Court Action - Surveyor Japanese Knotweed

Lolly88

Good luck OP, I hope you get a good outcome.

daveyjp

sevenhills wrote: »

Japanese knotweed growth is usually at its most prolific from April to October, but mild winters and warm damp summers in recent years have seen the growing season extended. - Google

Is it dead by November?

By the end of November it is dead above ground.

Growing season generally extends from the beginning of the growing cycle i.e. it can start appearing earlier than the usual time of April if the winter is particularly mild.

However as soon as the shorter days arrives it flowers and starts dying back above ground. By October it is dying back, by the end of November the stalks will be brown. They dry out over the next growing season.

davidmcn

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

You're fighting on behalf of a lot of other people too

No they're not, they're fighting their own case. It's not going to set some sort of precedent.

moneyistooshorttomention

davidmcn wrote: »

No they're not, they're fighting their own case. It's not going to set some sort of precedent.

I wouldnt be so sure on that.

It only takes a few people to win against surveyors and the like that should report JK and don't before surveyors start "policing themselves" and making rather more certain as to just whether there is JK there or no. This must be pretty frequent - and I've got a friend that had a survey on their home and the surveyor didnt mention it - and they've found it's there (quite a sizeable amount of it too).

I wouldnt rule it out either that there might be some legal comeback at some point - if enough people complain.

At the very least - whenever a householder reports back to the rest of us that they've taken on anyone who "shoulda said - but didnt" (whoever that person is - surveyor/the vendor/whoever) = it gives the rest of us confidence to "fight back" if it happens to us.

Davesnave

JK is no different from any other thing that surveyors ought to report on within the remit of their inspection.

The question is whether it's reasonable to expect them to have
seen it.

There are many things an inspection cannot easily reveal, which may later prove a difficulty for the home owner. In view of this, surveyors often hedge their reports with caveats and recommendations for further investigation which do little more than confuse the average person. Whether you think this is a 'good thing' is up to you.

I know what I think, which is why I do my own surveys with people in the building trade. I also have a realistic outlook, understanding that we won't find everything that's potentially a problem.

Davesnave

daveyjp wrote: »

By the end of November it is dead above ground.

Growing season generally extends from the beginning of the growing cycle i.e. it can start appearing earlier than the usual time of April if the winter is particularly mild.

However as soon as the shorter days arrives it flowers and starts dying back above ground. By October it is dying back, by the end of November the stalks will be brown. They dry out over the next growing season.

It's worth pointing out that unless someone actively removes them, the dead stalks are still visible through the winter months, so if the amount growing is substantial, it's possible to provide a tentative ID.

I say 'tentative' because there are other plants which might look similar in a dormant state.

teneighty

43429525 wrote: »

Just thought I'd update you on where I am with this, first of all I did write to the surveyor before engaging solicitors as they denied responsibility, the reason ive not gone through the Ombudsmen after going through their complaints process is that the damage exceeds the threshold for the Ombudsmen.

The surveyor had an independent review done themselves and the report confirmed the JKW should have been observed and reported and not overlooked, so now I'm hoping it's just a case of settlement although they have yet to accept they are at fault despite their own independent report.

first of

I thought Ombudsmans' limit was something like £25,000. How much knotweed have you got?

Anyway you can't go to the Ombudsman until the official complaint with the survey company has run it's course.

sevenhills

Davesnave wrote: »

It's worth pointing out that unless someone actively removes them, the dead stalks are still visible through the winter months, so if the amount growing is substantial, it's possible to provide a tentative ID.

In winter, when the plant becomes dormant, the leaves die off and the stem remains upright.

I have never had the pleasure of it in my garden, just what this web site says.

http://www.japaneseknotweedspecialists.com/faq/

Dawn1966

43429525 wrote: »

Just thought I'd update you on where I am with this, first of all I did write to the surveyor before engaging solicitors as they denied responsibility, the reason ive not gone through the Ombudsmen after going through their complaints process is that the damage exceeds the threshold for the Ombudsmen.

The surveyor had an independent review done themselves and the report confirmed the JKW should have been observed and reported and not overlooked, so now I'm hoping it's just a case of settlement although they have yet to accept they are at fault despite their own independent report.

first of

Any chance of a further update on this please 43429525??

davidmcn

Dawn1966 wrote: »

Any chance of a further update on this please 43429525??

It's unlikely, considering they haven't logged in here since 7 January.