LENDERS INSIST ON CALLING IN PROFESSIONALS
A loan provider can ruin your hopes of buying a dream home if it comes across the words ‘Japanese knotweed’ on a surveyor’s report.
At the very least it will demand a professional eradication plan that may cost £3,000, with experts forced to provide a lengthy guarantee against its return before a mortgage offer is made.
BARCLAYS demands you call in an expert who is a member of the Property Care Association – and who offers a ten-year insurance-backed guarantee against its return if the plant has been discovered within seven metres of the home.
It will not offer a mortgage until the work has been done.
NATIONWIDE BUILDING SOCIETY also baulks at lending against a home with a garden infested with knotweed – unless you promise to sort it out.
It says: ‘If it is prominent less than seven metres from the house we request a specialist report about eradication before deciding whether we can lend.
‘Even if further away we require written confirmation from the borrower they are happy to proceed with a mortgage application despite presence of the plant.’
SANTANDER is also not keen on the spreading tentacles of knotweed. It expects you not only to call in a professional to stamp it out before lending you money, but also to then keep money aside to keep the garden clear of it. It says: ‘It can take several seasons of spraying with specialist chemicals to eradicate.
‘Work is often not completed before the mortgage term starts so we ask for the cost of remedial work to be held in a separate account.
‘We will not turn down a mortgage just because of knotweed but we will want it eradicated.’
LEEDS BUILDING SOCIETY says it will not lend money when knotweed is present in the garden and a valuer concludes it offers a significant risk either to the property or the chances of selling it in the future.
SKIPTON BUILDING SOCIETY says it assesses on a ‘case-by-case’ basis. But before making a loan offer it will demand that eradication work is done by a qualified professional with an insurance backed guarantee against the weed’s return.
YORKSHIRE BANK AND CLYDESDALE BANK – both owned by National Australia Bank – make lending decisions on a case-by-case basis. But it warns: ‘If you have knotweed in the garden – and it comes up on a valuer’s report – you will struggle to get a mortgage unless it is professionally treated.
‘If located far from the house you may be OK.’
Read more:
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mort ... z4Bry16E00 Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook