Garden ruined by neighbour's plant

moneybunny123

We moved into our home just over two years ago and during the first Summer we noticed shoots from our neighbour's bamboo tree poking up regularly and randomly all over our front garden. We pointed this out to them but they did nothing about it (then). (Our neighbour's house was the former show home and as such had a landscaped garden including the planting of shrubs, trees, etc - the bamboo being one of them).

Gradually over the last two years, the shoots have caused a fair bit of damage. They've burst through our garden path causing it to bulge in places and some of the slabs and pointing have cracked, the lawn constantly has shoots poking through which can grow a couple of feet high in just a week, and any shrubs that we've planted in our garden struggle to grow because their roots are being choked by the roots of the bamboo, meaning everything just dies.

Finally, recently, our neighbour has pulled out the massive bamboo tree (after shoots started to poke through their own lawn and path) but sadly the roots (which stretch over 10 metres away from where the tree was planted) still appear to be alive as shoots are still continuing to burst through our garden. We've tried to pull the roots out (which has caused further damage) but without ripping up the entire front garden (i.e. the whole lawn and path) we have no idea if we've got rid of it all or if the roots have reached the house and if any damage has been caused there.

We contacted NHBC (as the house is only 9 years old) but they said that it doesn't come under their jurisdiction, but suggested that if we wanted to pursue the matter, we seek legal advice. We don't want to fall out with our neighbours and haven't asked them to foot any bill, despite the fact that we will undoubtedly have to have the entire front garden re-paved and re-turfed.

Has anyone any idea if (a) we may be able to claim off house insurance or (b) if there's any point in seeking legal advice. Or will we, unfortunately, have to put up with a front garden that literally looks like a building site until we've saved up a heck of a lot of money?

aspatrialil

yo:mad:ur problem reads like pages from our own diary of events hence this reply

we moved into a new build seven years ago and our back garden backs on to a neighbors back garden and what is against a shared wooden fence but a huge bamboo. We have many new shoots coming up also but googled how to stop the roots not only from spreading but stop them coming back - google "how to kill bamboo" there are lots of info. how to do this - we used ROUNDUP and it worked a treat.

I wish you luck money bunny:)

I_have_spoken

You and the neighbour would be better joining forces and chasing the developer under their general duty of care obligation. Send a 'letter before action' inviting the builder to rectify the problem at their cost.

You and the neighbour will need to co-operate in eradicating the plant using glyphosate

Are you sure it's bamboo and not knotweed?

alanobrien

I like bamboo and in fact have many varieties but it needs to be treated with care and spreading varieties need to be contained in the ground.

We had something similar when we moved into our current home. The previous owner planted a spreading bamboo that grew between two single storey extensions from the back of the house to the front (about an 8" gap). The only solution was to remove the main plant and use weedkiller on the roots we could not get to. I did this every other day for a couple of weeks and it did the job.

Sounds to me like your choices are to dig the lot up or try this method.
Good luck either way.

Davesnave

I_have_spoken wrote: »

You and the neighbour would be better joining forces and chasing the developer under their general duty of care obligation. Send a 'letter before action' inviting the builder to rectify the problem at their cost.

You and the neighbour will need to co-operate in eradicating the plant using glyphosate

Are you sure it's bamboo and not knotweed?

Although there is no harm in sending a letter before action, if the neighbour agrees, I wouldn't hold out too much hope.

Totally agree that the neighbour needs involvement in the eradication.

My post elsewhere explains more. This is a duplicate thread.