Japanese knotweed

The garden will be used by children and hogweed is on the boundary. What identification has the survey given, and what clearance contract has it not arranged?

The identification the survey has given is hogweed on the boundary. The clearance contract it has not arranged is any contract to remove or treat that plant. The garden will be used by children, which is a use you have in mind, not a job the survey has booked. The report names hogweed. It does not hire a contractor, does not specify a method, and does not manage how children use the boundary. Identification and a clearance contract are different things, and only the name was given.

Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.

What is the fuller explanation?

Hogweed is the word the survey used. It has not, in that word, arranged someone to clear the boundary, and it has not written a specification for the work. Children using a garden is a reason to take the plant seriously and to get a fuller identification if you need to know which hogweed it is. It does not create a contract. GOV.UK guidance on invasive plants is a separate source. The survey has not told anyone to cut the plant.

Tell the solicitor hogweed is named on the boundary and that no clearance contract has been arranged by the survey. If children will use the garden, ask a specialist to identify the plant properly and to quote for clearance if that is required. Do not treat the survey as having booked that work. Do not set children, or anyone else, to pull the plant up on the back of a name in a report.

What should you ask your surveyor?

What identification did you give the plant on the boundary?
Did you arrange any clearance contract?
Did you specify a method of removal, or only name the plant?

What are the typical next steps?

Tell the solicitor hogweed is named and that no clearance contract was arranged.
Ask a specialist to identify the plant if children will use the garden.
Do not set anyone to pull the plant up on the back of the survey's name.

Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.

Also asked about this

If children will keep to the lawn, has a clearance contract been arranged?

No. Limiting children to the lawn does not produce a clearance contract, and the survey has not arranged one. The identification given is still hogweed on the boundary. How you hope to use the garden does not remove the plant or hire anyone. The contract remains unmade.

Has the survey said which kind of hogweed, or only used that name?

The survey has given the name hogweed. It has not said which hogweed, and it has not gone beyond that identification. A finer distinction, if you need one because children will use the garden, is a further look. It is not a clearance contract, and the report has not arranged one.