Japanese knotweed / communal land / factoring company

[dansound]

I’ve got a house that I rent out and have owned for about 6 years. Just this week the council sent a letter to say that there is a bit of communal land, owned by about 100 houses, that has fallen in to disrepair and is below acceptable levels for visual aesthetics…

It’s a bit of a joke, as the land is not even visible from 90% of the houses.

 

First thing I done was check my title deeds to the house…and right enough, there is a chunk of land that I have communal ownership and I’m in part responsible for.

Read further in the letter “ as you will know, this area is overgrown with Japanese knotweed…”

“it’s your responsibility to ensure maintenance with your neighbours of this land..”

 

So, where do I go from here?

 

In the house I live in, I know I could go door to door or have a street meeting in the pub and between us, we would hire a few local gardeners with brush cutters to blitz the area and pour the most toxic herbicides known to man twice a year and job done…. Or all pitch in.

But, this house is in a strange street, about 50% of the houses are rented by folk that don’t care, either the landlord or residents, the other 50% are a bit mental… maybe I am being unfair ;-)

 

Do I either do a lot of leg work and try and corral the 100 folk in to getting someone in to do it for a reasonable price, or all pitch in with their time…. guarantee there will be a big majority of people that just don’t pay / help.

Leave it – what happens then? Council come and do it and charge us all?

Contact factoring companies?

 

What’s it likely to cost to clear and keep on a yearly basis? We are looking at about an acre of land with 7ft knotweed on it, dies back in the winter obviously, good access.

 

Thanks!

Danny

[hedgesparrow]

if you do nothing the council will bring in contractors to clear it up and all charge you the costs of doing it. you do not say were you are in country but i am sure there is a fellow arbtalker who would give you a good quote to maintain it.

that the easy bit its getting the other householders to pitch in. with the cost.

if some are rented do you know who they rent them off housing asociation.

you could say to them i will get it done for X can you contribute to having it done. the others need to see the money before embarking on doing it

as for JKW needs stem injecting to eradicate it. spoke to a rep yesterday sell the injector for £90 plus the chemical thats £50 but will do that lot and some left over to get rid of rest next year. think you are going to have a hard job getting the others to do anything. and looks like the council will serve a order. then if not done come in and do it then charge you all a sum for doing it.

knowing councils will not be cheap. hence if you have a quote you can challenge theres as to dear.

[dansound]

In West Lothian, and it is west Lothian council that sent the letter.

 

The Mrs bumped in to one of the neighbours at lunch and just emailed me, she plans on ignoring it.... and i had her down as one of the less mental!

 

If anyone wants to quote, i'm happy to send letters out to everyone and see if they will pay up. only problem is those what just wont!

 

I know that if it was a factoring company, they would chase people up for money and take legal action.

 

If i get the majority to take action, is there an "easy" way to get others to pay?

[Pumpy]

Depends how far you want to go. Since you are only part responsible, you could do 1% of the required work to fulfill your legal obligation, as a defense should they try to take you to court for the cost if the council do the work.

 

Might need to get a quote so you can quantify 1% of the work in a letter to the council, 1% of an acre is 40.5 sq M do a 5Mx10M area, take before and after pictures etc. showing you've over fulfilled your legal obligations, include a statement saying you will maintain this patch annually, maybe then they'll chase the other 99 owners.

 

Or become unpaid organizer risking doing a lot of legwork with no return and a lot of grief.

 

Is the land worth anything? Is it worth sorting out a long term solution, like asking other owners to transfer their share to you so as to remove their maintenance burden, or to a community trust (if enough owners would cover legal setting up costs) with the aim of making it a nature reserve or something else useful which might attract funding.

 

trying to deal with 100 owners sounds like grief to me tho

 

Maybe fence it, maintain it, and go for adverse possession in 10 yrs

 

Or get a quote, send it in to the council offering to pay 1% of it or something.

Edited June 6, 2013 by Pumpy

[woodyguy]

May not be relevant but I thought only 4 people at max could own land???

I'd be tempted to let it happen and pay your 1% of the final cost. Anything else will either involve you in lots of effort or financial liability trying to collect the money.