Animals and Plants Living Around Your Building

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Wildlife

A warning!

You simply cannot do what you want with wildlife even though it is living in or around your property. Much of it is covered by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Many things are protected, as is their habitat and you certainly can't go around shooting, trapping and poisoning!

However, whilst the tunnelling by these animals may not be enough to cause subsidence it certainly can be the start of a problem. We believe that the keepers of Hadrian's Wall has been battling with great “excavators” for many, many years.

A few myths about bats

First of all, bats are protected, as is their habitat. This covers all types of bats, so you have no need to become an expert and identify them. Apparently, if you listen for a chittering sound to try to identify them, as trying to find them hanging from the ceiling joists is, we are told, a myth. In reality you are never likely to see them but you are likely to see their dropping, which we are advised (we are sure you have never done this) that if you wear some rubber gloves and roll all the droppings in your fingers it becomes a powder. Then you will need to advise in your report that the bat man or the bat woman needs to be called in, as they should be preserved.

For those that have ideas about removing them without telling anyone they need to be aware that the Natural England has the whereabouts of many of the habitats on record.

No-one likes grey squirrels

We are advised, although we have never seen it, that grey squirrels in your roof is not a great place for them to be. They can cause all sorts of damage. You are unlikely to see them in the actual roof, you are more likely to see the tree that gives them a bridge into the roof, or the chewed insulation on the pipes within the roof and the timbers or the pear shaped droppings.

Fat Dormouse who lives in the Chiltern triangle

Back in years gone by the Rothschild's family brought to England the fairly destructive Dormouse (which apparently was a Roman delicacy!), who still lives in the Chiltern area, which is where the Rothschild's homes are located in the Tring area.

Ticks and bed bugs

If you manage to read this without scratching then you are doing well. Ticks are very small until they've had a blood meal and this is when they reproduce and are not pleasant at all. Bed bugs (not to be confused with dust mites that are everywhere) do not fly, as you would expect a bug to do, but travel on things, such as luggage. They are lady bird sized but flat. They give out a nice bites and they don't necessarily relate to uncleanliness.

Rats and the Black Plague

Rats, originally bringers of the Plague, still cause destruction in roofs and carry unpleasant diseases, particularly the urine.

Plants that can cause problems

Japanese Knotweed

This is very fast growing. We are told it is like asparagus, although what we have seen is more like a bamboo shoot. Any lending institutes are becoming more concerned about this and therefore have standard phrases that it has to be removed. The going rate, we are advised, is about £1.00 per square metre, which could be expensive as it grows fast.

Giant Hogweed

We are advised it looks like cow parsley and by way of its fine hairs gives burns and blisters and from the pictures we have see this certainly has to be avoided.

We would like to thank Neil Hagley, chartered surveyor, for his input and interesting presentation.

Independent opinion

If you truly do want an independent expert opinion from a chartered surveyor with regard to structural surveys, building surveys, structural reports, engineers reports, defects report, including things such as cracks, dampness, condensation, foundation problems, etc, dilapidations, home buyers reports or any other property matters please contact 0800 298 5424 for a chartered surveyor to give you a call back.

If you have a commercial property, be it leasehold or freehold, then you may wish to look at our Dilapidations Website at www.DilapsHelp.com and for Disputes go to our Disputes Help site www.DisputesHelp.com .

We hope you found the article of use and if you have any experiences that you feel should be added to this article that would benefit others, or you feel that some of the information that we have put is wrong then please do not hesitate to contact us (we are only human).

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