Are weeds killing your mortgage chances?
The list of plant nightmares for your house can be quite extensive. And now some people are finding they can’t get a mortgage if Japanese knotweed has been found in their garden or even close to the property.
There are Leylandii conifers that block out your light, ivy plants pulling out your mortar and tree roots clogging up your drains. But Japanese knotweed is the one to watch out for.
Japanese knotweed looks a bit like bamboo or dogwood. It’s hardy, perennial (it lives for more than two years), and can grow to over two metres tall. It was introduced to the UK in the mid-19th century and, because it’s invasive, difficult to kill and nothing really eats it, it’s now widespread.
Weeding out the issue
Keen gardeners will know all about dealing with difficult weeds such as bindweed and ivy – but Japanese knotweed is devilish to get rid of. The Royal Horticultural Society even calls it a ‘thug’!
The creeping roots of the Japanese knotweed are extremely difficult to eradicate and it can grow back from just a centimetre of root. However, it can be killed by repeated treatment over several years with the strong weedkiller glyphosate.
If you call in the professionals it can be a very expensive job – the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) estimates it can cost up to £5,000 to use other techniques like root barriers to stop it spreading while the weedkiller is working. If the knotweed is creeping in from nearby land, you’ll need a co-ordinated attack.
But what damage does it do to your house? The guidance from RICS talks about drains getting blocked by roots, patio slabs being disrupted, and buildings with shallow foundations (like garages, sheds and conservatories) being undermined. It says that more dramatic damage to buildings is very rare and exceptional.
Knot a problem?
So is Japanese knotweed a big problem when it comes to selling your house? You may have read about Peter Gingell over the weekend, whose house sale fell apart when his buyers discovered Japanese knotweed in his garden. Some mortgage lenders are even turning down mortgage applications on properties where knotweed is present.
So even if Japanese knotweed can really cause uninsurable structural problems, surely a blanket ‘no’ policy to mortgage lending isn’t the best solution? Our mortgages expert Marie Kemplay says:
‘The situation regarding knotweed is quite confusing, and although organisations like RICS have produced guidance for mortgage lenders, there are no clear cut rules. Some lenders will not offer mortgages if Japanese knotwood is present on your land whilst others will consider it providing there are some guarantees in place.
‘But one general piece of advice is, no matter how tempting, not to just rip it out of the ground yourself. You need to get professionals in otherwise you may find it difficult to prove you have taken appropriate action to get rid of the problem.’
Have you had any plant problems with your house? Would finding Japanese knotweed in the garden put you off a purchase?
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richard
So it makes sense to completely remove all of the plants before you try to sell your house. If I was buying a house I would only worry if I thought they would effect the mortgage – I’m not sure it often happens that a mortgage is actually stopped due Knot weed
bellaboo
we have just had a mortgage application declined after valuation on a property that “apparently” has knotweed on it…
we have scoured the place and not seen ANY evidence of it, not even something that resembles it, and we haven’t even been given the opportunity to get a horticultural expert in to identify the supposed knotweed, just a flat out decline!
we feel there is a high likely hood that the valuer has misidentified “japanese knotweed” and cost us our mortgage, but we don’t even have the chance to find out WHERE he thinks he saw it, and double check…
bellaboo
just an update- we had a survey done by a japanese knotweed specialist, and it turns out that there ISN’T any present ANYWHERE on the grounds, or even anything that could be mistaken for it, but a surveyor not knowing what he was talking about in his report caused a decline of our mortgage!
jean-baptiste
Early identification and treatment should be the priority for home owners to contain the weed and costs associated with its eradication or control. Costs for eradicating Japanese Knotweed when it has spread can be considerable and the process can take some time to complete. Lenders are risk averse in this economic climate so it is increasingly likely that where Japanese Knotweed is identified as a problem, remediation will be required. Also, where construction work, such as an extension to a property is planned, soil containing Japanese Knotweed should be completely removed!
Charlie Douglas
If you can bring in a specialist contractor to deal with the Japanese knotweed who offer a guarantee for treatments then a bank should, in most cases, offer a mortgage.
As mentioned in the article, RICS have recently put together a paper on Japanese knotweed to try and encourage banks to lend on properties affected. It is becoming a larger and larger problem, but thankfully, people are becoming aware of it. It was featured on The One Show recently, newspapers regularly have articles. Argyll and Bute Council are creating a Code of Practice for it too.
The more that we do to spread the word about Japanese knotweed the easier it will be to stop it causing problems.
http://www.wiseknotweed.com
Susie B
Finding Japanese knotweed would definitely put me off buying a house a bit : but then if I ever found it, I would negotiate with the sellers of the house on the house price, and use it to lower my offer. It may be that it would have to be treated in order to get the mortgage, so then I’d just agree with the sellers that I’d buy it once the problem is sorted out. Job done!
richardlondon
My next door neighbour’s garden has been overrun by Japanese knotweed but they don’t appear to mind as they never use their garden.
l only bought the house in December, so there was no sign of this plant but I doubt it would have put me off because, until recently, I’d never heard of Japanese knotweed.
I live in a terrace house, so the neighbours garden is very close to my property. Should I be worried by this stuff as it’s now at least 7 or 8 foot high.
David Knight
There are a number of plants that cause damage to buildings. Budlea is one of the most common, some gardeners call it the butterflies friend but it can self seed in the smallest areas, grows quickly and the root ball can cause large cracks in brickwork.
My boss has been trying to get rid of knotweed at the back of his garden for a number of years, he was told that he would not be able to sell his house because of it. I know he burns it but it keeps growing back. I will tell him to contact the RICS after reading this article.
Adelaide Gray
To richardlondon
Firstly make sure it is Japanese Knotweed in your neighbour’s garden. If their garden is full of it, I’d be really surprised if it hasn’t already made it’s way into your garden. Sometimes dogwood (cornus) can look a little like Japanese knotweed as it has red stems, similar leaves and grows extremely quickly.
Have a look at the Royal Horticultural Society website. It has some great identification tips and eradication advice if it is knotweed.
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=218
richardlondon
Hi Adelaide
Thanks for the information and the note about Dogwood. Unfortunately it is definitely Japanese Knotweed. Looks like I’ll be paying my first house-call to my neighbour and delivering some unwanted news.
Richard
Laura
We have this on a council-owned piece of land next to our front garden. Every year it grows around 10′ long through the railings and we have to chop it back 3 or 4 times each summer so we can get our car off the driveway. We report it to the council every year but they refuse to do anything about it, although I’ve been told that it’s on some sort of restricted plant list that the council are responsible for. I hadn’t heard about the problems with mortgages before. Maybe when we come to sell and can’t get a buyer we should sue the council. The most annoying thing is that we live at the end of a cul-de-sac where nobody ever walks, but if our hedge grows more than about 6″ over the pavement we get a letter from the council telling us it’s causing a nuisance and threatening us with prosecution if we don’t cut it within 2 weeks!
Joe
I have just had a bank turn down lending on a property, as the survey company said there was a previously case on the street!! They haven’t even gone to view the property, the bank has flat out refused to lend on the advice of there surveyors.
Very frustrating.. as I don’t even know where the infection was (a neighbour) if it has been dealt with.
I have contacted the council… no record of anything on the street
Contact the environment agency…. only can help if Japanese Knotweed is on the property.
Bank doesn’t know where the outbreak was, and I am trying to contact their surveyors
Nigel
We bought an old deserted farmhouse to renovate and the front garden was full of the stuff. My research advised that spraying with Glycophosphate was the most reliable method of eradication – and to never just pull up healthy plants. Initial spraying killed the visible plants, and it took about 5 years to completely eradicate them.
Himalayan balsam is the biggest problem now – thankfully that can safely be pulled up, but care has to be taken when disposing of the plants.
wavechange
Despite what you may read on many websites, the weedkiller is glyphosate and not Glycophosphate. Simple mistakes like this are often a good way of deciding which advice is worthwhile using.
Best of luck with the balsam bashing.
lisa
I think WHICH should really investigate this issue and write a more thorough and informed article about it. There are many different types of treatment i.e. glycophosphate and tordon, etc. and it is important to know what to look for in a reputable company i.e. being a member of Property Care Association, etc. This information may help a consumer who is looking to deal with the problem in a proper way, which ensures they can sell their property on. There are some cowboy companies around and this information would help people to make informed decisions.
It might also be helpful to advise consumer to request that this is looked for in their surveys and what is possible if someone moves into a property to discover it there even if surveyors and bank valuers have missed it or if people have been duped by the previous owners. Again, important information for a WHICH magazine reader.