Jonathan Downing, a furniture designer bought his three-bedroom house in South London for £700,000 in August 2018 from Jeremy Henderson. However, his dream home soon became a nightmare when he discovered Japanese knotweed canes behind the shed. The invasive plant is notorious for its propensity to spread and damage the structure of buildings.

Mr Henderson had answered ‘no’ when filling in the TA6 property information form asking if the property was affected by knotweed. He sought to argue that he “reasonably believed” this to be true in his defence. Mr Downing sued Mr Henderson upon discovery accusing him of misrepresentation. It emerged that the knotweed had previously been treated with herbicide and may have once stood at 2m tall. This contradicts Mr Henderson’s claims that he could not see the knotweed owing to large bush. Making a seller aware of the presence of Japanese Knotweed has been a legal requirement since 2013.

Even though experts believed the knotweed had probably been in the garden since 2012 – 3 years before Mr Henderson himself moved into the property, Tom Carter, Mr Downing’s barrister argued that Mr Henderson “chose to positively assert there was no knotweed at the property and thereby made a misrepresentation”.

In a ruling at Central London court, Judge Jan Luba KC ordered Mr Henderson to pay £32,000 in damages plus Mr Downing’s legal expenses of £95,000. It is estimated his own expenses were over £100,000 as well.

The judge explained that “Mr Henderson told [him] on oath that he genuinely did think there wasn’t any Japanese knotweed in his garden. He knew what it looked like, and he had not seen any in the three years he had been there. No previous owners had mentioned Japanese knotweed to him and none of the neighbours had Japanese knotweed in their gardens”. “Had that evidence stood alone, he would have amply satisfied me of his reasonable belief that there was no Japanese knotweed at his property.” But he went on to say that Mr Henderson’s case had been undermined by his admission that he “didn’t know what was behind the shed” where the knotweed was lurking.

This along with evidence that the knotweed had been previously treated and Mr Henderson’s misrepresentation on that TA6 was enough to convince the judge of Mr Henderson’s wrongdoing.

The case highlights the importance of transparency when selling a property. Any misrepresentations will not be looked upon lightly by the courts. The case also serves to emphasise the importance of due diligence when purchasing a property.

If you have any queries about property sales or purchases, please contact our property team on 01494 521301.