Japanese knotweed and adverse possession

katiesaving

Slightly complicated Japanese knotweed scenario here!

We're in the process of buying a house which benefits from several areas of shared gardens.

However Japanese knotweed has been discovered on some of the shared land. We've requested an insurance backed Japanese knotweed guarantee and management plan which has been put in place, however it's now come to light that the 'shared land' wasn't ever signed over to the management company when other bits of land were signed over by the developers. The developers no longer exist as an entity and the management company has been looking after this land for 20 years and are therefore going to apply for adverse possession. Once they have been granted this they will be able to treat the knotweed.

I appreciate there is already a thread going on the forum about knotweed so I'm not looking for advice on that in general, but rather
- has anyone had experience of buying a house involving adverse possession
- or had any experience of applying for adverse possession in general - what are the timescales and the likely costs involved? should we lower our offer to reflect the extra risk or cost we're taking on?
-and bearing in mind there is Japanese knotweed in the mix, is this just a faff too far?

Our solicitor hasn't had any experience in this field so any advice is very welcome.

Many thanks

messes

The subject of adverse possession has come up with regards to part of a purchase in progress for myself. When I asked how long it might take to gain adverse possession I was told it would likely take months as depending on the land owner there is a 3 month waiting period at least.

It is possible to get an indemnity in my case, but in your case it's the management company gaining the possession so I have no idea how that would affect you.

How does the shared land affect what you are purchasing, i.e without it would the house lose value or something?

Are the management company resolving the knotweed problem, will you need to contribute? (I understand this can be expensive)

Also can the knotweed encrouch on any of your owned land? As I could forsee you having to treat it on your land without being able to get to the source.

I would admit this scenario would probably put me off unless the place was amazing and I was in absolutely no rush.

ProDave

If they are currently "looking after" the land, what's stopping them treating the JKW? That is just "gardening" which I assume is what you mean by "looking after" the land.

Adverse possession requires you to prove you have had exclusive and uncontested use of the land for a certain period. As it is currently being used as a shared garden, I am not sure they can prove that.

katiesaving

Thanks for the responses. Can I ask more about the indemnity, what did that involve? Useful to know to expect a fairly lengthy timescale.

They are dealing with the knotweed, however it makes me nervous that there's the chance they may not be awarded the land from adverse possession, in which case it would be out of their/my hands and reliant on whoever does own it to sort it.

moneyistooshorttomention

If someone else that is nowt to do with all this pops up and tries to claim the land - then I don't think it should take too long to look out and copy off information for them about the costs of eradicating JK on the one hand and, more to the point, the fine you would ensure they got imposed on them under those recent Anti Social Behaviour provisions for spreading JK on the other hand......

messes

So the indemnity for mine was to cover part of the building being on unregistered land. So an indemnity against loss of value if that part was removed. In my scenario I could be the person making an adverse possession claim.

In your case it appears the management company are making the adverse possession claim, so I doubt you can indemnify against this.

Your conveyencer would normally get quotes for an indemnity and often these are paid by the seller.

I have no idea if your scenario could be covered, but if it could, it would I think to cover the loss of the property or costs of treating knotweed on your property.

How close is this land to what would be yours? What is the level of risk that this knotweed presents to your potential purchase?

katiesaving

Thanks for the info on indemnity.

The shared land which has unclear ownership and on which the knotweed is sited is over 10 metres away from the property. Through buying the property we'd be become part of the management company whose job it would be to apply for the adverse possession and therefore inherit all future liabilities associated with it. Sounds like this would be a difficult eventuality to get an indemnity for...

Although as moneyistooshort points out it's not a very attractive bit of land for any other people or relatives of the developer to contest..

Does anyone know if applying for adverse possession incurs any costs beyond legal fees?