Japanese Knotweed - would you buy a house with this problem?

(93 Posts)
vez123 Tue 20-Mar-12 20:34:28

Have seen a lovely house within in our budget in perfect location near good school, quiet road, great size. But one major problem: Japanese Knotweed! The vendor is aware and is putting a legally binding (for them) treatment plan in place. I am aware that this issue could have an impact on home insurance and getting a mortgage. Are we crazy to even consider the place? So far we have not put forward an offer, just researching the issue. Has anyone got any experience with this?


Geordieminx Tue 20-Mar-12 20:35:12

nooooooooooooo run!!

wimini Tue 20-Mar-12 20:37:04

Run. Run faster. Faster than that. Run. Run. Run. Don't look back. Just run.

No, not in a million gazillion trillion years. grin

NormaDesmond Tue 20-Mar-12 20:39:26


DressDownFriday Tue 20-Mar-12 20:39:41

Even with a treatment plan in place I would be very wary. I've only heard bad stuff about it.

KenDoddsDadsDog Tue 20-Mar-12 20:40:08

Run away run away

BluddyMoFo Tue 20-Mar-12 20:40:20
MrsApplepants Tue 20-Mar-12 20:43:00

Nooooooooooo!! Run and check none of it is on your shoes!!

MrsApplepants Tue 20-Mar-12 20:43:35

It can spread via seeds on shoes apparently

meowchut Tue 20-Mar-12 20:48:41

Our jkw problem was bad but it can be sorted out. It takes time, you won't be able to plant anything for years, and you will need to get it treated many times a year. You could keep doing that, or dig it out. All this costs obviously, and there are rules about getting rid of soil.

Sort of luckily for us we moved in, cut it down and burnt it, treated it for a year THEN our garden had to be dug up by the council for a completely unrelated reason, so it wasdealt with at this time.

Good luck, it will take time and money, but if it's the only way you can get a house in the area you want to be in, then why not.

meowchut Tue 20-Mar-12 20:53:26

Sorry , should have also said we got our flat in a sort after area because no one else was prepared to take on the jkw. Ours was visible from space! Through cement, pavement etc etc. Two years after moving in and a specialist has just been to look at it and said it's not too bad. Is the house in London? If so and there is London clay beneath your garden things are reasonably positive as apparently it doesn't like clay and therefore won't go deep.

I can't tell you until you tell me what it is confused
Is it not just a plant? Why can't you dig it out and put it in your brown bin?


vez123 Tue 20-Mar-12 20:57:35

Yes, it's in SE London. At the moment it has actually not been priced down because of the knotweed. It came back on the market after an initial sale fell through when this issue came up in the survey.

TerrierMalpropre Tue 20-Mar-12 20:59:12

Jesus H.

No freaking way. Run. Take your family.

fossil97 Tue 20-Mar-12 21:00:15

Japanese knotweed is an officially Invasive Plant. It is a zillion times worse than bindweed, brambles or anything normal. Tiny bits of it can sprout up into huge choking forests. It's illegal to put it in any domestic or unsorted waste. There is some growing near us in an electricity compound that the council have been battling with for years.

meowchut Tue 20-Mar-12 21:04:29

Ah well, I suppose I'd work our how much it would cost to get rid if it, then how long it would take to get rid of it ( you will still be able to use your garden in the meantime, but it won't be pretty ) put a price on this and offer that reduction.

We were only able to think positively about ours as DH has qualifications in plants and stuff( I pay attention me) so knew what to do.

fossil97 Tue 20-Mar-12 21:09:47

In London I'd be worried about it spreading into neighbouring properties and then coming back under the fence for ever. Not in West Norwood by any chance is it?

BikeRunSki Tue 20-Mar-12 21:14:40

On phone so can't do links, but there is a lot of useful and interesting info on JK on the Environment Agency website.

vez123 Tue 20-Mar-12 21:19:42

Thanks bike. Will check this out.
Fossil, it's not in West Norwood, but not too far away.

Chippychop Tue 20-Mar-12 21:50:14

Big fat no!

libelulle Tue 20-Mar-12 21:52:40

we did! Though it is not seriously entrenched. Tis our forever house though, so we can afford to wait it out and blitz it until it gives in - if we'd wanted to sell within a few years it might be a different matter. It is also a big garden so not using the bit of it with the knotweed in is not hugely problematic for us. There is a lot of hysteria about the plant. Sure it is invasive, and you have to know what you are doing, but I spoke to a number of experts and none of them said it would put them off buying a house. You basically glyphosphate it to within an inch of its life, takes about 5 years but it apparently eventually gives up! Mortgage companies might be a different issue - luckily for us jk didn't come up in the survey, it was only my MIL that noticed it.

Onlyaphase Tue 20-Mar-12 21:58:25

We had a flat with this in the garden once. One of my main criteria for house buying now is that any potential house must not have knotweed around it. I'd find somewhere else to buy TBH

libelulle Tue 20-Mar-12 21:59:06

I'd be suspicious about that DM article btw. More likely if it was a new build is that the knotweed was in the ground under the house already when it was built. That would indeed be a nightmare, and why jk is so feared by developers. For more established houses, everything we were told is that it it a highly invasive and difficult weed, but not a daily mail-style horror triffid!

OMG Vez! Where is it? Can you pm me? Seriously worried ...

Join the discussion

Join the discussion


Register now