Undisclosed japanese knotweed on property

abydam

Hoping some of you can in part some of your wisdom!

Recently bought my first home, a three bed terrace property, that was recently renovated and finished to a high standard. There were no issues on the survey and the sale progressed smoothly.

One month in and I'm talking to the next door neighbour who informs me that the house has/had a Japanese Knotweed infestation at the bottom of the garden that previous owners dealt with. The bottom of the garden has a raised patio which is uneven, and sure enough there are two tiny shoots of JK poking through. I can see why the surveyor would have missed it.

Called out a specialist who informed me that he had visited this property in the last 18 months and was paid a deposit to remove the JK. However he was never called back to begin the work and was told by the owners it had been dealt with. He has said that it's clear it has been treated, but not followed up properly hence some regrowth. He quoted around £450 to treat (but kindly offered to deduct deposit amount paid).

In the seller's information report they tick that they are unaware of JK on the premises and thus no plan to treat it.

While I'm not particularly concerned about the JK as the specialist says it poses no risk to house (10m from property) and will be simple (but time consuming) to treat, I believe that the previous owners should have disclosed this and pay for its treatment.

Though we have no plans to move for 5+ years, it's presence could obviously slow the house selling process and lower its value. Is it worth contacting sellers via solicitors to raise this with them? Could they just plead ignorance?

Miss_Samantha

They should have disclosed it.

They will probably plead ignorance, so try to have something in writing from the neighbour and contractor.
If you get something in writing and document the current situation in the garden I think that you could safely sue if they refuse to pay up.

daveyjp

As its the end of knotweed growing season you now need to wait until next May to see if it comes back.

abydam

That's the plan. I've removed patio slabs in the meantime and will wait to see what the damage is. A pain as we were planning to do up that part of the garden next spring.

Fosterdog

It's possible that their idea of treating it was to cut it back, maybe even burn it then just lay a patio on top thinking that would do the job. I've seen similar things done before and it never fixes the problem just masks it for a while.

moneyistooshorttomention

The one blessing in this is that, by coincidence, you have got the exact same specialist out to have a look at it as came round before for the vendor.

The vendor will find it very hard to lie their way out of that one in the circumstances - and, even better, this specialist has offered to let you have the benefit of the deposit the vendor had already paid him.

That's two positives in this situation.

So - yep...I'd be booking that specialist and asking him what the position would be about him providing you with a suitable report for taking the vendor to small claims court. You might have to pay the specialist for that report - but you'd just add it to the list of items the vendor owes you for and stick it on your claim against them.

I'd say you are on good odds here of getting the vendor to pay up for this.

Chanes

I would think you have a very good case based on what you've said!

moneyistooshorttomention

NB; One point to bear in mind is that I've been told (by someone who organises a lot of JK clearance) that land that has had JK on it will never be "normal" again - unless literally every last trace of it is painstakingly dug up and properly disposed of.

They told me that, even after the treatment programme has been completed successfully, there will otherwise still be some JK down there underneath the soil and it may be dormant, rather than dead. That meaning that, if we decide subsequently to do the digging in our garden that we are entitled to do, it might come out of "dormancy" and start growing again.

You will need to bear that in mind when it comes to choosing how to deal with it (ie a treatment programme or having it dug out totally - so that the garden gets back to normal totally) and assess how much compensation to go for accordingly. Absolute total restoring the garden to normal (ie the painstaking digging it out completely) will cost rather more than a treatment programme.

On reflection - I'd be asking for an amount of money necessary for the absolute total "return to normal level" standard of job. You may, or may not, be prepared to settle for enough for a treatment programme.

Even if you don't intend to do any proper digging over of the garden and would be prepared to settle for a treatment programme yourself - then, come the time you sell the house to move up the ladder, you would need to declare on the buyer questionnaire that JK in the garden had had a treatment programme (ie rather than being able to confidently state there was no JK in the garden - from the garden having had the higher-level job and it had been completely removed without any trace left).

Davesnave

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

NB; One point to bear in mind is that I've been told (by someone who organises a lot of JK clearance) that land that has had JK on it will never be "normal" again - unless literally every last trace of it is painstakingly dug up and properly disposed of.

They told me that, even after the treatment programme has been completed successfully, there will otherwise still be some JK down there underneath the soil and it may be dormant, rather than dead. That meaning that, if we decide subsequently to do the digging in our garden that we are entitled to do, it might come out of "dormancy" and start growing again.

At the very least, this person would need proper scientific evidence to support their interpretation of the situation, otherwise those hearing it might consider they had a vested interest.

I have never read this 'undead' info anywhere, but that's not to say it isn't true either. I'm just somewhat sceptical that it's correct.

Even double digging only goes about 40cm below the surface. Just saying....

moneyistooshorttomention

You never know how far down workmen might have to dig if something was being done in the garden though.

Re the person who told me "Its only dormant - not dead - and you still can't go digging round as normal in the garden afterwards" - I've had other people say the same to me and I'm just quoting the most knowledgeable one I know personally.

I know I've heard them spitting feathers verbally complaining about someone that took over a house that had had a JK treatment programme, that then went digging in their garden and the JK "woke up again" and started re-growing. I don't think they understood why I felt that new home-owner was perfectly entitled to be aggrieved about it coming back (ie as they thought "dealt with" meant "dealt with (ie total past history)" - as no-one seemed to have told them about the "dormant not dead" and that, basically, it's a zombie plant - unless fully dealt with by removing every last bit.

Any time I've asked over here what happens if it ever turned up (apart from me killing the culprit that is - at any rate going for them legally) the answer I've been given has boiled down "Treatment programme - and then don't expect to use your garden as normal ever again. Just do something like raised beds or putting down protective thick membrane and only gardening above that level".

Not satisfactory imo.

Of course - if someone wants to quote countervailing evidence that "once a treatment programme has been done - ie those 3 years or so of chemicals yearly" then land can be used totally as per normal and digging as deeply as one pleases - then I'd be pleased to hear it.

Davesnave

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Of course - if someone wants to quote countervailing evidence that "once a treatment programme has been done - ie those 3 years or so of chemicals yearly" then land can be used totally as per normal and digging as deeply as one pleases - then I'd be pleased to hear it.

OTOH, if this person's "undead" theory was correct, you'd expect it to be mentioned somewhere in the available literature.

For example, there is nothing much more comprehensive than Devon County Council's web resource on knotweed, which has a specific section for gardeners....

No mention there so far as I can see.