Japanese Knotweed in neighbours garden - what are my options?

bigG_60

Hi, my wife and I are in the process of selling our first house and moving to our 'forever' home only for the survey to show Japanese Knotweed in our next door's garden. We had a specialist come to inspect it and they provided a report to the buyer (and their lending company) to state there was no knotweed in our garden and the plants in the neighbours garden was more than 7m from our building. However this was not accepted and they are now requesting an action plan be put in place before the purchase can go ahead.

So now I am now stuck with a large potential bill (£2-3k) for work to basically sort my next door neighbour's garden. The neighbour in question is an old lady who is housebound and has clearly not been into her garden for years, it is incredibly overgrown with brambles, bushes and now knotweed. I have spoken briefly to her son and was basically told they were not interested in doing anything to help. We live in Northern Ireland and the law still seems lacking here in being able to force a neighbour to do something. We don't want to resort to legal action anyway but at the same time we can't afford three thousand pounds, and even if we could we feel very reluctant that we should have to sort out someone else's mess.

Has anyone had a similar experience or know more about what legal action might look like?

keith969

You might be wise to look for another buyer.

Ithaca

I assume the knotweed is in the next-door garden of the house you are selling (i.e. where you live now)?

You've said there's no sign of knotweed in your garden so I'm not sure what sort of legal action you are hoping to take. In the UK (not sure about NI) it is not against the law to allow knotweed to grow on your land, it's only if it spreads to a neighbour that you can face legal action for causing a nuisance.

You've said it's more than 7m away from your property so I can't see how you'd have any legal recourse at the moment. Of course, it makes sense for your neighbour to deal with the problem now rather than wait until you do take legal action once it's spread, but that's a choice only they can make. They may also say that as long as it's not encroaching onto your land they are not bothered (or have better things to spend £3k on).

edit to add: even if you had £3k spare I can't see how you could force your neighbour to let you get it treated, you'd still need to persuade them to let you on their land to deliver the treatment.

DoaM

You do realise that NI is in the UK? (It's not in GB though).

Would an indemnity policy be an option here?

Ithaca

DoaM wrote: »

You do realise that NI is in the UK? (It's not in GB though).

Would an indemnity policy be an option here?

Yes, aware that NI is part of the UK but as the recent discussions around abortion rights has shown there are some areas where the law over there is different to over here. My knowledge of Northern Irish environmental legislation is not detailed enough to be certain that the laws pertaining to the containment of invasive flora are the same as those in England and Wales.

And I assume an indemnity policiy wouldn't be much help... that's usually to cover to impact of any enforcement, it won't provide a magic £3k to remove knotweed from a garden if it spreads from next-door?

The patented Tea 'n' Cake approach might be more useful, esp. if you can point out that any spread into the wild could lead to a couple of years in prison!

ReadingTim

The fact is that next door aren't going to do anything now as it doesn't affect them. They'll only do something when the house needs to be sold - probably following the death of the aforementioned old lady, and even then, they could just leave it, and let the new buyer deal with it - priced right, anything sells.

You can't force them to deal with it, so either you deal with it to ensure the sale of your place progresses smoothly, or don't, and risk the sale falling through, or taking a hit on the price. JK is usually the death knell for purchases, but even if a price reduction is agreed, I'd be suspect you'll end up taking a hit of more than £2-3k. Either way, you end up paying, but one way is more direct than the other.

Finally, if the next place is really your forever home, do you want to lose it for the sake of a few thousand pounds? Galling as it may be, sometimes you need to consider the bigger picture, and in the scheme of things, and over the long term, this is quite a small issue if it's forever home...

Mojisola

bigG_60 wrote: »

So now I am now stuck with a large potential bill (£2-3k) for work to basically sort my next door neighbour's garden. The neighbour in question is an old lady who is housebound and has clearly not been into her garden for years, it is incredibly overgrown with brambles, bushes and now knotweed. I have spoken briefly to her son and was basically told they were not interested in doing anything to help.

Will the neighbour give you permission to go into the garden and use the necessary weedkillers?

glentoran99

Ithaca wrote: »

. In the UK (not sure about NI) it is not against the law to allow knotweed to grow on your land, .

Would this not apply? If they are refusing to control it?


https://www.wiseknotweed.com/services/what-is-japanese-knotweed/legislation/




Due to its destructive nature, Japanese knotweed in residential areas is now legislated under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act. Anyone ignoring a Japanese knotweed ASBO (Anti-Social Behaviour Order) can be charged and receive:

• On the spot penalties of up to £100
• Criminal prosecution and fines of up to £2,500
• Companies and business can also be fined up to £20,000

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/greenpolitics/11185356/Homeowners-who-fail-to-control-Japanese-knotweed-face-criminal-prosecution-under-new-anti-social-behaviour-laws.html

xylophone

http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/globalassets/documents/raise/publications/2016-2021/2017/aera/2717.pdf

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/invasive-plants

Ithaca

In common law, a duty of care exists between neighbouring landowners and it is possible that a landowner who allows the spread of Japanese knotweed from their property could be sued for relevant costs and damages.

It is also possible that a court would consider the duty of care to be a positive one and require a landowner to intervene where such an encroachment has not yet but is likely to occur.

It sounds like there is potential scope for legal action in NI but the way it's phrased - "possible that a court would" - suggests it's not clear-cut and would need to be argued out in court (potentially at a cost of much more than £3k).

The same document also clarifies the current position, which is that "there is currently no legal requirement for a landowner to control or remove existing established areas of Japanese Knotweed from their own land".

moneyistooshorttomention

It's up to the neighbour to spend their money to deal with their JK.

Have you tried telling them the cost of them dealing with their property on the one hand v. just how much the value of their house will be lowered if they don't on the other hand.

For the sake of argument - it's worth their while to spend £3,000 on dealing with their problem if it's going to save £50,000 being knocked off their house value.

I'd be finding out the figures of what it would cost them to deal with their problem on the one hand and asking local estate agents "How much will it reduce the value of "No x, Problem Road" for having JK as compared to not having JK. I'd probably hand them a written EA valuation at that (if I could get it) to prove just how much they'll lose (ie from the sons inheritance money) if he doesnt get off his lazy backside and sort it.