A homeowner has won £50,000 after a surveyor failed to spot Japanese knotweed in the property's garden.
Paul Ryb was attracted to the two-storey, brown-brick property in Highgate, north London, largely due to its big, corner-plot garden.
Splashing out £1.3million on the home, the former investment banker, who has impaired eyesight, had enlisted the help of a surveyor to ensure the property was safe.
The professional noted to be in "excellent condition" and have "very few defects" but failed to notice clumps of Japanese knotweed in the garden.
When the gardener eventually spotted the plants after Mr Ryb had paid his deposit and moved in, the gardener refused to even touch the knotweed and left the property.
Given time, the invasive plant could have consumed Ryb’s garden, so spent more than £10,000 having the area cleared.
But Mr Ryb sued the surveyor and was awarded £50,000 in damages, with the court citing not just the expense, but also his investment in the house and knotweed’s aesthetic interference with his "ability fully to use and enjoy the land”.
Knotweed has been a British plant since the 19th century, but as a species, it is still called “invasive” as it can run riot through gardens. It spreads slowly but adamantly, and it can take over a patch of land until no other plants survive.
Rodger Burnett, the lawyer who looked after Mr Ryb's case, had himself discovered knotweed in his newly purchased south London home before specialising in this type of law.
He told The Guardian : "I didn’t know what it was. My mum had come down to do a bit of gardening, and she looked out of the kitchen and said: ‘What have you done? You’ve got knotweed. You’re an idiot.’"
Japanese knotweed is tough to remove, and professionals often have to don PPE across the whole body to be safe.
Herbicides must be used to stop the plants spreading.
