If you’ve found Japanese knotweed growing on your property and don’t want it there, you may need to take legal action against the owner of the land where it has grown. This guide will teach you how to claim Japanese knotweed as trespass, so you can get your property back to full health and full value.

What is knotweed?

Knotweed or Japanese Knotweed is an invasive plant species which was brought to the UK in the early 1900’s as a decorative plant, unbeknown that it spreads like wildfire and can cause damage to property and amenities. Knotweed ryzomes (root system) and root growth can grow vigorous and can even grow through tarmac, concrete, water pipes, sewer pipes and can get into property foundations and cause havoc.

Knotweed can grow up to 8 inches a day in the summer and grow as tall as 12 feet high. The stems grow thick like bamboo and small stems grow from the main stems and grow a thick bush of leaves and even flowers through August and September.

What does trespassing mean?

If something from another person or property comes on to your property or land without your knowledge or consent, that is considered to be trespass. The fact that Knotweed has come from another parties land on to yours, and causes devaluation and other problems and can cost you money to put right, this is a recoverable trespass issue.

What are the options to resolve this issue?

If Knotweed is coming from a neighbour, the best approach in our opinion is to speak with your neighbour and try and get an amicable solution between you both. A survey and treatment plan with an Insurance Backed Guarantee will ultimately help both of you. If the Knotweed can be seen to be coming from your neighbour to your land quite obviously, your neighbour may agree to pick up all the costs. This is something hopefully as neighbours you can sort out.

If your neighbour doesn’t listen to your friendly request, you should put it in writing and allow them a small amount of time to get some resolve. Knotweed will only grow and spread if it is left and that will be worse for everyone.

If the Knotweed is coming from a commercial neighbour like the railway or council land or a commercial enterprise, report it formally so you have a record. Many times we see that although reported, the commercial entity doesn’t take it seriously enough or carry out proper treatment, then the problem again will only worsen.

The fact that Knotweed will not go away on its own, and a typical treatment plan with an Insurance Backed Guarantee can cost a few thousand pounds, you need to ask yourself should you pay for it if the neighbour is at fault? Then you need to think about any damage to your property and any devaluation because of the presence of Knotweed, and ask if you are happy with that or want to take action to protect your own asset.

If you decide to make a claim against the neighbour land owner, you can typically do this on a No Win No Fee. You should be able to recover the full cost of a treatment plan and force your neighbour to treat the Knotweed on their land to ensure it doesn’t come back again. You should also be able to claim the cost of the Insurance Backed Guarantee, and cash compensation for the devaluation of your property because of the presence of Knotweed. This may be an average of 10% of your property value, so a £200K property should start a claim for £20,000 plus treatment plus guarantee and maybe some additional compensation for inconvenience.

Which option should I choose?

The choices are really down to you. As your house and property is usually your biggest asset, it is important that you take this seriously and probably that you seek expert legal support to ensure you are fully protected.

How much will it cost me?

Japanese Knotweed Agency offer a FREE – WITHOUT OBLIGATION On-site Survey anywhere in England & Wales, which will give you all of the information you need to make a decisive way forward. The Survey Report will give you information on where the Knotweed has travelled from, its age, all identified crowns and growth areas, any potential damage caused by the Knotweed, and will also report on up to 58 other invasive weeds if any of those are present.

Your Survey Report will also come with a full quotation for treatment and a 10-year Insurance Backed Guarantee that if any Knotweed comes back after the treatment and within 10-years, it will get treated for free under the guarantee.

The Survey and report are 100% FREE and WITHOUT OBLIGATION

With that information you can then decide how to proceed and whether to move forwards with any legal claim. The options are then yours with detailed information at hand.

Request your FREE Onsite Survey here:

https://japaneseknotweedagency.co.uk/free-japanese-knotweed-survey/

When should I claim Japanese knotweed as trespass?

As above, if you are friends with your neighbour and the Knotweed is coming from their land to yours, it may be best to speak together and try come up with an agreement.

If the neighbour doesn’t take notice or take action, the Knotweed will only get worse week by week, so you shouldn’t wait too long before taking action, whichever route you choose.

According to some reports, homeowners are not aware of their legal responsibility to stop Japanese Knotweed spreading. Only 36% of them know they can be sued and only 18% are aware that they could face criminal prosecution. Japanese knotweed should not be ignored. This page contains information that will help you understand the laws regarding Japanese knotweed.

Japanese Knotweed can grow in the garden of a landowner’s property. He should take every precaution to prevent the invasive weed spreading to neighbouring properties. If this fails, he could be held liable for any damage that was caused by the encroachment. If the knotweed is growing on your property, the landowner could be held responsible.

Give Notice to Your Neighbour

If you want to sue your neighbour, you should give the person or organization responsible for the adjacent land the chance to address the nuisance (knotweed) unless it has been there for quite some time and must be obvious that they are already aware. You should notify your neighbours as soon as possible. Also, make sure you specify what actions you want the landowner to take.

You should ask your neighbour to treat knotweed on their property as well as on theirs. Ideally, the remedy they choose should also include a guarantee. You should also include a description of the possible consequences for them if they ignore the notice. If the knotweed is from commercial land or infrastructure like Council or Network Rail, they are more than likely already aware.

Unreasonable Conduct

A Community Protection Notice (CPN), which can be used under the Act, can be used to order someone to stop or control the growth of Japanese knotweed and other plants that could cause serious problems for communities. The conduct of an individual or body must have a negative effect on the quality or life of others in the area. Section 57 of the Act defines conduct as “a failure to act”. CPNs could be used to force someone to stop or control the growth of Japanese knotweed, or other plants that can cause serious harm to communities.

Fixed Penalty Notice

If an individual or organization isn’t controlling Japanese knotweed, or any other invasive plant, and it could reasonably be expected that they would, the CPN could then be used. A mandatory written warning must be served before the CPN can be used to force them to cease their anti-social behaviour. A community protection notice violation without reasonable excuse would be considered a crime and subject to a fixed penalty. A summary conviction would result in a fine of not more than PS2,500 for an individual. A fine of not more than PS20,000 is possible for an organisation such as a company.

Paramount Knotweed Management Plan

Knotweed is not a reason to deny a mortgage application. Instead, it should be considered on a case-by-case basis. A suitable Knotweed Management Plan must be presented. It can be shocking to discover that your property has knotweed or that your property is infested. However, there are ways to control the infestation. The Knotweed Management Plan is the key.

Legal Rights Against Misrepresentation

Japanese knotweed is a serious problem in the country. The seller must disclose this information to you when buying a house. If the Japanese knotweed is present in a property you’ve purchased, you may sue the seller.

Property value loss

Knotweed infestation can cause property value loss. If a property is found to be infested with Japanese knotweed or Japanese knotweed within 7 metres of the property, it will make it extremely difficult to obtain a mortgage.

A property that is affected by Japanese knotweed loses its value, regardless of whether it is within their boundaries or within 7 metres. This is known as diminution of value. It may be possible to include a claim of diminution in any settlement if you succeed in bringing a Nuisance Claim on a defendant.

Professional Negligence

If you paid for a professional inspection of your property, and the surveyor failed to notice the Japanese knotweed, then you could file a claim for professional negligence against the surveyor. You can file a claim if you can prove that the surveyor should’ve noticed the Japanese knotweed.

The property industry is being hit with problems caused by Japanese knotweed. In just 10 weeks, it can grow 10 cm per day and can reach a height of 3-4 meters. It is illegal for someone to cause or allow the invasive plant spread onto another property.

A new study has shown that the UK has seen an astonishing 28% increase in Japanese knotweed cases in the last five years.

The results of analysing 29,536 confirmed cases of Japanese knotweed in the UK from 49 environmental organizations including National England, Environment Agency and National Trust were reached. The Japanese Knotweed Agency has also started a National Register for England and Wales.

It is extremely difficult to remove the underground roots of this plant. The nationwide treatment of the invasive plant may take up to three decades.

Ask your surveyor to check for Japanese knotweed or other invasive plants when you hire them as a consultant for your new home purchase.

This is particularly important if your property borders an existing or old railway line or is near a river, canal, or stream, Council land or commercial property.

Horticulture conducted a YouGov survey previously to learn more about the plant’s impact on the property market.

According to the YouGov survey, 4/5 of UK homeowners said they wouldn’t buy a house with Japanese knotweed. Just under half of those who said they would still buy the house agreed to lower the price at least 10%.

Many homeowners are not familiar with the plant, according to the survey. The reason is that only half of respondents could identify Japanese knotweed using a selection of photographs.

Questions remain about the government’s response to Japanese knotweed.

A national eradication program was proposed in 2015, but it was rejected by the government due to the staggering £1.5 billion cost.

Due to the current year’s weather, Japanese Knotweed is fast-growing and an invasive plant. This causes homeowners more problems than ever.

Its wet and frosty spring was followed by sunshine and dry weather earlier in the year. Experts are anticipating a rise in Japanese Knotweed incidence, which is already flourishing and growing rapidly.

Buyers and sellers must realise that there is a real possibility of an infestation or evidence of it in their property. This could cause a property to be unable to sell or stop selling.

Japanese Knotweed is a legal requirement for home sellers. The TA6 Property Information Form is used to notify buyers about any negative aspects affecting their home. It also includes a question pertaining Japanese Knotweed.

It is difficult to get a mortgage for a property that has Japanese Knotweed or had it in the past. Many home insurance policies won’t cover Japanese Knotweed. They also won’t cover damage to neighbouring properties or the cost of removing or eliminating the plant.

Japanese Knotweed is classified as a controlled waste under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. It can grow up to 20cm per day. If it is not controlled, its roots can reach deep into foundations and cause damage to walls and drainage systems.

It must be removed and disposed of by an expert. The cost will vary depending on how large the infestation is.

For homeowners, the only way to protect against any damage or remediation caused by Japanese Knotweed in their home is to purchase a Japanese Knotweed-specific insurance policy.

Japanese Knotweed is a contentious plant that can depreciate the value of a property and cause conflict between neighbour’s. The invasive plant is known for spreading quickly and for monopolising gardens. Knotweed grows in large patches that can quickly push out any other competing plant life. Thankfully, Japanese Knotweed is easy to identify, so homeowners can waste no time in getting a treatment plan in place to get rid of the plant.

Although there is plenty of discussion regarding how Japanese Knotweed spreads, and what to do if you’ve bought a property with Knotweed, how this plant first got to the UK is not usually discussed. Japanese Knotweed’s history is an interesting one and can help give insight into why it has flourished so well in the UK and what lessons can be learned when dealing with invasive plants in the future.

Where is Japanese Knotweed originally from?

Japanese Knotweed is originally from Japan and is also native to China and Korea. The plant is one of many species of plants that have been discovered to be growing on the side of volcanoes. In its native land, Japanese Knotweed can reproduce naturally and also benefits from a prodigious underground system of rhizomes. In its native environment, Knotweed is kept in check by natural predators in the form of fungi and insects, not to mention other plants and an environment that can be much more hostile than the United Kingdom.

The plant was originally discovered by Dutch naturalist Maarten Houttuyn in the 18th-Century, he named it Reynoutria japonica, a name which it still goes by today. Unfortunately, the records of this original discovery were lost for some time, so when more European botanists started exploring Japan some 150 years later, the plant was rediscovered and given a new name by a Bavarian botanist, Phillip von Siebold. Siebold and his partner Zuccarini, named the plant Polygonum cuspidatum. It wasn’t until the turn of the 20th century that a Japanese botanist by the name of Makino, discovered that Houttuyn and Siebold’s plant were one and the same.

Who brought Japanese Knotweed to the UK?

Philip von Siebold brought Japanese Knotweed to the UK in 1850, unaware of the impact that it would go on to have on the environment. At the time, botany and the cultivation of plants was a popular interest of the upper classes. Botanist like Siebold would be able to fund their research trips by sending their discoveries back to nurseries on the European continent, where they would then be cultivated and sold onto commercial nurseries or botanical gardens around the world.

Why was Japanese Knotweed imported to the UK?

Japanese Knotweed was imported to the UK for commercial sale and botanical cultivation. Over the time that he spent in Japan, Siebold collected and recorded over 1,000 different plants, often choosing to plant them in the garden behind his research base on Dejima, an artificial island near Nagasaki. Periodically, Siebold would box up a number of samples and send them back to his home in the Netherland. From their new home in Leiden, these plants would be carefully grown and the packaged up for botanical gardens in Belgium and Britain, with an unmarked box containing Japanese Knotweed arriving at London’s Kew Gardens in 1850.

Kew Gardens often relied on these boxes of new plants to keep their own collections diverse and interesting for visitors. After discovering how quickly the plant could grow in Britain, the horticulturists there recognised Japanese Knotweed as a plant that could be easily cultivated and sold on to budding gardeners. Soon the plant was being distributed to garden nurseries around the country and then shared in cuttings by enthusiastic gardeners. In addition to being intentionally spread by people, the plant also began to spread by its own means, populating river banks and finding new routes to the rest of the country along roads and newly built railway lines.

Where does Japanese Knotweed grow in UK?

Japanese Knotweed now grows in almost every area of the UK. The plant was given free rein to spread throughout the country for over a hundred years before being recognised as invasive by the government. By the time Japanese Knotweed was identified as an invasive threat in 1981, it had already been spread by gardeners, dug up and transported by urban development projects and even used to stabilise soil on the sides of railway lines.

The plant is frequently found growing alongside public watercourses such as canals, as well as near railway lines, motorways and public footpaths. Japanese Knotweed thrives in most conditions in the UK and is often found growing on land that has been abandoned or left unattended. For this reason, large infestations can often be discovered in overgrown back gardens, or on abandoned industrial sites.

How common is Japanese Knotweed in the UK?

Japanese Knotweed is a very common sight in the UK. Since the government has made the spread of Japanese Knotweed a more pressing concern, efforts have been made to track where it has been growing throughout the country. Using these statistics, it’s been possible to recognise the areas of the country that have been most affected by Japanese Knotweed. Bolton, Bristol, Conway, Rotherham and Nottingham are areas in the UK that have been affected the most, however exact numbers are difficult to assess

What do I do if I find Japanese Knotweed?

If you find Japanese Knotweed it’s important to ascertain where the plant has come from and to what extent the plant affects your property. You may want to consider contacting a Japanese Knotweed specialist to make a positive identification before you move forward with talking to any neighbour’s who might also have the plant on their land. Ignoring the infestation is not advised, as the plant can quickly multiply, leading to a larger problem to deal with and potentially more costs, if you find that it’s not possible to claim compensation for the cost of treatment.

If you think you’ve found Japanese Knotweed and would like some advice on what to do next, then you can contact us by calling freephone 03335 777 888 or send us a message using the contact form on this page.

Polygonum bidwelliae