Japanese Knotweed - advice please for obtaining mortgage

Phantom_tollbooth

Hello knowledgable mortgage people

We have lived in our house for several years and are on our 3rd fixed term mortgage. We have never had any problems getting the mortgages, and surveys, valuations etc have been fine.

We have recently discovered that Japanese Knotweed was found on a building site (now 5 new houses) adjacent to the rear of our back garden. We don't know if it was in the corner of the plot near our boundary or not (we think not, as they cleared that bit last). We know that some treatment was used on the site, and the builders have dug a deep JK barrier into the ground along our shared boundary. We are trying to get more details from the Housing Association responsible, but they are not very forthcoming.

While discussing this with my next door neighbour she told us that her neighbour on the other side had had JK in his garden too (also adjacent to site), and this had been treated at the same time by the builders. And there had been 'a tiny bit' sneaking into her garden but she had just pulled it up (!).

There is no JK anywhere on our property, and as far as we know there never has been. If we found any we would deal with it appropriately.

However, we live in quite a narrow terraced house, so JK in a neighbour's garden and even neighbour-but-one's garden could be within, say, 10m of our house. Both neighbour and neighbour-but-one are council tenants. They are friendly and well-meaning, but aren't fussed about mortgages etc. Neighbour is garden-proud has commented that she wouldn't want people stomping round causing havoc in her garden. We don't know if ultimate responsibility for dealing with JK would lie with them or the council.

Right now there is no JK obviously visible anywhere that we can see.

Now that we know it has been there we would be honest when answering any questions about it to a potential mortgage provider. But we don't know what they actually ask. Please could anyone advise? Should we be worried? Should we be requesting evidence of JK eradication from neighbours in plenty of time before our fixed rate comes to an end?

(I guess we are going to have to deal with buildings insurance too, a lot sooner. Argh!)

Thanks

PT

Lilla_D

Hi PT,

Most lenders don't ask about JK during the application process. It's the valuer, who would make a comment in the valuation report if they observed presence of it on your property or nearby. However, during a remortgage process, quite often a physical valuation doesn't even take place, so the question wouldn't even come up. Of course, if the question is asked, you should reply honestly, but even better is to make your broker aware of the situation upfront, so he/she can check the potential lender's JK policy in advance.

Phantom_tollbooth

Thank you.

We're with Scottish Widows at the moment, and although we might take a retention remortgage (we like the offset) we would also generally look around to find the best rate.

We would absolutely be honest if asked, but I guess we are worried that it is the sort of thing we are expected to disclose anyway, as part of the valuation process. We would like to ensure we do all we can in plenty of time.

Many thanks for your help.