Selling a house with knotweed

sxcizme3010

Id be ashamed if I scammed thousands of pounds from unsuspecting buyers. its not like a broken door and a dodgy window - its JK which costs thousands of pounds to remove. Absolutely disgusting attitude. out of interest how many people defending this behaviour own their own home?

DaftyDuck

I don't think a single person on this thread has actually defended the seller's behaviour, not one. (Possibly one, putting "friendship" higher on his priority list, but not defending the seller's actions, nonetheless).

The points that people are making revolve around whether one (you) should involve yourself, and why Knotweed should be viewed as any special case, more than other house defects. It's maybe not comparable with a broken door and a dodgy window in your off-the-cuff example, but certainly is comparable in cost to defects such as woodworm, rot, subsidence. However, in most cases, JK can be dealt with by an individual with little specialist knowledge, and at very little cost, unlike the examples I give.

missbiggles1

sxcizme3010 wrote: »

Im close friends and they have told me that they havent had it treated properly - they said they are going to keep on top of it with weedkiller and keep digging it out etc until its sold. I wish I could mind my own business however I feel this is awful and if I was the buyer I would be mortified!

Really?:eek:

DaftyDuck

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Can we have more details on that please?

The companies are licensed under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, and regulated by the Local Authority. One of the stipulations of their license to trade is to record and report all instances they attend regarding Knotweed. They are therefore bound to record and report even those they attend (professionally), even if they do not treat.

Whether they do so or not is another matter entirely.

Edit: Actually, I'd have to check the

licensed under the Environmental Protection Act 1990

bit, and I'm a little stressed exchanging on my house at the moment.... but I think that's the right bit....

Rambosmum

sxcizme3010 wrote: »

Id be ashamed if I scammed thousands of pounds from unsuspecting buyers. its not like a broken door and a dodgy window - its JK which costs thousands of pounds to remove. Absolutely disgusting attitude. out of interest how many people defending this behaviour own their own home?

I certainly don't condone the behaviour, but there is an element of 'buyer beware', our roof was in a terrible state when we bought the house and needed replacing 3 weeks after we moved in costing £3000. It wasn't picked up on either survey (valuation or homebuyer) except to say it may need attention in the near to mid future. The JK on the other hand, also not picked up, lived with it happily for a few years and got rid of it for a few hundred pounds when we felt it necessary.

Would I have bought the house knowing it needed a new roof, probably not, would I have bought it knowing about the JK, I probably would have.

Our sellers were deceitful in a number of ways and had covered up a number of very shoddy work with new paint and cr*ppy laminate flooring, most of which we spotted prior to purchase, we wanted a bit of a fixer-upper. Do I think it was right, no, would I do it, no, will I be aware it may happen when buying out next home, yes. Will I take the seller to court next time, probably not.

moneyistooshorttomention

I am not sure that the "buyer beware" thing applies any longer - courtesy of buyers now being able to sue vendors for misrepresentation. I think that probably trumps that previous idea.

Goodness knows there are so many vendor tricks to watch out for to see what they might be getting up to to hide things in the house itself that a garden probably comes as low priority (and certainly will if you aren't used to JK being around in the area you are in to your knowledge). I was only calling my vendor names (yet again) to myself earlier today on reading the thread someone has just put up selling a smokers house (her mothers). Duh....and it didn't really occur to me just why the vendor had every window open...and I'm wondering whether I overpaid for the house because of that. I didn't realise I could probably have knocked some extra off asking price because of that smoking....:(

sxcizme3010

If they are prepared to lie and deceive about JK (which some people clearly dont see as a problem) what else are they lying about. My view of the ''friends'' I dont want to be friends with people who involve me in this. Why did they even tell me? They clearly think its acceptable to lie and defraud money off people so Id rather steer clear!

moneyistooshorttomention

sxcizme3010 wrote: »

If they are prepared to lie and deceive about JK (which some people clearly dont see as a problem) what else are they lying about. My view of the ''friends'' I dont want to be friends with people who involve me in this. Why did they even tell me? They clearly think its acceptable to lie and defraud money off people so Id rather steer clear!

You are probably as well to do so - as I expect this wouldn't be the last time they would put you in such an uncomfortable position.

The thing is that - with people like that - you never know when they might decide that treating you in an "off" fashion would suit their purposes.

sxcizme3010

Precisely! I was truly shocked and opened my eyes to their true colours. I understand they just want the best price for the house etc but I couldnt sell my house with such a problem and lie about it! Id get it treated (even i it was the cheap way) and just say I have had it treated, your more than welcome to get somebody in to survey it etc.. But just to lie and they have marketed it more than they should have anyway - was valued at £115000 with the view of accepting £110000 but they were like no we need £130000 (and thats without the JK)

DaftyDuck

All I can picture at the moment is an exchange between Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough..... as Cissie & Ada....

If you are under 40, you can probably find it on they Uhu gluetube thingummy ....