Woman alleges the Japanese knotweed caused her house to devalue by £150,000
A woman who sued her neighbour due to a disagreement over Japanese knotweed has been left with a £100,000 legal bill after the judge found in the neighbour’s favour.
Charron Ishmael claimed that due to a Japanese knotweed invasion from her neighbour’s garden her property had become devalued by £150,000. The two live in terraced houses in Islington, an affluent area in north London.
She then tried to sue her neighbour, Sheila Clark, for failing to deal with the plant, which can cause serious damage to properties, despite Ishmael claiming she was aware of its presence for years. Ishmael further alleges that the plant had grown over the boundary fence separating her garden from Clark.
Clark stated that she brought in specialist contractors to treat the knotweed as soon as she became aware of their presence in 2017 and the invasive plant was removed almost a year later.
However, Ishmael argued that the year long delay resulted in the knotweed spreading into her garden and that it was evident “some years” before 2017. She then stated she had to spend thousands to have the plant removed from her garden.
In addition to this, she has since sold the property for what claims was £150,000 less than what the house was worth, which she said was due to the knotweed devaluing the property.
Clark countered this by stating that she had “no time to do gardening except twice a year”. She added:
“I’m just not interested in gardening, even after such a devastating thing. I keep thinking I wish I had bought a flat and not a four-bedroom house.”
The judge at Central London County court dismissed the case as he agreed with Clark’s defence. Recorder Grahame Aldous KC then ordered Ishmael to pay all of the legal costs for the case, which is estimated to be over £100,000.
