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Japanese Knotweed in neighbours garden
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You did well to get your council involved in the first place.
Mine wrote to the landowner in question but then said that they had no enforcement powers as it was on private land. I could take him to court, but as he's an extremely rich and fairly litigious property developer and I'm skint, I think I know how that one'd turn out!
Is there anyone else who can put pressure on the landowner? My neighbour cares about his name in his own community so getting other neighbours to understand the potential impact on selling their houses and persuading them to raise it with him at mosque seemed to eventually kickstart him into action.
And if you're going to tackle it yourselves, you need the heavy duty roundup type stuff. Wilko's best knocks the stems back but doesn't seem to affect the roots and it resprouts in the same place. And you need to keep retreating over 2 or 3 years, you're not going to shift it over the course of one summer.All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.
Pedant alert - it's could have, not could of.0 -
Apologies for a long post .
A neighbouring property has been empty and neglected since we moved in 13 years ago. We have a 200ft long garden and the garden of this property runs parallel to ours for around 150ft ( the first 50ft we border with another neighbour). The garden is around 40ft wide and overgrown with trees , brambles , ivy ( which has destroyed a significant number of fence panels) and worst of all, Japanese knotweed which is close to 10ft in places and overhangs our garden.
We finally lost patience two years ago and reported the issue to the council who served a notice on the owner. The owner then managed to renegotiate the deadlines for clearance 3 times before finally cutting down 1 laylandii which had grown taller than the houses ( three storey houses that is). Since then he has done nothing, even though the notice required him cut all trees to 12ft, remove debris and maintain the garden and control the knotweed.
The owner then stopped acknowledging mail from the council and they took him to court, last September. He didn’t show up, they fined him. Still nothing was done.
And yet, I received an email from the council this week stating that they had made a site visit and the owner ‘ had clearly done the required work and the case was closed.’
I disputed this, but it is clearly a case of the council deciding the case was more hassle than it was worth and dumping it.
Anyway, the main problem is that we would like to sell our house but the issue of the neglect, unmanaged trees and uncontrolled knotweed in this garden is a huge problem. As it is private land it doesn’t fall under the legislation that compels the owner to clear it of knotweed, and yet the presence of knotweed in a neglected garden is having an adverse affect on neighbouring properties.
[FONT="]So what can we do? Our house has been rendered potentially un-saleable due to a neighbours failure to maintain their property, the council have failed to enforce the notice they served on the owner – What can we do ? Who do we turn to for help?[/FONT]
Are you sure he hasn't died.
Its a logshot as he probably is just ignoring the problem, but you never know.
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Are you sure he hasn't died.
Its a logshot as he probably is just ignoring the problem, but you never know.
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No, he hasn't died. He was recently banned for drink driving!
He has a history of ignoring things - he instigated a boundary dispute with us via his solicitor many years back. We responded to his complaint, pointing out the erors in his disupte but he never came back to us on it.. We repeatedly wrote to his solicitor asking for a response, but he ignored his own solicitors letters!
We warned the council that this is what he does, and true to form he began ignoring correspondance once he realised he was in th wrong.
He couldn't ignore the driving thing - he was reported by a member of his own family.
Thnaks again everyone for your advice and experiences.
I have written a formal letter of complaint to the council, and have emailed my local councillors for their suppport.0 -
You did well to get your council involved in the first place.
Mine wrote to the landowner in question but then said that they had no enforcement powers as it was on private land. I could take him to court, but as he's an extremely rich and fairly litigious property developer and I'm skint, I think I know how that one'd turn out!
Is there anyone else who can put pressure on the landowner? My neighbour cares about his name in his own community so getting other neighbours to understand the potential impact on selling their houses and persuading them to raise it with him at mosque seemed to eventually kickstart him into action.
And if you're going to tackle it yourselves, you need the heavy duty roundup type stuff. Wilko's best knocks the stems back but doesn't seem to affect the roots and it resprouts in the same place. And you need to keep retreating over 2 or 3 years, you're not going to shift it over the course of one summer.
I made the main issue one of neglect - his property has been empty for 13 years, and the garden is an unbelievable mess, insipte of the knotweed. The council made 'manage the knotweed' one of the conditions of the order, as well as 'reduce the height of the trees etc.'
Also, the owner had already been taken to court by the council and forced to repair the frontage of his property as there are ongoing problems with neglect in the area - it is a conservation area with a lot of old properties falling in to disprepair.
Unfortunately, the owner doesn't have a good name to lose - th only place it will hit him is in his pocket0 -
Just to update -I made a formal complaint to council about closing the case on this neglected garden. I heard nothing back from them within the time scale they say they will respond ( 10days). So, I sent another email, informing them that I was now going to the Local Government ombudsmen.
4 minutes ( yes 4 minutes!) after sending that email I had a phone call from the council apologising profusely, and 24 hours later I have been informed that the case against the owner of the garden has NOT been closed and that they are now 'gathering evidence' for another court case!
So,hoepfully things will get moving agian.
Thanks to all of you for your advice - I will let you know what happens re; the council taking my neighbour to court again. I am determined that he will have to sort this knnotweed/neglect problem out.0 -
Good luck, hope the council develops a backbone....much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.0
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Thanks for the update. I've just spotted it.
Yay!:beer: 4 minutes from mention of "local government ombudsman" to them cracking on with dealing with it has got to be some sort of record.
Sometimes just a mention of the "heavy guns" is enough;)0 -
Well done for sticking to your guns, I do hope that there is a successful outcome for you.0
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Haha 4 minutes; wonderful! :rotfl:
Glad my suggestion got a reaction.
Fingers crossed they take it further now they know you are serious.0 -
Indeed - great minds think alike Prince of Pounds - so it was good to see you second my suggestion later on in the thread:)
Two of us saying "howzabout that one then?"....0
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