At SE Knotweed, we support property professionals with specialist surveys, management plans and guarantees written so a surveyor, agent or solicitor can move a transaction affected by Japanese knotweed forward.
A specialist survey and report costs from £150 to £500 for a domestic property, more for a commercial or mortgage-format report, and we confirm the fee once we have the address and the requirement.
At SE Knotweed, we support surveyors, estate agents, solicitors, managing agents and lenders with the specialist knotweed work their own role flags but does not cover: confirming the species, a measured survey, a management plan and a guarantee written to the format the transaction needs. We report back to the professional and the client, so the case keeps moving.
The referral is straightforward: a building surveyor's inspection notes possible knotweed, or a valuer flags it, and we produce the specialist survey that answers it. Get in touch with the address and the requirement and we will scope the report and the timescale.
Surveyors and valuers need a specialist to confirm whether the plant is knotweed, record its extent against the RICS 3 metre zone, assign the RICS 2022 management category, and give a costed remediation plan and a guarantee, so the valuer can price the risk and the lender can proceed. A RICS building survey identifies a possible problem; the specialist report resolves it.
We assess the case against the RICS categories A to D, the public standard a valuer reads, and set out the plan and the guarantee term. That is the evidence that lets a valuer move a case from a flag to a managed risk. We are CSJK-qualified, though we are not RICS-regulated ourselves, so the valuation judgement stays with the RICS professional.
A specialist survey and report costs from £150 to £500 for a domestic property, and more for a commercial site or a report written to a specific lender's mortgage format, depending on the site, the access and the report required. A mortgage-format report with a management plan sits at the higher end.
We frequently credit the survey fee against the remediation cost if the client proceeds, so treat the range as indicative until we have the address. The survey cost page explains what moves the figure.
A mortgage-ready report contains the confirmed identification, a measured plan of the stand and the 3 metre zone, the RICS management category, a costed management plan naming the method and the visits, the monitoring period, and the insurance-backed guarantee term. It is written so a valuer can see the risk is being managed and the lender can lend.
Most lenders ask for exactly this before lending against a property with knotweed on or near it, and it is the document that releases a stalled mortgage or sale. We produce the mortgage survey and report to the lender's requirements.
We handle knotweed in a conveyancing chain by giving the solicitor and both parties the evidence the TA6 disclosure and the lender need: whether knotweed is present, its extent, the remediation cost and the guarantee. Question 7.8 of the TA6 form asks about it, and since 2020 a seller may only answer No if certain there is no rhizome within 3 metres of the boundary.
A survey gives the seller the certainty to answer honestly and the buyer the assurance to proceed, which unblocks the chain. Where a dispute arises instead, our law pillar sets out the position and we can act as an expert.
Referring a client to a PCA-approved contractor protects the professional and the client, because the survey, the plan and the guarantee come from a firm audited by the Property Care Association and accepted by lenders. We hold PCA approval, TrustMark registration (licence 2902558) and the CSJK surveying qualification.
That matters because a report from an unaccredited source may not satisfy a lender, leaving the transaction stalled and the professional exposed. We report back to you, keep the client informed, and back the works with a 10 year company guarantee and insurance-backed guarantee cover up to 15 years.
The RICS Professional Standard 2022 grades a case from Category A to Category D by the risk to the property and its neighbours. The surveyor records the category for your site.
Tell us the address and what a surveyor flagged. We confirm the plant, record the RICS category and set out the figures.