Japanese Knotweed - Advice on Selling a House in the UK

An ex-colleague's father owns a house about 30 miles from where I live and they had a knotweed invasion earlier this year. I didn't have the time to deal with it as my work was stupidly busy this summer with my regular customers. I told him what he needed to do to kill it themselves.

But, they got the council in to do the job and didn't charge to kill it (although I have a feeling it will be back next year).

They are selling the house and because the council got involved, does anybody know if it will go down on some form of register and come up on a conveyancing search/survey if a potential buyer tries to take a mortgage out on the property?

 

I think it does but not 100% sure.
It will be back next year has it can take up to 3 years of spraying to get rid of it.

 

Most people who buy a house will get a survey anyway. Any surveyor worth their salt will pick up the fact that Japanese Knotweed is growing in the garden and it will be in their written report. The lender will also have their own survey done as well and as has been said, JK can take years to get rid of.

 

Perhaps something to seek guidance from the sellers's solicitor on how to answer that question?

 

Thanks for your help guys, much appreciated.

I did warn them that having had the council to do the work could open up a can of worms but it seems deeper than that judging by @Scrungee 's reply as it's legally binding in the conveyancy paperwork.

Looks like they won't be selling the property anytime soon, plus knotweed will be back next year. But, the owner is a very wealthy man and he'll probably turn a blind eye an run the risk of legal action.

I've got to do some work in the garden this week i.e. strim, mow and sort borders. What would you recommend cleaning all the tools with as I don't want to pass it onto any other customers.

 

Have the neighbours got it also ?

 

@WeeTam

I honestly don't know but did asked my ex-colleague and he didn't think so but couldn't be sure, so wondered himself where it came from. I reckon it probably arrived in some un-screened topsoil when they built the house as it is quite new and was apparently all over the garden at one point earlier this year.

It's a rental property the owner wants shot of and it makes you wonder if he knows the potential havoc this plant could wreak if it starts to make its way into the house.

 

Scary stuff indeed

 

But he'd be happy to let some naive young family take it on on a mortgage that will cripple them for the next 20 years or so?

 

I've since found out the entire street is infested by it. Although it is a small street of only a few suburban detached and semi-detached houses laid out on a small, straight road and all built about 10 years ago.

The owner is aware of the repercussions and knows his hands are tied with conveyancing and the disclaimer since the council became involved and 'killed it off' a short while ago (for this season at least)..

I can't wait to go see the garden this week for any telltale signs of it re-emerging. Because there's no shadow of doubt that it WILL be back if has infested the entire street. Just imagine how long, wide and deep those rhizomes go!!!

 

We had some on our river bank when living close to The Clyde some years back. Some s... had obviously hurled some in the river and it landed at our property. After 3 failed attempts at digging it out, we got some Icade weedkiller through a professional horticulturist friend. We cut down the stems of the thug to about 5 inches and poured a strong solution into the hollow stems. There was some regrowth the following Spring so we repeated the process and miracle of miracles the damned thing didn't reappear. It cost us over £100 in weedkiller, BUT, it worked so as far as we were concerned it was money well spent.

 

I took this picture in August at a local beauty spot that I've visited many times. Surprisingly it was the first time I'd noticed the knotweed and it's spread over both banks of a river, one of which is approximately 30ft high and along a good 100 yard spread. I don't suppose for one minute the authorities will deal with it.

 

@Sheal .... that is one serious invasion. Bet the council wouldn't even attempt to do anything about it.... "too much money" they'll say.

Went to the infested house today and of all the nightmare/unkept gardens I've come, this is by far the worst. The amount of dead knotweed (in the sense that this year's foliage was killed off) stalks was unbelievable. There happened to be a garden incinerator bin and I emptied the crap out of that and snapped all the stalks off at the base and burned them, bit by bit while I dealt with a serious bramble problem. A couple of knotweed stems bought up big chunks of orange root and that got burned too. Didn't want to risk bringing small particles of rhizomes and spreading it further by pulling all the stems out.

The lawn was over 3ft high in places and full of Horsetails and Ash saplings so mowing was impossible, it had to be strimmed down. And there was one plant over 3m tall that had lost most of it's foliage but the seeds looked like Hogweed, so I suspect it could have been giant hogweed.

This garden would take a lot of work to bring right but at this time of year, killing off the couch grass that is growing under the patio slabs isn't likely to happen. It needs a serious spraying next year when it's active.

I wish the owners had been more honest over the situation because I was told there was a hedge to trim and the lawn to cut so didn't take most of the gear I normally carry everywhere, because the ladders took up too much space to get everything into my van. It wasn't until I arrived that the customer asked for the garden to be cleared. Why the hell didn't they say that when I spoke to them a couple of days ago!!!

The hedge is in fact 40ft conifers and 12ft ladders wouldn't even reach the bottom of the hedge because somebody has already cut off all the lower branches and thrown them in a heap of what was presumably last years knotweed stalks.

 

Sounds like serious neglect. Maybe post pictures?

 

@Redwing - The phone is a seriously old one that is bullet proof compared to the two smartphones I've broken on the job over recent months. I have no way of uploading pics to my laptop with it so don't bother taking them.

Wish I'd taken pics though and found some way of posting them i.e. buy a data lead if they're still available.

I would love to restore the garden to its former glory but not sure if I'll be going back again as they really need to advertise for a local gardener (it's 30ish miles away for me) and £25.00 before I even set foot on their soil if you take travelling time and fuel into account. It will take several days of work, knotweed aside and if they're willing to cough up the money, I'm willing to do it and will be posting pics of the progress.