Bamboo in neighbours garden

Macicka

AskAsk said:

Grizebeck said:

AskAsk said:

I wouldn't buy it as it sounds pretty bad.  Or I would knock a huge chunk off the asking price for the headache, that is to come.

Oh come on get real. Not a big issue

only as bad as japanese knotweed, but actually even more

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0hrn6yf#:~:text=Well, there's another problem plant,but cost THOUSANDS to remove.

Exactly. Amazing how many people underestimate  this....But it would be good to know whether it can be managed. I'm thinking of putting a barrier down the fence and digging out what's in the garden. Obvs getting a seller to reflect this in the price following a homebuyers report. I just need to speak to someone who has dealt with bamboo in their garden. 

AskAsk

Macicka said:

AskAsk said:

Grizebeck said:

AskAsk said:

I wouldn't buy it as it sounds pretty bad.  Or I would knock a huge chunk off the asking price for the headache, that is to come.

Oh come on get real. Not a big issue

only as bad as japanese knotweed, but actually even more

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0hrn6yf#:~:text=Well, there's another problem plant,but cost THOUSANDS to remove.

Exactly. Amazing how many people underestimate  this....But it would be good to know whether it can be managed. I'm thinking of putting a barrier down the fence and digging out what's in the garden. Obvs getting a seller to reflect this in the price following a homebuyers report. I just need to speak to someone who has dealt with bamboo in their garden. 

With plants, they will spread and it is difficult to use a barrier against them as they grow deep roots.  The only way to stop it spreading is to get the neighbour to remove theirs but the fact that they let it grow shows you what sort of people they are, so more than likely, they will not be good neighbours.

I had terrible problems getting rid of the ivy as the neighour said she wanted to keep it!  The only way of dealing with it was to get it removed from her side.

It isn't something you want to buy into.  It is a problem you deal with if you already live there but I wouldn't walk knowingly into it unless you got a huge discount.

BarelySentientAI

Macicka said:

AskAsk said:

Grizebeck said:

AskAsk said:

I wouldn't buy it as it sounds pretty bad.  Or I would knock a huge chunk off the asking price for the headache, that is to come.

Oh come on get real. Not a big issue

only as bad as japanese knotweed, but actually even more

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0hrn6yf#:~:text=Well, there's another problem plant,but cost THOUSANDS to remove.

Exactly. Amazing how many people underestimate  this....But it would be good to know whether it can be managed. I'm thinking of putting a barrier down the fence and digging out what's in the garden. Obvs getting a seller to reflect this in the price following a homebuyers report. I just need to speak to someone who has dealt with bamboo in their garden. 

It is already obvious and known.  It should have been reflected in your offer.

Why should the seller give a reduction for something that was clearly obvious to you already?

Macicka

AskAsk said:

Macicka said:

AskAsk said:

Grizebeck said:

AskAsk said:

I wouldn't buy it as it sounds pretty bad.  Or I would knock a huge chunk off the asking price for the headache, that is to come.

Oh come on get real. Not a big issue

only as bad as japanese knotweed, but actually even more

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0hrn6yf#:~:text=Well, there's another problem plant,but cost THOUSANDS to remove.

Exactly. Amazing how many people underestimate  this....But it would be good to know whether it can be managed. I'm thinking of putting a barrier down the fence and digging out what's in the garden. Obvs getting a seller to reflect this in the price following a homebuyers report. I just need to speak to someone who has dealt with bamboo in their garden. 

With plants, they will spread and it is difficult to use a barrier against them as they grow deep roots.  The only way to stop it spreading is to get the neighbour to remove theirs but the fact that they let it grow shows you what sort of people they are, so more than likely, they will not be good neighbours.

I had terrible problems getting rid of the ivy as the neighour said she wanted to keep it!  The only way of dealing with it was to get it removed from her side.

It isn't something you want to buy into.  It is a problem you deal with if you already live there but I wouldn't walk knowingly into it unless you got a huge discount.

That's really good information. Did you have to prove that the ivy has damaged your roof? Was she ordered to remove it? Yes this neighbour seems very selfish - her garden is an absolute tip and massively overgrown,  including ivy. I haven't even realised that could be a problem - thanks for mentioning it.  

Macicka

BarelySentientAI said:

Macicka said:

AskAsk said:

Grizebeck said:

AskAsk said:

I wouldn't buy it as it sounds pretty bad.  Or I would knock a huge chunk off the asking price for the headache, that is to come.

Oh come on get real. Not a big issue

only as bad as japanese knotweed, but actually even more

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0hrn6yf#:~:text=Well, there's another problem plant,but cost THOUSANDS to remove.

Exactly. Amazing how many people underestimate  this....But it would be good to know whether it can be managed. I'm thinking of putting a barrier down the fence and digging out what's in the garden. Obvs getting a seller to reflect this in the price following a homebuyers report. I just need to speak to someone who has dealt with bamboo in their garden. 

It is already obvious and known.  It should have been reflected in your offer.

Why should the seller give a reduction for something that was clearly obvious to you already?

Because that's the way it works in this country? https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/property/1877155/buying-home-bamboo-exclusive

AskAsk

Macicka said:

AskAsk said:

Macicka said:

AskAsk said:

Grizebeck said:

AskAsk said:

I wouldn't buy it as it sounds pretty bad.  Or I would knock a huge chunk off the asking price for the headache, that is to come.

Oh come on get real. Not a big issue

only as bad as japanese knotweed, but actually even more

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0hrn6yf#:~:text=Well, there's another problem plant,but cost THOUSANDS to remove.

Exactly. Amazing how many people underestimate  this....But it would be good to know whether it can be managed. I'm thinking of putting a barrier down the fence and digging out what's in the garden. Obvs getting a seller to reflect this in the price following a homebuyers report. I just need to speak to someone who has dealt with bamboo in their garden. 

With plants, they will spread and it is difficult to use a barrier against them as they grow deep roots.  The only way to stop it spreading is to get the neighbour to remove theirs but the fact that they let it grow shows you what sort of people they are, so more than likely, they will not be good neighbours.

I had terrible problems getting rid of the ivy as the neighour said she wanted to keep it!  The only way of dealing with it was to get it removed from her side.

It isn't something you want to buy into.  It is a problem you deal with if you already live there but I wouldn't walk knowingly into it unless you got a huge discount.

That's really good information. Did you have to prove that the ivy has damaged your roof? Was she ordered to remove it? Yes this neighbour seems very selfish - her garden is an absolute tip and massively overgrown,  including ivy. I haven't even realised that could be a problem - thanks for mentioning it.  

It never got to the legal stage, thank god!  Ivy is also a bad problem if it gets to your property as it can climb up to your roof and it will damage the brick work.

A neighbour with a filty garden will also attract rats and mice, so that is another concern!

BarelySentientAI

Macicka said:

BarelySentientAI said:

Macicka said:

AskAsk said:

Grizebeck said:

AskAsk said:

I wouldn't buy it as it sounds pretty bad.  Or I would knock a huge chunk off the asking price for the headache, that is to come.

Oh come on get real. Not a big issue

only as bad as japanese knotweed, but actually even more

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0hrn6yf#:~:text=Well, there's another problem plant,but cost THOUSANDS to remove.

Exactly. Amazing how many people underestimate  this....But it would be good to know whether it can be managed. I'm thinking of putting a barrier down the fence and digging out what's in the garden. Obvs getting a seller to reflect this in the price following a homebuyers report. I just need to speak to someone who has dealt with bamboo in their garden. 

It is already obvious and known.  It should have been reflected in your offer.

Why should the seller give a reduction for something that was clearly obvious to you already?

Because that's the way it works in this country? https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/property/1877155/buying-home-bamboo-exclusive

It isn't, and a clickbait newspaper article that says "one buyer got some money off after they threatened to pull out" doesn't make it so.

There are threads on here every week with people asking "how much money should I get off the price for X Y Z".  Similar advice is often given.

If it was clear to you or the information could have easily been available to you at the time of your offer - then that should have been priced into your offer.  Just like you wouldn't offer on a house that you know needed a new kitchen immediately then turn around and say "I want some money off so I can fit a new kitchen".

You might get lucky, or have a desperate seller, or someone that doesn't want the hassle of relisting, or any other reason.  Price is a negotiation between both sides.

"I've got a report now so obvs you must reduce the price" is not a negotiation.

Sapindus

There are two types of bamboo, running and clumping. Sounds like your prospective neighbour has the running sort and has it bad. But in general, for the edification of anyone else seeing bamboo and thinking of running for the hills...

Bamboo doesn't grow deep roots, it spreads by shallow rhizomes.  It doesn't regrow from the tiniest bit like JK does.  And every hundred years or so, because all the plants of any given variety in this country are probably clones from the same originals, the whole lot will flower and die anyway.  OK, sorry, not helpful.

I've got a big (tall, like 15') clump of bamboo in my garden. It's got yellow stems with deep green grooves. In the spring (mostly) it throws out the odd shoot in alarming places where I don't want it.  I snap them off when they're a few inches high and honestly that sorts it out.  It gives up and has a really long think before trying again.  If I miss one, it's a bit more of a job to cut it back, but if I leave it long enough I get a free garden cane.

Where it's growing it's mostly surrounded by slate chippings over weed membrane and mown grass.  It it gets into paving I can see why it would cost thousands to sort out.  There are probably quite a few long old rhizomes under the weed membrane which would look very dramatic if dug out and waved around by a specialist bamboo removal firm.

I believe glyphosate is quite effective.

Going back to the original post, I suspect a ditch would stop it because of the shallow habit of the rhizomes.  A plastic barrier it would laugh at, likewise concrete, it'll find a crack eventually.  Or a wide grassy path that you can patrol for new shoots.  I'd worry if it was close to the house.  On balance, I would probably walk away. 

RHemmings

Sapindus said:

I believe glyphosate is quite effective.

I've heard that the method is to cut the bamboo off just below the first 'node' on the stems, and then pour one tablespoon of undiluted Roundup (I presume the variety of Roundup containing glyphosate) into each stem. This should kill the roots too, but if it's encroaching on the OP's land, that may kill some bamboo on the neighbour's land too. 

In my experience, though I haven't had to get rid of Bamboo or Japanese Knotweed, I've found that even 'difficult' weeds can be got rid of by simple methods if you are <very rude word> persistent and are prepared to take on a death or glory battle over an extended period of time. I did know someone (sadly died of c19) who got rid of JPKW that way. 

FreeBear

Sapindus said:

There are two types of bamboo, running and clumping. Sounds like your prospective neighbour has the running sort and has it bad. But in general, for the edification of anyone else seeing bamboo and thinking of running for the hills...

Even clump forming bamboo will run - Have some here. Hacked it all down to ground level with the intention of digging it out (that didn't happen). Darned stuff was shooting up 3-4m away. Dug out the runners as soon as they were spotted, and it settled back down to be clump forming. Have since come up with an easy method to dig bamboo out with relative ease. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6441703/getting-rid-of-bamboo

Oh, glyphosate doesn't work - Have applied it in various ways, including injecting it in to the fresh sprouts.