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Japanese Knotweed and selling houses
Rambosmum
Posts: 2,447 Forumite
I want to know the legal standing on this:
8 years ago we bought our house, shortly after moving in we found a small patch (3mx1m) of JK (it was there when we bought the house but had been cut back and we bought in the winter). We had it treated by a specialist company. The company came back each year during 'active growing season' and checked on the patch. After three years (so 4 years ago) they declared it treated and discharged us so to speak. We have never seen any JK since.
We are now selling the house. The info pack we have to fill in asks:
"Is there japanese knotweed on the property or within 10m of"
"If so, is there an active treatment plan in place. If yes, give details"
The answer to both questions in my mind is 'no' as there isn't any currently and there is no treatment plan. There was JK and there was a treatment plan, but there is neither now.
Anyone know the legal position on this, as I don't want to deceive the buyers but also don't want to declare it if it isn't necessary.
8 years ago we bought our house, shortly after moving in we found a small patch (3mx1m) of JK (it was there when we bought the house but had been cut back and we bought in the winter). We had it treated by a specialist company. The company came back each year during 'active growing season' and checked on the patch. After three years (so 4 years ago) they declared it treated and discharged us so to speak. We have never seen any JK since.
We are now selling the house. The info pack we have to fill in asks:
"Is there japanese knotweed on the property or within 10m of"
"If so, is there an active treatment plan in place. If yes, give details"
The answer to both questions in my mind is 'no' as there isn't any currently and there is no treatment plan. There was JK and there was a treatment plan, but there is neither now.
Anyone know the legal position on this, as I don't want to deceive the buyers but also don't want to declare it if it isn't necessary.
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Comments
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the question is in the present tense, so I would answer it as such.
No!0 -
It's quite different from "Has the house ever suffered from...." as in the case of flooding and/or subsidence, so clearly the intention is to identify active or recent JK only.
IMO you are in the clear.0 -
Yup, don't say anything, and you don't have to say anything, it's well gone!0
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I, too, would answer "no".
When I bought this house last year, the seller also stated "no", despite the fact I knew he knew there was (from notes online from a local Parish Council meeting). I'm happy dealing with it myself.
One point worth following: was there a long-lasting guarantee from your treatment programme and, should JK re-emerge in the same place after the sale, will the guarantee cover this? Some guarantees, I believe, give a 10 or 25 year cover.0 -
Tell the facts absolutely straight.
- We identified a patch of it in the following size in year x
- We had a treatment programme in year z and again in the following years
- You can confirm this is the case with firm y - as they are the ones that did the work
The neighbours are likely to tell new owners of the house exactly what the situation is - so might as well "tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth".
That way - they know and there is no risk of them coming back at you saying "But you said there isn't any" which we interpreted as meaning "There isnt any - and there never has been".0 -
I would just say no; you don't have any Japanese Knotweed - which is the truth.0
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moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »Tell the facts absolutely straight.
- We identified a patch of it in the following size in year x
- We had a treatment programme in year z and again in the following years
- You can confirm this is the case with firm y - as they are the ones that did the work
The neighbours are likely to tell new owners of the house exactly what the situation is - so might as well "tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth".
That way - they know and there is no risk of them coming back at you saying "But you said there isn't any" which we interpreted as meaning "There isnt any - and there never has been".
Ignore the trouble making curtain twitcher above and do what everyone else has advised, answer what the question actually asks.0 -
Morals ain't us then....or being very pragmatic about protecting one's interests....
It's called "enlightened self-interest" - ie doing the right thing because one doesn't want the person on the receiving end in this case to "come back at you" because someone hasn't been totally straight with them.
These things can rebound and rebound if you don't - ask my vendor (ie who is still probably having things "bouncing back at them" at intervals - as I tell people what they said and what the actual facts proved to be subsequently).
Never mind neighbours even - I've found some sympathetic impartial acquaintances round about that have told me exactly how things are.
Motto - someone somewhere sometime will "tell it like it is" and it's best not to have set oneself up for a "boomerang" effect from not having done so oneself imo.
One can see why the phrase used in courts is "the whole truth":cool:0 -
If they ask is there any now, then the answer is clearly "no"
No need at all for all the ridiculous guff in post 6 (from someone who would steal a baby stair gate from the owners by the way, what a joke about "morals") ) about what happened years ago that they didn't ask about .
They didn't ask about what happened years back, they asked about now.
So answer about now.0 -
AnotherJoe wrote: »If they ask is there any now, then the answer is clearly "no"
No need at all for all the ridiculous guff in post 6 (from someone who would steal a baby stair gate from the owners by the way, what a joke about "morals") ) about what happened years ago that they didn't ask about .
They didn't ask about what happened years back, they asked about now.
So answer about now.
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
What comes with the house belongs to the house...end of...:)
There are times where one has to answer the question asked - and not the question one would have liked them to ask iyswim. To do otherwise is semantics - and asking for problems in the future. "Enlightened self interest" has a lot going for it imo.
So what is the problem deemed to be with telling the "history" of what happened exactly as it happened?0
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