Selling:Surveyor:Japanese Knotweed

Hootie01

We finally had an offer on our house and thought all was well.
Had the survey done on Thursday. Today the estate agents called to say the buyers surveyer (for Halifax) had thought there was Japanese Knotweed in our back garden.
We have contacted a specialist as advised by Estate agents. But we are wondering if this will make any difference to the Halifax. Are we just wasting lots of money doing this??
The surveyor has not stated where in the garden and we cannot find out. I do not believe there is any.
It's in the interest of the invasive weed specialists to find some.
So is that it as far as ever selling our house goes.
Any advice welcome

chappers

It probably won't make any difference to them if it is there, but if your specialist can rule it out then your back in the game.
Have you not had a thorough look around to see if you can find it or anything similar that the surveyor might have mistaken it for.
The specialist shouldn't be telling you you have knotweed if you don't get a second opinion if you don't believe what he is telling you and maybe engage him to compile a report for you i.e pay him for his time rather than possibly engaging him to do some work if he "finds" anything.

No it's not the be all and end all, we managed top kill off quite a large patch of knotweed that was coming in from out neighbours at the back of our garden. you just need to be persistent.

daveyjp

At this time of year knotweed is easy to identify. It will be dying off and look like brown bamboo shoots with yellowing leaves. Do some research before the 'specialist' arrives. There is no need to be a specialist for JK and a decent surveyor should know for certain.

If you do have knotweed there is very little you can do until next May through to August, unless you want a massive hole in your back garden and a huge bill for tipping hazardous waste and landscaping.

ACG

Its not in the surveyors interest to say there is japnese knotweed if there is not any.

If there is japanese knotweed a lot fo lenders do have issues with this although the issue can be reduced depending on how far noth you are and how far from the property it is.

If its there then it will need to be removed.

Hootie01

Thanks for your replies. We cannot see anything that resembles Japanese knotweed. Asked neighbours last night. The garden does need weeding and we live near a canal and river and nature reserve so we get lots of types of weeds and bushes here, but nothing that has the shoots or resembles anything Iv seen on the internet. There is a bush that he could have mistaken but it never flowers as in the photos of Japanese knotweed with its creamy flowers and does not have the flat bottom shape to the leave.
So worried that this surveyor has made a mistake and now we are going to have to find the money to get an expert to prove we have not got it.


Also we only bought the house a year ago so why didn't our mortgage lender come up with the same thing??
This link was very interesting http://pba-solutions.com/mortgage-valuation-surveys-and-japanese-knotweed


I have been up since the early hours researching the plant that looks like it. Cornus alba Spaethii.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/92514/i-Cornus-alba-i-Spaethii-(v)/Details
Its grown from underneath a fur tree type thingy that's blocking its light. Its come up on our neighbours as well and hardly spread all year and probably not flowered as we keep the hedges trimmed. Surely if it was knotweed it would be going nuts in the year since we bought the house.

Dekalbkid

Frankly I wouldn't believe anything a surveyor tells you. My partner is a consultant civil engineer who specialises in private foul drainage disposal systems - septic tanks, package sewage treatment plants. His opinion of surveyors, building control officers, architects and builders, all of whom know very little of these matters is unprintable!

alchemist.1

Dekalbkid wrote: »

Frankly I wouldn't believe anything a surveyor tells you. My partner is a consultant civil engineer who specialises in private foul drainage disposal systems - septic tanks, package sewage treatment plants. His opinion of surveyors, building control officers, architects and builders, all of whom know very little of these matters is unprintable!

By sounds of it, he doesn't think anyone knows anything.

kingstreet

A surveyor is like a GP.

He suspects something is wrong and suggests a specialist's opinion be sought.

As a consequence, he should avoid making a diagnosis and suggesting treatment, but this now seems to be expected of them, especially by mortgage lenders.

They nearly always end up having to revise the diagnosis and treatment plan when the specialist's report arrives.

robatwork

Surveyors these days take pictures of everything.

So ask to see the survey, or at least the pictures of what the surveyor purported to be JK. That way you can refute it or at least identify what in your garden he thinks it is.

Hootie01

They wont tell us where in the garden he saw it or give us pictures.
I have booked a specialist company in for Tuesday. Iv also asked the estate agents to let us know if the company are approved of by the lender, as we then could have another company to pay their "favoured" choice if our choice is not approved.
Surely if the plant my neighbour saw him studying was JK it would have spread through the ground with rhizomes' and be everywhere in the last year or have grown beyond our capabilities.
JK flowers and this bush does not, or has not since we moved in a year ago. The leaves on JK have a flat base near where they join the stem. Ours comes in instead. Also leaves alternate on JK off the stem and ours are parallel to each other.
I

robatwork

No evidence = it doesn't exist.

Tell the buyers to put up or shut up.