A man claims his property became ‘unsellable overnight’ after surveyors missed a horror Japanese knotweed infestation.
Jonathan Rolande said his firm HouseBuyFast has been lumbered with bills of £20k to tackle the invasive plant.
But instead of getting the property back on the market, they have been stuck with the £56k home in Aberdare, South Wales for four years.
Expert surveyor checks were carried out at the home, but the knotweed was later found sprouting beneath wooden decking and peering over the fence.
Mr Rolande told MailOnline: ‘Overnight it [the house] became in effect unsaleable, and at that point unmarketable.’
Japanese knotweed can damage structures by exerting pressure on walls and fences, and due to its invasive nature it can even stop you from getting a mortgage, according to Environet.
The presence of the invasive plant should be declared on a TA6 mortgage form and failing to do so could result in a lawsuit, OnTheMarket reports.
However in this case the previous homeowner claimed the plant wasn’t present on the property – and even the surveyor completely failed to spot the invasive plant.
Annoyed a company they had worked with for three years had failed to see the ‘very obvious’ plant growing in the garden, Mr Rolande knew he had a serious problem on their hands.
‘You know what you hope is a professionals. good opinion, you know, and unfortunately, sometimes it turns out it’s not,’ he explained.
‘There was a lot [of Japanese knotweed] there, and if you looked at the neighbours garden it was clear to see.
‘They had completely covered their garden in black, sheeting, plastic sheeting at ground level.
‘So it was obvious something was going on, you know, to try and stop light from getting to the Japanese knotweed.’
Mr Rolande continued: ‘It was coming up through the decking, and it was in the backgarden.
‘If you looked over the 5 foot fence at the back, you could see that it was there, as well.’
Comparing the ‘bamboo-like’ and ‘reddish’ plant to a Sci-Fi Triffid creature, he said: ‘It was sort of aggressive in its sort of way – it looked like it was strong.
‘It was pushing its way through, finding gaps in the decking and moving it a little bit as well, so you could see that it wasn’t messing about.’
But shifting decking was the least of their problems, as Jonathan explained the firm had to quickly find a long-term solution for their usually short-term business model.
In an attempt to ‘break-even’ the property expert began renting the property, but his firm are still ‘massively’ at a loss due to the Japanese knotweed.
Jonathan divulged they dished out an eye-watering £3,500 on treatments to get rid of the invasive plant – as well as an added £10,000 on additional capital interest.
In the last few months alone they have also had to pay £900 for a new roof, £1500 on the boiler as well as refurbishment costs to make the house suitable for renting – costs they wouldn’t usually encounter.
He said: ‘The rent is £570 a month so I think every year its going pretty much break even if we are lucky. We just have to wait and see what happens with it really.
‘Luckily, it was a relatively cheaper house, so it didn’t completely destroy the business – but it could have done.
‘If it was a very large property then we would have been in a bit of trouble with it.’
Elaborating on how much they lost on the house initially purchased for £56,000, the property expert said: ‘I should think we are probably with £20,000 down now.
‘But there has been a little bit of growth in the value of the property, now that the knotweed kind of more or less gone.’
After around three years of treatment, the invasive plant has been more or less eradicated, but Jonathan shared the aftermath of the invasive plant could have been ‘very disastrous’ for an individual buyer.
‘You would be stuck there. If it’s a two bedroom house, and need another room because you have a child, you can’t sell.
‘So you know you can’t buy a house with another bedroom or bigger garden, or whatever you know the person might want.’
He added: ‘For us as a company that £10,000, we could offset against tax – it’s part of our profit and loss type thing.
‘But for an individual would have to pay that out of their own income, it could be a very different story.’
Although the invasive plant has been eradicated from the house after years of expensive treatments, the experience has left Jonathan fearing the Japanese knotweed could rear its head once more.
‘Sometimes I look in my own garden. Think, hang on a minute. That looks familiar,’ he added.
‘Luckily it’s not. But you know you sort of look and sort of every every heart shaped leaf you sort of look at and think ‘Is that? No, no, it can’t be, can it?’
‘It does sort of plays havoc with saleability of the place. It is a worry for sure.’
He continued: ‘There’s no guarantees that its gone forever but we have a certificate now for the all clear as far as they are concerned.’
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
