Japanese knotweed- overhyped?

ambioni

I have a friend trying to buy a house in SW England- they have offered on their dream home and now the survey has come back and identified japanese knotweed on a NEIGHBOURING property; they are considering pulling out, but is this plant really as bad as its hyped to be? Does anyone have experience of lenders refusing to lend or buyers being able to negotiate a price reduction because of this pest?

MrsFingersCrossed

I just wrote a long reply but internet cut out so lost it. I was basically saying have a look here: http://www.environetuk.com/


(Mark Thompson was helpful when we were looking at a house with Knotweed just over the boundary) We did a lot of research and discovered it can be a problem to get a mortgage but apparently not if it has been professionally removed and there is a maintenance plan in place. Hope this helps.

Gigervamp

Yes it is. We live next to a motorway and it's on the embankment. It's spread into next door's garden and despite trying to get rid of it, it's still there.

It really is nasty stuff.

oystercatcher

I would be running, wiping my feet as I went......

Surrey_EA

It is a problem that has really started to appear more and more over the last couple of years. I suppose it's really down to surveyors looking for it more than they had in the past, and becoming better at identifying the plant itself.

It can be very, very nasty, but is treatable. Funnily enough Environet is the company I would go to when there is an issue.

MrsFingersCrossed

Funny you say that, Oystercatcher. Yesterday to my horror I discovered a tiny new suspicious 'weed' poking through the gravel by our doorstep. We've lived here for nigh on 30 years and that is the first time I've ever seen anything like it. It's in the incinerator now.

ambioni

MrsFingersCrossed wrote: »

Funny you say that, Oystercatcher. Yesterday to my horror I discovered a tiny new suspicious 'weed' poking through the gravel by our doorstep. We've lived here for nigh on 30 years and that is the first time I've ever seen anything like it. It's in the incinerator now.

Japanese knotweed is quite distincitve, with bamboo-like stems, flushed with red when young, and spade-shaped leaves....any resemblance to your "weed"?

Apparently it is also edible when young, cooked rather like spinach by boiling/steaming and with a slightly tart rhubarby flavour

The plant also does not spread by seed, because all the plants in the UK are in fact the same plant (derived from a the same parent); they are all female and without pollination from a male plant cannot produce viable seeds.

Marktheshark

Unless they are buying cash nobody will lend for 5 years usually, it really is nasty stuff that can wreck a home in weeks.

marleyboy

Horrible, nasty plant. Will drastically effect a house sale and if left untreated, the very house.

jimbog

MrsFingersCrossed wrote: »

Funny you say that, Oystercatcher. Yesterday to my horror I discovered a tiny new suspicious 'weed' poking through the gravel by our doorstep. We've lived here for nigh on 30 years and that is the first time I've ever seen anything like it. It's in the incinerator now.

Apparently it looks like asparagus when it pokes itself out of the ground - did yours?
http://plrltd.co.uk/will-new-development-cause-spread-of-japanese-knotweed/

cns06

Something I am involved in from time to time. Not only does it wreck buildings quickly when in full Rambo mode it also is very hard and very expensive to treat. A small knotweed project is quite often into £10k+. Larger projects into the hundreds of thousands...