Definitely would seek professional help with knotweed if you are unfortunate enough to have it. It can lie dormant for a long time and needs professional treatment and monitoring, plus there are legal implications if handled incorrectly. I heard of a property sale overturned recently when the owners failed to disclose they knew of the problem and it was proven they did!
Steve@japaneseknotweed.london is worth having a chat to if you think you have a problem. He and his company are highly experienced in dealing with it in Clapham/Balham/Tooting/Wimbledon and then you can get the required insurance certificates etc.

We have a lot of experience in dealing with this in our area. If buying, suggest vendor gets professional treatment company who will treat your prospective purchase and any neighbouring ones and (should) give each proerty 10 year insurance certuficate. But if you find some on your property, we suggest treating it yourself before calling in costly pros as they are likely to charge up to £4K for doing exactly what you can do yourself with some Roundup from the garden centre. They also always talk about injecting stems, which is complete bollocks said to impress punters as it makes no difference whatsoever. Knotweed needs to be treated systemically, ie poison needs to be taken down into roots from leaf surface. Now is the time of year to do it. Pick a non-sunny, still, dry day and spray leaves with Roundup or any glyphosate based weedkiller. Spray under leaves too. Leave 3-4 days and repeat. Then do nothing. In around 10 days the leaves will go yellowish with black spots. If any comes up following year, wait until late summer/early autumn (after flowering is best) and repeat. We have effectively killed huge swathes of Knotweed this way. But you ideally need to get neighbours/residents' assocs together to be vigilant and keep it under control as it tends to keep coming. We live near river and it is carried along water courses. NB causing it to apread through cutting or inappropriate treatment is a criminal offence.

I can recommend Steve Barron of Japanese Knotweed Eradication. He is a certified surveyor and gives free site surveys. Contact Steve on www.japaneseknotwood.london or 02087697321.

Hi, both the Southfields and Wimbledon Park grids have an fairly active residents associations. The implications of having Japanese knotweed on one / both of the grids with so many terraced houses in close proximity is not great. I wonder if the next door neighbours of this property have been made aware?

I apreciate and completely understand your rationale for walking away but it would be much appreciated if you could share the name of the road where the case has been found so that the relevant residents association can make other residents aware and alert them to the potential problem.

You are right to run like crazy ! All the horror you read is true.

If you do not know what you are looking for, knotweed will eat away at a wall and kill your building before you know it. It is a disease !

It was introduced by the railway builders many years ago as a way of quickly covering newly excavated banks. But they didn't understand the implications and now it is a killer.

Treatment costs £000s a course and you will probably need several over a number of years to eradicate. You can be in trouble if you don't treat it quickly enough.

The property will be unsellable and you will be cornered when you fill out law society forms when you come to sell.

I would say just name the street, agent and property. If the survey has confirmed it and the agent has confirmed it, you have nothing to lose. You have not signed an NDA and I believe all the neighbours should know already.

Nothing like disclosure and exposure of any negligence or dishonesty to help others steer clear.

Interesting topic. Can you say the road /address that was affected (or at least the approx location within the grid)?. We are looking at other houses around there and would hate to end up next door!

Thanks for your responses, advice and support

sorry you had such a poor experience :-{

good luck in finding ajapanese knotweed free house and garden

Thanks everyone for your help/advice re Japanese Knotweed. It is most definitely japanese knotweed - confirmed in the survey. We have therefore decided to walk away. The worry is that unless it is dealt with asap it will infect all the surrounding houses on the grid!

What shocks me is the attitude of the estate agents - I know you shouldn't trust anything they say but they are in a position of "power" and flippant remarks don't help! They are just so sales focused and so pushy - willing to say anything to make the sale - buying a house is probably the biggest investment anyone of us will make … yet service is seriously bad. To be honest, I get better service at Waitrose when making my weekly shop!

Anyone else have anything good or bad to share re estate agents.

I would love to meet an estate agent who didn't talk rubbish most of the time, who wasn't 20+ years old, who actually knew the area and valued my custom a little - any one else with me?

Sorry for the rant, just feeling pretty worn out and disillusioned by the whole process.

Thanks everyone for your help/advice re Japanese Knotweed. It is most definitely japanese knotweed - confirmed in the survey. We have therefore decided to walk away. The worry is that unless it is dealt with asap it will infect all the surrounding houses on the grid!

What shocks me is the attitude of the estate agents - I know you shouldn't trust anything they say but they are in a position of "power" and flippant remarks don't help! They are just so sales focused and so pushy - willing to say anything to make the sale - buying a house is probably the biggest investment anyone of us will make … yet service is seriously bad. To be honest, I get better service at Waitrose when making my weekly shop!

Anyone else have anything good or bad to share re estate agents.

I would love to meet an estate agent who didn't talk rubbish most of the time, who wasn't 20+ years old, who actually knew the area and valued my custom a little - any one else with me?

Sorry for the rant, just feeling pretty

This is a huge issue - most estate agents wouldn't even take on a house with knotweed in the first place. The stuff grows like crazy, definitely avoid!

Hi

We get asked to advise and report on Japanese knotweed fairly often, including by people looking to buy a house where its been found in the garden.

the estate agents (who?!) are indeed wrong to say its not a problem as its a notifiable weed and there are various legal implications

if you are sure that its Japanese knotweed, then unless your heart is set on the house I would walk away as being easiest

of course it may not be japanese knotweed as there are similar looking plants - so if you do want to go ahead, then get this checked by a horticulturalist and a proper report written up, then you'll be covered for mortgage and insurance purposes

this is what we can offer and there are other trained people out there too
http://plewsgardendesign.co.uk/service/garden-sos/

I've battled (and won) the Knotweed problem at my home. My land was infected from the railway yard next door. With their full co-operation, we have worked together for 5 years with a set up called Countryside Management and we seem to have killed it. It has to be treated twice a year, once in spring when growth is at its peak, and again in the autumn just to give it a double whammy as it settles back for the winter. This process has been long and pretty expensive (for the yard) but there has been no sign of it this year at all.

There was a programme on TV within the past 2-3 weeks about it which might be worth your looking up.

Yes, it will affect mortgage decisions if they are made aware of it. Yes it is massively damaging to foundations and yes, it is very hard to eradicate. It spreads along railway lines and river banks - presumably because neither are regularly treated and so it has a chance to totally invade.

If I were you, I'd make all this clear to the estate agents (who are wrong to say it is not a problem!) before walking away from this particular property.

Best of luck with your house search.

There was a post on this a couple of weeks ago which recommended firms to eradicate Japanese knotweed.

Thanks for the advice.

ON another note, has anyone dealt with knotweed before and can you be sure to get rid of it?