‘My neighbour's bamboo caused £60k worth of damage. I've had to demolish my conservatory'

Telegraph

16-05-2025

Max* and his partner, both 37, had only been living in their brand new home for a matter of months when they noticed something growing between the conservatory and the garden threshold.
'We thought it was grass at first, but then we realised it was bamboo,' he says. 'We [thought] it was from next door, as their garden is absolutely full of it.
'At first they were in denial about it, but we didn't have any bamboo in our garden, so it was pretty obvious where it was coming from.'
Max and his partner dug up and refilled the garden path in order to find the bamboo roots and cut them off, only to find them growing back weeks later.
Seeing that the plant had extended to underneath their conservatory, the couple hired builders to take up the flooring.
Underneath, it was clear a vast network had spread wildly, but unfortunately it only reared its head after they had already moved in. The damage it had wreaked was extensive.
'We've had to have the conservatory demolished,' sighs Max. 'It will cost us around £60k to replace it.'
A fate worse than knotweed
The couple are not alone. Approximately 8pc of homes in the UK have bamboo growing on their property, equivalent to around two million dwellings, according to data from invasive plant removal specialists Environet and the ONS.
Bamboo has become something of a garden staple, chosen for its ability to create natural screens along garden fences, and its fast-growing nature. But this is a double edged sword, warns Emily Grant, the Environet director.
'People are only now waking up to the problem of invasive bamboo. It's been very popular in the last two decades or so, especially for providing privacy in overlooked gardens. But some varieties take years before they begin to spread and are now causing major headaches for homeowners.
'It's becoming more common to see bamboo growing inside homes. We've seen cases of it appearing between the skirting board and wall in a living room, behind washing machines, and even growing up inside cavity walls.
'It can mean entire ground floors being dug up, and conservatories being pulled down.'
Indeed, Telegraph Money has heard from one reader who found the plant growing out of his kitchen oven.
Bamboo can be even more invasive than its notorious counterpart Japanese knotweed, due to the distance and speed with which it can spread. Long lateral roots can extend up to 30ft from a parent plant.
In a particularly damaging instance of bamboo encroachment in 2022, a homeowner in Hampshire was forced to fork out £100k to dig up their ground floor – after the plant emerged through the floors in the living room, study, hall and kitchen, having spread from the neighbouring garden.
With homeowners waking up to the potential damage caused by the pest, mortgage lenders are starting to become aware of it too.
Ms Grant adds: 'I wouldn't be surprised if mortgage lenders start to look more closely at the issue and impose lending restrictions, similar to those for Japanese knotweed. That would at least provide some protection to innocent home buyers who through no fault of their own, inherit an expensive bamboo problem that they then have to deal with.'
Max and his partner have been unable to claim for the bamboo damage against their own insurance policy, as the plant was a pre-existing issue with the house.
'We currently have an open claim against the neighbours' indemnity insurance. They've been good at reimbursing us for small ticket items – £1k for tools we needed for the path, then a builder to come along and expose the slab.'
But whether the couple will be able to claim against a new conservatory, and how much will be covered, is uncertain.
'We're debating the specification and energy rating of the original structure – it seems they're trying to minimise their liability.'
Steps to bamboo-proof your home
Ask current owners
Prospective buyers of properties with bamboo should ask the current owners when it was planted – the critical spread time is between five and 10 years later – as well as whether they do any maintenance to stop it spreading.
If bamboo is growing near the boundary of the property, warn Environet experts, ask whether the neighbours have approached them about the bamboo.
Early action
A few stray runners, or new shoots emerging in new locations away from the parent plant, are normally an indication of a much greater problem down the line.
Early action can prevent escalation of costs. Homeowners with bamboo in their garden that has not yet spread can act early by installing a strong bamboo-proof root barrier, which needs to be inserted two feet into the ground to contain it – though there is still a risk it can break out and spread.
Don't plant directly into the ground
A safer way to plant bamboo is to do so in containers with thick bamboo-proof membranes, the experts add, rather than directly into the ground.