Japanese Knotweed and Murder

Now there’s a headline you don’t read every day.

I think we can all get a bit immune to headline grabbing articles but this one did pull me in.

Japanese knotweed and murder – what on earth could they be on about?

Well …in a nutshell – these are both issues that if your house has had, either Japanese knotweed or a murder in the basement ….then this should be declared as it will impact on the sale price of the property!

Again – I am very much aware of all the issues relating to Japanese knotweed so I wasn’t all that shocked by the premise of the piece – however, I was a little shocked at the comments relating to legal fees.

I know that costs relating to Japanese knotweed can get a little dramatic at times and I’ve sat in meetings telling clients of potential bills running into the millions for huge swathes of contaminated land.

With this particular case, we were talking a clump of Knotweed behind a shed in a domestic situation- how bad could it be?

Well, the shocking part of this situation wasn’t the Knotweed itself ….but rather the legal fees associated with the argument.

According to the writer, the claimants costs were £95,000.00 and the defendants nearer £100,000.00 – plus a £35K cost for the actual weed removal.

So a bumper total of £230K… ALL of which had to be picked up by the losing party – the homeowner – who had tried to sell his property claiming that there was ‘No Japanese knotweed’.

So, next time somebody tells you of the dangers of invasive plants to your property price – remember to add the legal cost implications as well!

Maybe that’s why there was a murder?

Mike C