Laws around Japanese Knotweed Management

The management, storage, treatment and disposal of waste is controlled by these regulations.

Japanese knotweed plant matter, including its soil, is classed as controlled waste and cannot be discarded in your garden waste or taken of site. It needs to be disposed of and taken to a licensed landfill site with the facilities to deal with knotweed. If you discard it elsewhere, you will breach the environmental protection Act.

Although Japanese Knotweed is not covered by this legislation specifically, it will change when knotweed is treated with certain residual herbicides, it will then change from controlled waste to hazardous waste and falls under this legislation. Failure to abide by this legislation will lead to prosecution.

When handling and moving hazardous waste a consignment notes must be completed when any hazardous waste is transferred, which include details about the hazardous properties and any special handling requirements. If a consignment note is completed, a waste transfer note is not necessary.

Any person using pesticides must take all reasonable precautions to protect the health of people, plants and wildlife, and avoid the pollution of water. The person using pesticides must hold a certificate of competence, e.g. NPTC Level 2 award in the safe use of pesticides PA1 and PA6a/aw. Approval from the Environment Agency or Natural Resources Wales should be sought before application of pesticides in or near water.

Is the property effected by knotweed? Is question 7.8 on the law society’s TA6 form. If you choose not to answer this question truthfully, the prospective buyer can sue you under the Misrepresentation Act.

Similarly, if you have bought a property with the understanding that no Japanese knotweed is present on the land, you may be able to seek legal recourse against a seller who has lied about knotweed infestation.

From February 2020, the Law Society revised their guidance for the TA6 form and the question surrounding Japanese knotweed prevalence. You are now only able to state that there is no Japanese knotweed; within three metres of the property boundary, this includes no underground knotweed rhizome, if you are absolutely certain on the matter.

You often will be required to provide evidence of a survey by a registered professional stating so. Otherwise, you will have to state not known, which effectively passes the onus to investigate onto the buyer to investigate further.

The Government has issued guidance regarding how the Antisocial Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 can apply to Japanese knotweed, so giving local authorities and/or the Police, authority to issue Community Protection Notices (CPN).

A CPN can be raised when several neighbours are affected simultaneously by invasive plants growth, including Japanese knotweed. The protection notice can be issued after a mandatory written warning has been given and if no action is taken by an individual or organisation to control Japanese knotweed or other invasive plants where they could be reasonably expected to do so. Police or local council can issue a Community Protection Notice. Breach of any requirement of a Community Protection Notice, without reasonable excuse, would be a criminal offence, subject to a fixed penalty notice or prosecution.