apparently the other buyers solicitors had. My mate had no such information passed to him by his solictor, which sounds very iffy on the solicitiors part.
So, if solicitors have picked up the problem in the purchase process, it seems almost 100% that the developers solicitior would have picked up the problem when purchasing the land. I assume that's the case, at any rate. So either the solicitor did not do his job properly, or the developer was warned but has kept schtum.
My mate just wants to give the house back, the whole thing has made his wife ill (literally) , and wishes to wash his hands of entire thing. He has engaged a brief who specialises in cases like this (infestation ) so sounds like he is taking the correct action. .
On an aside, the site was built by numerous small contractors , one of whom known to my mate , he's chatted to him , and the contractor had no idea concerning the weed , but he did know about the asbestos that had to be removed, and of the provision of bat boxes which some houses had to have, owing to demolition of a derelict building on the site. .
It seems safe to assume that none of the contractors new about the weed and thus a very possible knock on effect with groundwork machinery not being decontaminated after contact with the infected ground.
Has anyone had any experience of a situation , like this, and how it's likely to pan out? My mate is a hard working small busines man , and truly is at his wits end as there have been other problems that should not have happened, this has truly gone beyond awful.
I know I have made some assumptions , but it truly does sound iffy.
However , a few days back he was astonised to learn from a prospective purchaser of another property on the site , that the land has a history of Japanese Knotweed, which is indeed what was sprouting in his back garden. Apparently 6 of the houses on the site were in the process of selling, all the buyers have pulled out.
The prospective purchaser stated that his solicitor had picked up the problem with the weed in their searches, as apparently the other buyers solicitors had. My mate had no such information passed to him by his solictor, which sounds very iffy on the solicitiors part.
So, if solicitors have picked up the problem in the purchase process, it seems almost 100% that the developers solicitior would have picked up the problem when purchasing the land. I assume that's the case, at any rate. So either the solicitor did not do his job properly, or the developer was warned but has kept schtum.
My mate just wants to give the house back, the whole thing has made his wife ill (literally) , and wishes to wash his hands of entire thing. He has engaged a brief who specialises in cases like this (infestation ) so sounds like he is taking the correct action. .
On an aside, the site was built by numerous small contractors , one of whom known to my mate , he's chatted to him , and the contractor had no idea concerning the weed , but he did know about the asbestos that had to be removed, and of the provision of bat boxes which some houses had to have, owing to demolition of a derelict building on the site. .
It seems safe to assume that none of the contractors new about the weed and thus a very possible knock on effect with groundwork machinery not being decontaminated after contact with the infected ground.
Has anyone had any experience of a situation , like this, and how it's likely to pan out? My mate is a hard working small busines man , and truly is at his wits end as there have been other problems that should not have happened, this has truly gone beyond awful.
I know I have made some assumptions , but it truly does sound iffy.
Edited by Hosenbugler on Sunday 19th May 17:08
Thanks all. My mate knows it can be treated , it's more the legal ramifications that he's interested in. From what I can gather, there is going to be writs flying all over the place, and the liabilities of apparently incompetent solicitors and of course the accountability of the developer himself.
The worries are not only the cost of sorting the problem, but the potential of it bankrupting the developer owing to the properties not selling, plus of course the potential devalueing of the properties themselves, as said, six sales pulled, my mate is the only (so far) buyer to have completed and moved in, the potential nightmare is not difficult to imagine. Its virtually 100% the entire site is affected.
All in all, its been a bad year for them, owing to other problems , my mate was going to pull out of the sale but his Mrs was stressed out and insisted they go ahead, she's on the edge of a nervous breakdown, it really is not good to see. The hard part is that it's come out the blue, if you know of the problem beforehand then it can be addressed in whatever manner , but having it dropped on your head from a great height after a string of other stress inducing incidents is another, nobody can see this coming out well, without more stress and uncertainty.
All they wanted to do was move in and get on with their lives , straw and the camels back comes to mind.
The worries are not only the cost of sorting the problem, but the potential of it bankrupting the developer owing to the properties not selling, plus of course the potential devalueing of the properties themselves, as said, six sales pulled, my mate is the only (so far) buyer to have completed and moved in, the potential nightmare is not difficult to imagine. Its virtually 100% the entire site is affected.
All in all, its been a bad year for them, owing to other problems , my mate was going to pull out of the sale but his Mrs was stressed out and insisted they go ahead, she's on the edge of a nervous breakdown, it really is not good to see. The hard part is that it's come out the blue, if you know of the problem beforehand then it can be addressed in whatever manner , but having it dropped on your head from a great height after a string of other stress inducing incidents is another, nobody can see this coming out well, without more stress and uncertainty.
All they wanted to do was move in and get on with their lives , straw and the camels back comes to mind.
blueg33 said:
I would be concerned - I very definitely have seen knotweed that's come up through foundations, on a site next to one of my ;large sites in Wolverhampton, 4 houses were abandoned due to knotweed, if you looked in through the window the sitting room looked like the inside of a Kew Gardens glasshouse,
Yes knotweed can be treated, probably 50% of our sites have it. The concern here is that it sounds like it hasn't been treated prior to development, so you don't know if its under the floor and obviously with the house in situ anything under the floor could be hard to treat.
I would be looking at:
Asking the solicitor some pointed questions (why did other know and he didn't?)
Check the planning conditions, many planning authorities will put in a condition requiring knotweed treatment if it exists
Ask the developer for a copy of the Ground Investigation and environmental reports, those should show if there was knotweed on site and set out a methodolgy to eradication.
Ask the developer for the knotweed method statement
If the house has NHBC cover contact them and ask what info they have on the site and contact local authority building control to see what they have to say on the matter.
Yes, thats the big worry, that the property has been built on top of the infestation. The fact that it has been sprouting not much more than a metre from the buiding certainly helps to assume that it is under the house as well. The developer has personally stated to my mate, that he did not know of the Knotweed's existance on the site, so no measures will have taken place prior to the build. Yes knotweed can be treated, probably 50% of our sites have it. The concern here is that it sounds like it hasn't been treated prior to development, so you don't know if its under the floor and obviously with the house in situ anything under the floor could be hard to treat.
I would be looking at:
Asking the solicitor some pointed questions (why did other know and he didn't?)
Check the planning conditions, many planning authorities will put in a condition requiring knotweed treatment if it exists
Ask the developer for a copy of the Ground Investigation and environmental reports, those should show if there was knotweed on site and set out a methodolgy to eradication.
Ask the developer for the knotweed method statement
If the house has NHBC cover contact them and ask what info they have on the site and contact local authority building control to see what they have to say on the matter.
My mate's brief is of the opinion that it's a situation with potentially serious consequences, and beleive's there has either been serious negligence or willfull attempt to deceive regarding the JK's presence. Whatever the outcome it seems that someone is going to be in serious hot water over the matter.
Whatever , as has been said , the nub of the matter is that somewhere there has been malpractise , and for my friends, this is just another episode in the fiasco the house purchase has been, they feel they have been sold a pup, under false pretences , and sadly, that seems to be the case. I really do feel desperately sorry for them.
To clarify the matter regarding my mate's conveyancing solicitor. Apparently, he has screwed up and accepts that he did, he maintains the searches did throw up the JK presence but he somehow missed it . It's suspected that he did not do the searches in the first place, but that's the by and by. He accepts responsibilty for not warning my mate about the infestation.
The solicitor that my mate has engaged is a specialist in environental matters like this Jk scenario and he is certain there is an awful lot of s
t yet to be unravelled. It's unlikely I'll know more until the weekend , If i learn of any new events I'll post them if I am able.
The solicitor that my mate has engaged is a specialist in environental matters like this Jk scenario and he is certain there is an awful lot of s
t yet to be unravelled. It's unlikely I'll know more until the weekend , If i learn of any new events I'll post them if I am able. Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff