Buying a House that HAD Japanese Knotweed

tomsheff

Hi everyone,

I am due to complete the purchase of my first house before Christmas, so I only have a week or so to go. Yesterday, I received lots of documents from my solicitor, and one had some notes about Japanese Knotweed. I had never heard of it at this point, so spent the night research (and worrying).

It looks like the sellers found Knotweed shortly after their purchase in 2014, then spent £500 on the problem -- which is far less than the typical estimates I've seen, which look like £5,000 upwards. According to the document, the Knotweed is gone, but they don't seem to have done any follow-up checks.

I've instructed my solicitor to tell them I want an independent expert to go in and verify the Knotweed has completely gone. I'm basically unsure of what to do should the expert determine the house is free of Knotweed (or I'll pull out) but I still have my doubts and it has certainly soured the purchase.

This isn't a forever home, but probably more likely a 3-5 year one. My big concern is that the stigma of Knotweed will make the property difficult to sell -- even if the Knotweed has been gone for years. Just the mention of "Knotweed" might send potential buyers running a mile.

I'm certainly no expert on the subject, so I'm not really sure what to do! All the stuff I've found online has been around problems with current, active Knotweed. There is nothing really out there about historical Knotweed that is now gone.

Does anyone know how this problem might affect future sell-on value? Would you buy a house that once had Knotweed, if the problem was gone? And should I be looking to renegotiate now that this problem is known? To what extent seems reasonable?

Sorry for so many questions, but I really don't know where else to turn! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Whatisinaname

Don't panic!
You would struggle and find it almost impossible at this time of year to be able to check.
It can actually be dealt with by yourself by injecting the stems with neat glyphosate (often sold as round up) just get an agricultural grade version and suitable injecting items

ACG

Im with you on this. It is unlikely to be a £500 job to get rid of it. Sounds like they may have just hired a skip and employed someone to dig up the garden - although I am not the most experienced with JK. I suppose if it was in the far corner and they caught it early, £500 might do the job, but I would want a lot more information.

I would be bordering on pulling out if I could not get some sort of insurance policy on the work.

csgohan4

personally I would pull out, if no assurances in place such as insurance, but even then they are not 100% because the firm could just dissolve and your insurance is invalid.

JK is very nasty and can really cause some damage

tomsheff

Thanks everyone for the advice. I hadn't really considered that at this time of year it would be tricky to check. I will definitely be looking for assurances before even contemplating going any further.


Assuming the JK is completely gone and not coming back, would it still put you off buying? Knowing the house had once had the problem, years ago? That is my main concern, that I wouldn't be able to sell.


It seems like there is no upside to taking this risk. Best case scenario, the house doesn't have problems -- it's not like I'm getting the price at a steal, so if there are no issues down the line, then I'm up. But there are an awful lot of downsides!

daveyjp

It is quite possible to get rid of knotweed for £500 and I wouldn't pay much more for a small stand.

The figures of £5,000 are from companies who rip off homeowners due to fear factor,

I know someone who was quoted £12,000 for some weedkiller treatment and lots of paperwork. In the end it cost him £400 as he found someone honest. The knotweed hasn't returned in 5 years.

Mr.Generous

I'd buy a house with knotweed, or eradicated knotweed …. if the price was right.

moneyistooshorttomention

£500 and a one-off treatment doesnt sound "enough" to me treatment-wise.

But I'm someone that wouldn't buy a house that had ever had it - having been told by people in this area about "Why did so-and-so complain that JK came up in their garden. What were they doing digging the garden up?" and that was a house that had had the full chemical treatment programme.

The people that said this to me seemed to think it was unreasonable of the new owner of the house to "dig as they decided" in their own garden and not be that surprised the problem came up again:cool:

I would want to check that the problem was 101% gone and I was going to be able to use the garden in a completely normal way - ie as if it had never had JK - as I most certainly would be digging in my garden whenever/wherever I decided I would.

tlc678910

Hi,
I think if you loved the house and didn't plan on moving again it would be worth it as any efforts needed to further eradicate it would be worthwhile but if you see the house as short term and don't even feel it's a bargain then no - why would you buy it when you could buy a similar house at a similar price that doesn't have the problem.

If you are using a mortgage your lender may have an opinion on whether they are still willing to lend on it.

Tlc

Whatisinaname

If you like the house buy it!. Although knotweed isn't nice all you do to kill is inject the stems with weedkiller.

GALLUP 360(agricultural) will do the trick. Syringe etc will do the trick (neat)

Bit like people getting scared because of damp. It's an invasive plant yes but easily dealt with!!!

EachPenny

Whatisinaname wrote: »

Don't panic!
You would struggle and find it almost impossible at this time of year to be able to check.
It can actually be dealt with by yourself by injecting the stems with neat glyphosate (often sold as round up) just get an agricultural grade version and suitable injecting items

The problem with this advice is that the average homeowner is unlikely to be able to purchase "agricultural grade" pesticides - and if they were able to, COSHH and Pesticides Regulations mean that possession and application by a householder may be unlawful.

When it comes to selling the property in future, assuring the prospective purchaser that you've dealt with the knotweed by unlawful application of restricted pesticides is unlikely to be sensible, or effective.