A LAWYER has issued some sage advice on how to deal with the dreaded Japanese knotweed crawling from your neighbour’s garden.
These are the steps you need to take if the invasive plant starts to come for your home and threaten your property value.
Having a respectful discussion with your neighbour about tackling the knotweed could be the best way to eliminate the problem.
If your neighbour agrees to call in experts to kill the weed, it could save you thousands in legal fees down the track.
It is important to correctly identify the knotweed first, however.
In spring, it produces red to purple coloured shoots that grow into bamboo-like canes by summer, according to the Royal Horticultural Society.
To help with identification, japaneseknotweedexpert.co.uk has a free online form.
Bindmans law firm partner Mark Ovenell says courts could throw out claims if there is no evidence of actual physical damage on your property.
If this can’t be proved, you could struggle to make a claim for “pure economic loss”, Mr Ovenell warns.
But the lawyer says there may yet be room to convince the courts that even the stigma of having Japanese knotweed present causes a cut in property value.
Given the reputation of the invasive weed, you may then have grounds to be awarded damages.
It’s important to know what time your neighbour first had a “duty of care” to treat the horror weed.
That could prove crucial in a court’s decision on whether or not to award damages, Mr Ovenell says.
Your neighbour has a “duty of care” to treat the knotweed once they are aware of it.
But if damage occurred before they knew about it, they may not be liable to pay for it.
Mr Ovenell says neighbours “may be able to defend such claims if they can prove that the Japanese Knotweed was present on claimants’ land long before their duty to treat the Japanese Knotweed occurred”.
HOW to spot Japanese Knotweed and what to do if you find it.
GARDENING expert, Kendal Platt, who runs Adventures with Flowers, said: “Japanese knotweed shoots look similar to bamboo shoots growing 2- 3metres tall”.
They are hollow and coloured red in the Spring and turn green in the summer.
Their leaves which appear in Spring are shield or heart-shaped with a pointed tip and grow at staggered intervals along the length of the shoots.
They can grow up to 20cm long and die back in winter leaving just the brown dead looking canes above ground.
The flowers appear in late summer as bunches of creamy white flowers growing in amongst the leaves.
It spreads through its rhizomes (underground root system) which are dark brown on the outside and orange on the inside.
They can burrow up to 3 metres under ground causing damage to buildings and break easily, so can be hard to remove completely.
If you find it in your garden it’s important to call in a specialist Japanese Knotweed removal company.
They use a glyphosate based herbicide which when injected into the plant at the right time of year can kill it.
It may take a few years of repeated application to eradicate the plant completely from your property which is why many removal companies recommend a glyphosate treatment programme over a number of years.
