A recent announcement suggests that there'll be new Japanese knotweed guidance from a range of invasive species and house associations coming soon. RICS, the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee (HCLG) and Defra have worked together to tackle misinformation about knotweed. They realise that many people who are trying to buy or sell a home are left unsure how to deal with a Japanese knotweed problem, so their guidance will explain how homeowners should try to control knotweed rather than eradicate it completely.

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Japanese knotweed is one of those plants that homeowners fear. Not only is it notoriously difficult to get rid of, but it can also cause a number of structural and legal problems too.

Photo by Leonora Enking - Licence CC BY.SA 2.0 (View Original)

Today we're taking a closer look at Japanese knotweed's capabilities to find out if it can damage foundations.

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Earlier this year, as thousands were rushing to finalise their property transactions before the end of the stamp duty holiday, several property experts warned people to "be honest" about Japanese knotweed when selling their homes.

Good advice - but it seems that many sellers weren't listening. Property industry magazine The Negotiator reports that Japanese knotweed misrepresentation cases have increased by 25% in the past year, and this rise is apparently "due in part to buyers and sellers rushing transactions to win stamp duty holiday savings".

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As winter approaches, Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) enters the dormant phase of its annual growth cycle. During this period, the clusters of cream-coloured flowers will disappear and the bamboo-like canes will die away, but don't be fooled - the plant itself lives on beneath the soil.

If you've done your research, you may be aware that Japanese knotweed rhizomes can stay in the ground for a long time, dormant but not dead. This can lead to some real headaches when attempting to buy or sell a property that was affected by knotweed in the past; the plant may no longer be visible above ground, but it's difficult to know for sure that it will never reappear.

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Japanese knotweed is a big problem in this country. Confirmed cases have increased by approximately 28% in the past five years, and it's been estimated that knotweed costs the UK somewhere in the region of £41 million each year.

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