Japanese Knotweed

daveyjp

chanz4 said:

Also the bad news, your likely only to be able to sell to cash buyers now

Not helpful, or true.

SouthLondonUser

I am curious: what would the sellers be liable for? For the treatment? Or would the OP be able to prove that the house should have been worth x% less and go after the seller for the difference? Is there case law on this?

007james

huckster said:

Be aware that there are plants that look very similar to Japanese Knotweed, but are not. And people have spent considerable time and money removing a close relative of the Knotweed.  There are specialist contractors out there, who have been known to take advantage of this or have been mistaken in their identification of the plant type.

So before thinking the worse, as Japanese Knotweed is very difficult to erridicate, make sure you are 99% certain of the plant variety.

Can anyone please recommend reputable JKW contractors who will tell the truth? I emailed several companies. 2 said they would do a site survey including neighbours, 1 gave a set price without even asking for a photo of the area and one is charging for a survey as they say mortgage lenders want the report and 10 year insurance document. I don't know who to choose.

Kryss

We sold a house (number 60) which was subsequently found to have Japanese Knotweed. The new owners sued us. Their surveys showed that the knotweed came from the next door house (number 62) and has also spread to the property on the other side (64). We never knew we had it and always kept our garden weeded while next door was always overgrown (photos exist). Since it looks like it has spread from next door during the period we owned the house, can we sue next door (housing association) for the cost of the damages and legal costs we had to pay the new owners? We have all the documenation of ownership and the legal case.

SouthLondonUser

At what stage is the litigation? Have you hired a lawyer? It seems from your message that you have already paid your buyers: why, how and how much?

I would imagine your buyers need to prove that you knew the plant was there and intentionally hid this piece of information, lying on the property detail form (or whatever it's called, I don't remember). How can they prove that?

daveyjp

007james said:

huckster said:

Be aware that there are plants that look very similar to Japanese Knotweed, but are not. And people have spent considerable time and money removing a close relative of the Knotweed.  There are specialist contractors out there, who have been known to take advantage of this or have been mistaken in their identification of the plant type.

So before thinking the worse, as Japanese Knotweed is very difficult to erridicate, make sure you are 99% certain of the plant variety.

Can anyone please recommend reputable JKW contractors who will tell the truth? I emailed several companies. 2 said they would do a site survey including neighbours, 1 gave a set price without even asking for a photo of the area and one is charging for a survey as they say mortgage lenders want the report and 10 year insurance document. I don't know who to choose.

Post some photos on here first.

I would avoid any 'specialists'.  It just adds a few zeros to the price, especially once reports and insurance is talked of.  i.e. a £500 job becomes £12,000 (and that isn't a typo, its what I am aware of happening).