Seller-side surveys
Where a report pairs a knotweed letter with the seller's drawer, what stays open about a survey the letter does not replace?
A knotweed letter in the seller's drawer does not replace a survey. What stays open is the state of the ground now, which a letter does not inspect. The report paired the letter with the drawer. It has not tested the growth, has not dated a treatment by digging, and has not decided that the letter's account is complete. The letter is a document. The survey, or a specialist inspection, is a look at the site. One does not become the other.
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?
Sellers sometimes hold a contractor's letter, a management plan or an old note about Japanese knotweed. The paper may say where a stand was, what was sprayed, or what guarantee was offered. Paper goes out of date. Canes can return, and a guarantee may name a firm and a period that only the document itself states. The home survey does not turn that letter into its own inspection, and finding the letter in a drawer is not the same as seeing the soil. Extent and current growth stay open.
Ask the solicitor for the letter and any plan or guarantee it refers to, and read them as documents. Do not accept them as a substitute for a current look if the survey has already flagged the point or if the garden is simply unknown. A specialist can compare the letter with the ground. The survey has not done that comparison, and the seller's drawer has not closed the question.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What date and what work does the letter actually state?
- Is there a plan or a guarantee attached, or only the letter?
- Has anyone compared that paper with the ground this season?
What are the typical next steps?
- Obtain the knotweed letter through the solicitor.
- Read it as a document, not as a survey.
- Ask for a current look if the ground still needs inspecting.
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
Does a letter prove the plant has gone?
No. A letter records what its author wrote, often about treatment or a past stand. It does not inspect today's ground, and it does not replace a survey. Growth, regrowth or spread can still be open. The drawer is where the paper was, not a clearance.
Should the solicitor still ask for the letter itself?
Yes, if it is being relied on in the sale. The survey mentioned it. It did not collect it or test it. The solicitor can ask for the copy, the plan and any guarantee. Holding those papers still does not turn them into an inspection of the garden.