Japanese Knotweed

WDWGunner25

Hi all,
So we are in a bit of a nasty predicament for want of a better term (not what we have been calling it off of family friendly forums I assure you!) but we bought our house back in February, and on Monday we discovered the presence of Japanese Knotweed. 

With lockdown etc we have not had family over, until last week when the in laws came for a bbq, and my FIL spotted it. We checked it out and yep the dreaded Knotweed.

The reason for my post is that the seller legally declared on the TA6 that there was no Knotweed affecting the property (she could have ticked NOT KNOWN but she specifically chose NO). So we have been told provided we can show it’s been there more than 4 months (we have a survey booked in, in a couple of weeks) which won’t be hard as it’s VERY established and the neighbours know of the plant as if affects them too (yep wonderful isn’t it!) she is fully liable.

Also sounds sortable accept we have no idea how to track her down. Our conveyancer said they can’t help and to contact the estate agents - which is surely stupid as they have DPA rules and would have to contact her and tell her what’s going on and she could just refuse. 

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Knotweed costs thousands to sort and we don’t have that right now with the rest of the works we are having done!

Thanks for any advice 

wksd

The TR1 form should have the seller and the buyer when you registered with Land Reg. I would get a solicitor for this - sounds like an easy battle for you. Definitely take her to court - we bought a property with JKW and the only reason we couldn't sue is it was a newbuild with no TA6. Plenty of solicitors out there for you!
The knotweed isn't actually that expensive, our policy was £1.3k for 10 years!

davidmcn

You can instruct a tracing agent if you want to get an address.

daveyjp

Knotweed doesn't have to cost thousands to sort.

Did your surveyor spot it?  They should be trained to identify it during the Homebuyers survey.  If not go back and ask why, that is where your beef should be.  The TA6 forms are largely a waste of time.

Of course if the previous owner treat it like a weed and just chopped it (as most owners do), it may not have been visible to the surveyor and the owner may not have known what it was anyway.

Now is the time to treat it.  I'd get on and do that now rather than waste time trying to pin it on someone else, the hassle won't be worth it.  What you spend on chasing could be spent on eradication.

Do it yourself using concentrated glyphosate, available from Amazon (less than £30 for 2 litres).  Spray it now, again in mid July and a final time towards end of August.  Leave it to die, cut off dead growth in late February, burn the waste and repeat treatment next summer if necessary.

Mojisola

daveyjp said:

Did your surveyor spot it?  They should be trained to identify it during the Homebuyers survey.  If not go back and ask why, that is where your beef should be. 

Hard to spot JKW in the winter.

daveyjp

Mojisola said:

daveyjp said:

Did your surveyor spot it?  They should be trained to identify it during the Homebuyers survey.  If not go back and ask why, that is where your beef should be. 

Hard to spot JKW in the winter.

Not if it hasn't been chopped back and you know what you are looking for.  I was out in February identifying a stand from last year's growth, I confirmed new growth in early April and it is now being treated.

Unicorn_cottage

The advice now is to treat it once a year after if flowers to allow the herbicide to get properly drawn into the rhizome. In terms of waste I would hire an incinerator as Japanese knotweed can survive life on a volcano in its native range. Are you neighbours treating it as it needs a collective effort to get rid of it. 

Davesnave

While it's always slightly amusing to see someone wound-up or convinced by stuff they've read with a strong sales bias, it's good to see some others have advised that treating JK isn't that hard or expensive. It may well be much more difficult pinning the cost on the vendor, if they can find them and prove intention to deceive; a pretty difficult and long-winded thing to attempt.

It most probably won't be threatening the fabric of their property, so if they can work methodically and follow a few basic rules, it should be gone long before they have to fill out a TA6, Property Information Form themselves.

The total cost could be as little as £100 and the greatest difficulty might be getting the neighbour to co-operate, because they've not bothered up to now.

I would follow the advice of daveyjp, who has direct experience.

Unicorn_cottage

Davesnave said:

While it's always slightly amusing to see someone wound-up or convinced by stuff they've read with a strong sales bias, it's good to see some others have advised that treating JK isn't that hard or expensive. It may well be much more difficult pinning the cost on the vendor, if they can find them and prove intention to deceive; a pretty difficult and long-winded thing to attempt.

It most probably won't be threatening the fabric of their property, so if they can work methodically and follow a few basic rules, it should be gone long before they have to fill out a TA6, Property Information Form themselves.

The total cost could be as little as £100 and the greatest difficulty might be getting the neighbour to co-operate, because they've not bothered up to now.

I would follow the advice of daveyjp, who has direct experience.

The thing is it is hard and difficult to treat and get rid of especially when you compare it to other invasive non-native species or simply plants that are native or naturalised here. This is not to scare the OP but to state the facts.

Davesnave you say to follow daveyjp's advice when you know nothing about my experience. 

Davesnave

Unicorn_cottage said:

Davesnave said:

While it's always slightly amusing to see someone wound-up or convinced by stuff they've read with a strong sales bias, it's good to see some others have advised that treating JK isn't that hard or expensive. It may well be much more difficult pinning the cost on the vendor, if they can find them and prove intention to deceive; a pretty difficult and long-winded thing to attempt.

It most probably won't be threatening the fabric of their property, so if they can work methodically and follow a few basic rules, it should be gone long before they have to fill out a TA6, Property Information Form themselves.

The total cost could be as little as £100 and the greatest difficulty might be getting the neighbour to co-operate, because they've not bothered up to now.

I would follow the advice of daveyjp, who has direct experience.

The thing is it is hard and difficult to treat and get rid of especially when you compare it to other invasive non-native species or simply plants that are native or naturalised here. This is not to scare the OP but to state the facts.

Davesnave you say to follow daveyjp's advice when you know nothing about my experience. 

No, I know nothing about your experience, but already we have conflicting advice and the OP doesn't need confusion added to their thread. daveyjp has been posting on this subject for a long time here.

Were I to add what I'd do, it would be different again, so I won't!

Unicorn_cottage

Davesnave said:

Unicorn_cottage said:

Davesnave said:

While it's always slightly amusing to see someone wound-up or convinced by stuff they've read with a strong sales bias, it's good to see some others have advised that treating JK isn't that hard or expensive. It may well be much more difficult pinning the cost on the vendor, if they can find them and prove intention to deceive; a pretty difficult and long-winded thing to attempt.

It most probably won't be threatening the fabric of their property, so if they can work methodically and follow a few basic rules, it should be gone long before they have to fill out a TA6, Property Information Form themselves.

The total cost could be as little as £100 and the greatest difficulty might be getting the neighbour to co-operate, because they've not bothered up to now.

I would follow the advice of daveyjp, who has direct experience.

The thing is it is hard and difficult to treat and get rid of especially when you compare it to other invasive non-native species or simply plants that are native or naturalised here. This is not to scare the OP but to state the facts.

Davesnave you say to follow daveyjp's advice when you know nothing about my experience. 

No, I know nothing about your experience, but already we have conflicting advice and the OP doesn't need confusion added to their thread. daveyjp has been posting on this subject for a long time here.

Were I to add what I'd do, it would be different again, so I won't!

@Davesnave - the conflicting advice I am giving is the most up to date advice which is based on my experience and others in "the field". Why do you presume the other advice is right? Japanese knotweed is an entirely different foe to beat. Would I buy a house with Japanese knotweed on the plot of land I was buying? 100% no.