Japanese knotweed house survey is common across the UK with the weed plant assumed to exist within every 6 square mile section. This shows how dominant the knotweed is across the country.Â
Additionally, the ability of the knotweed to survive in almost any weather condition makes it an absolute menace to deal with.
The need for a Japanese knotweed house survey to ascertain the extent of the problem and how best to tackle it can prove to be a worthwhile investment.
The damage of the weed plant is unprecedented as it is capable of strangling plant life in your garden, damaging the foundations of a building, the drainage systems and fences of your property; basically, making life unbearable.
Based on the foregoing, when a Japanese knotweed house survey shows its presence on your property, this should be bad news but with a well-worked-out treatment plan, you can easily get rid of the Japanese knotweed infestation.
The following section will look at what you should do as a homeowner once the weed plant is pinpointed to be present on your land.
Conduct a specialist Japanese Knotweed House Survey
It is always advisable that once your property has been earmarked to have Japanese knotweed, you seek the services of a professional surveyor to enable you to substantiate the reliability of the prior survey.
Conducting a specialist Japanese Knotweed house survey will help reveal the following things:
- The severity of the Japanese knotweed infestation.
Notably, a general house survey on the presence of the knotweed infestation may not be accurate in showing the severity of the weed plant and this is exactly why you need to hire a specialist.
A professional surveyor will be able to tell you the scale of the knotweed on your property and this will help you make an informed decision when it comes to initiating a treatment plan for the purpose of eradicating the weed.
- Costs of removal
Once the severity of the knotweed has been determined by the surveyor, the next task at hand will be to approximate the costs that a homeowner will incur in their quest to get rid of the weed plant.
Knowing the cost of treatment is important as it has a bearing on the treatment program one will prefer to facilitate to get rid of the weed plant.
- Proximity to the house
The proximity of the Japanese knotweed to your house is a major factor especially when it comes to two things;
- Value of the property
The closer the weed is to your house, the more likely it is to cause depreciation on the value of the property because the damage will be occasioned easily.
Any contact of the Japanese knotweed with the structure of a building is bad news since the resulting damage will be unmatched unless you treat the knotweed infestation as soon as possible.
Maintaining the value of your property to match the market value requires that you keep the property free of any knotweed infestation.
Therefore, any knotweed that is growing close to your house should be a big cause for concern, especially knowing the negative impact it poses on the value of the property.
- Mortgage lending
Mortgage lenders are important entities in the conveyance process world over because of their financial muscle and ability to aid potential buyers access loans to complete the transfer of property.
However, mortgage lenders often refuse to lend money, especially where the security to be offered is a property that is under the infestation of Japanese knotweed because they consider the presence of the weed plant to be of high risk to the sustainability of the building, therefore, putting their interests at a risk.
Notably, the close the knotweed infestation is to the building, the higher the risk involved and the mortgage lenders will not overlook this problem unless it is made clear that a treatment plan with an insurance-backed guarantee will be enrolled.
- Treatment mechanism
Different infestations of the weed plant often require different treatment methods.
For instance, a small infestation of the weed plant can make do with removal DIY methods and be eradicated completely; however, where the infestation is large, this calls for serious treatment methods such as the use of commercial herbicides for a certain period of time until the weed plant is completely eradicated.
Based on the foregoing, it is important to have a specialist undertake a Japanese knotweed house survey to help you in identifying a treatment mechanism that will best suit the type of infestation that you are facing.
- Disclosure
As a homeowner, you owe the duty of disclosure to any person that intends to buy the property from you. Disclosure is a legal requirement when taking part in the conveyance of property and failure to do it in an honest manner may expose you to serious legal implications.
The disclosure must be done before the buyer purchases the property so that they can be well-informed on the type of property that they are about to acquire.
Therefore, when a Japanese knotweed house survey shows it present in your property and you were in the process of selling the property to potential buyers and you were unaware of such information, you make haste in informing the other party about the transfer of the same.
There are various precedent-setting cases where a person has been successfully sued for misrepresentation and awarded damages by the same court of law.
- Control the knotweed infestation
Having Japanese knotweed on your property is not illegal. However, the law is quite punitive if you cause or allow the weed plant to spread to adjacent properties. You owe your neighbours a duty of care of ensuring that the weed plant does not attack their gardens.
Therefore, the moment you discover the knotweed through the house survey, you must put in place sufficient measures to control the weed plant and prevent it from spreading to the neighbour’s property as a priority.
Failure to control the knotweed infestation early in advance spells doom for you because the weed plant grows, and the cost of treating it up to its eradication becomes quite expensive.
Want to know more about having a Japanese Knotweed House Survey?
Knotweed Removal aims to provide the most up-to-date information, help and advice for YOU to make informed decisions. If you are unsure or uncertain about how to proceed, please reach out to us and we will gladly come back and advise you as best we can.
Governmental advice can be found here and the UK law covering the removal of Japanese Knotweed as stated under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 can be found here.
The best means to contact us is via our email – hello@knotweedremoval.tips
Do not forget we have a library of blogs covering many areas relevant to Japanese Knotweed, our free downloadable How-to Guides and Product Reviews on the latest methods being employed to eradicate or remove Japanese Knotweed.
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