Mortgage Survey Didn't Identify Japanese Knotweed

jezrobinson

Last week a Mortgage survey carried out by the clients buying our house, claimed to have discovered Japanese Knotweed on our property, so they were refused a mortgage to buy our house. I scoured the Internet for information about this Tirant Weed and search every inch of my 2 acres of garden to find no trace, So I called in the experts whom carried out an extensive search of my property to also return the same verdict of "No Japanese Knotweed present anywhere on my land". They suspect the surveyor had misreported Himalayan Balsam as the Knotweed. Much relief to us that we have no Knotweed, but our sale collapsed based on information in this report.

How can home surveyors be allowed to make such damming judgement calls on horticultural matters like this, it looks like the banks will have to employ third party weed control experts to make these calls in future.

I'm sat here thinking what my grounds are to pursue this incorrect report in court, with the loss of my Sale, and purchase of a new home.

I'm certainly going to be checking all future houses I purchase and I expect any suspicions I have are worth paying the few hundred pounds it costs to get a survey done also.

Yours truly "A Japanese Knotweed hater" and I don't even have it.

daveyjp

You need to register a formal complaint against the surveyor with details of your loss.

Yorkie1

Any chance of resurrecting the sale now you've got the right information?

ruggedtoast

Its a knotty problem thats for sure.

jezrobinson

Update on my situation is that, Himalayan Balsam has stopped the mortgage application on the sale of my home.
So Japanese knotweed is not the only problem out there. It appears the rules have changed yet again, so beware.

sonastin

Himalayan Balsam is as much of an environmental nuisance as Japanese Knotweed. Being no horticultural expert, I don't know if it does the same level of structural damage but I know that in terms of construction on land contaminated with HB, we have to go through the same level of management of the contaminated soil as you do with knotweed.