Japanese Knotweed and more...

Jenniefour

Proceed with caution here and take others advice to research thle Japanese knotwood problem - it can grow through conrete. Bigger problem than the electrics - electric are easily sorted out with a qualified electrician and you know it's done - not so with knotweed. If someone tackles it who really doesn't know what they're doing it will just keep growing and spreading about - and it can take years to eradicate.

daveyjp

amcluesent wrote: »

Knotweed needs the ground excavated to 1.5m and soil replaced.

Only if your chosen method is to dig and remove and it needs to be done yesterday. It is very expensive - £90 a tonne to dump the contaminated soil and 1.5m may not be deep enough. £1,000 probably won't be enough!

If it is in neighbouring gardens I'd be tempted to walk away because if they don't get rid of it you'll have a problem for ever.

If it is only in the one garden given time it can be removed very cheaply, but there's nothing you can do at this time of year, which means you'll have to negotiate a discount then do the work yourself next year.

As soon as first new leaves are fully grown next year (about end of April, but it does depend where in the Country the plant is and how cold it has been), spray with glyphosate (Roundup) weedkiller - not premix, it needs to be mixed so it is stronger. Do this in May, June, July and August.

This will kill it, you can then cut it down and burn the dead plant. Repeat the following year if you see it coming back, but one year is often enough for a small outbreak. The Roundup attacks the root system and this is where the main problem is, kill this and the plant will die.

paddedjohn

£1,000 to remove the knotweed? No chance. Ive seen instances where it cost more like £10/15,000. The contaminated soil needs digging out and tipping at an approved site.
Before you go ahead get in touch with the council for advice

ceridwen

I do have to say that I would have serious reservations about buying a house with knotweed if it was detached and a lot of surrounding ground (ie I knew I couldnt get re-contaminated by a neighbour...).

A house thats terraced or semi-detached and has got this problem - no way...no way AT ALL. I might take it off their hands at a very very bargain price - IF I didnt need a mortgage AND I had plenty of spare time available to focus on eradicating it. No experience of it personally thankfully - mine would focus more around eating it personally (being a bit of a forager...:D) - but I've seen the photos of it "tearing a house to shreds"...:eek: - and read all the cautions about not dropping so much as a shred of the root anywhere (in case it starts growing).

Sounds to me more like that house needs to be bought by a builder - not an ordinary home-owner. Believe me - whatever the survey says - I doubt there are many home-owners that manage to buy a house without finding there are problems (ie expenses) over and above what the surveyor mentioned to deal with. So - you don't want a major known problem at the outset - on top of the electrics and the "stuff that hasnt been mentioned".

DKLS

As soon as the word Knotweed appeared I would be running in the opposite direction as fast as possible.

BornAtTheRightTime

I only became aware of what japanese knotweed is quite recently. However I had this growing through from a neighbouring property into my garden 10 years ago. I was forever cutting it back and spraying it with weedkiller. I finally killed the stuff on my side by pouring neat weedkiller down the canes and that kept it at bay for a couple of years. However it returned and in its vengeance pushed up several patio flagstones and was last seen headed towards the lounge...

When I sold the house, the buyer didn't get a survey. I guess neither of us knew what it was at the time but I bet he knows it well by now!

Moral - run away, unless all of it is contained in an area you control, is not endangering your property and you have the money, energy and committment to deal with it.

chrisc1983

Thanks for the feedback guys - we are getting a specialist to take a look at the severity and will make a call after that.

Another question;

Although the property has been valued at £1k less than the current agreed price the bank are happy to lend and we have the final papers to sign to draw the mortgage down. Obviously, we are not doing this until we've got some more info.

I was concerned that even if the vendors lower the price then we'll be stuck because we won't have the money upfront to sort stuff out. It seems that the bank are happy to lend us the money on the agreed price, so:

If we reduce the price based on the issues above and decide to go ahead with purchase, can we effectively keep the difference as cash to use upfront? As in, get a mortgage for £116,500 (exc. 10% deposit) and potentially buy it for, say, £112,500 and keep the £4k to do the electrics and stuff upfront?

Cheers

Richard_Webster

If we reduce the price based on the issues above and decide to go ahead with purchase, can we effectively keep the difference as cash to use upfront? As in, get a mortgage for £116,500 (exc. 10% deposit) and potentially buy it for, say, £112,500 and keep the £4k to do the electrics and stuff upfront?

Your solicitors will have to tell the lender about the price reduction/allowance and it will then be for the lender whether it reduces your offer to a percentage of the new figure. These days mostly they do reduce - so you are better getting seller to sort it - but as others have said, I would run away from knotweed.