Knotweed in South West London Post Reply

[Wheresmyschool?]

Hi
Does anyone know if we have any Knotweed in areas around Clapham/Balham/Tooting etc?

Not sure what to look out for but hearing more scare stories and then saw this in the Standard and my understanding is it can spread pretty quickly

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/j ... 18976.html

[mylifestory]

yes, I know of some that grows a few streets away regularly in sw17!!

[SoKateB]

Yup, we're on the SW17 / 12 border and our neighbors are currently treating Knotweed

[LKNorthcote]

We had it in our garden 8 years ago when we bought our house in SW11. We had it professionally treated several times and it took about a year to clear. All the neighbouring gardens also had it and is completely gone now as far as I can see. But yes, it's rife and a pain in the proverbial!

[Antolucia]

Yes we turned down a house (wouldn't have got a mortgage) in sw4 off abbeville road

[sebastianbear]

Yes, there's quite a lot of knotweed locally. Loads along the Wandle, and I've seen it in a Balham front garden! There is a professional-strength chemical (? concentrated glyphosate) to get rid of it, and it shouldn't be expensive to have someone come in and spray, (probably more than once), although there are some rip-offs, so get quotes and check that they know what they're doing.
Mortgages can be a problem if there is knotweed in the neighbouring garden. The surveyor who came to our house on behalf of Santander spent some time peering into next door to check they didn't have any before he would OK the mortgage.

[pinkwoodentop]

Don't worry about it too much- we found some a couple of years ago in an alley next to our flat- the land doesn't belong to us but as it would affect our property and the flat below, we both decided to pay to treat it properly. We have used a specialist company who treat it for 3 years and then have a 10 year guarantee. Both properties have remortgaged since (HSBC and Santander) and both banks requested at least a 5 year guarantee so both mortgages were approved.
It can pop up anywhere and spreads easily but there are now so many good companies to treat it that it isn't such a big issue. I think the press are scare-mongering!

[Claire2kids2dogs]

Knotweed is an absolute pain for everyone who comes into contact with it. A friend of mine is Steve Barron calls himself the 'Knotweed Slayer' is a professional knotweed eradicator. As previous posts have confirmed it is not that easy to get rid of, so best to go professional. Steve's company is Terra Firma - 07974380664. Or www.terrafirmalandscapes.com they are based in Streatham. If you do need to contact him then please do say that Claire Powell gave you his details.