22 June 5, 2022The Sunday TimesHome
SHOULD WE
BUY A HOME
THAT USED TO
HAVE JAPANESE
KNOTWEED?Q
We’re buying
a flat in south
London. The
vendor told us they found
one knotweed plant in the
front garden in 2017. This
was treated and they have
a ten-year indemnity and
treatment plan. They said
that there had been no
issues since. If we go to sell
the flat in five years’ time
when the insurance has
finished, will this devalue
the property, even if no
knotweed has returned?
If so, can we protect
against this with an
indemnity extension?
JayneA
It’s a good sign that no
regrowth has occurred,
but if the plant was treated
with herbicide its rhizome can
be induced into dormancy
for 20 years or longer, so it is
only a “control” method.
There is no given period of
time without evidence of
regrowth after which a seller
could declare the property
knotweed-free without the
risk of it coming back to bite
them in a misrepresentation
case. Therefore, even if no
regrowth is seen in the time
you own the property, when
you come to sell it would be
wise to be upfront and declare
that it was affected on the
given date with no regrowth
noticed since.
Extending the existing
insurance-backed guarantee
for a further five or ten-year
term would help to give peace
of mind to a future buyer.
Whether the value of the
property is affected when you
sell will depend on the buyer’s
view, but it’s less likely if they
are aware of it before theymake an offer. If they find out
afterwards they may want to
renegotiate the price.
Transparency is key when
selling a property that has
been affected by knotweed;
if no regrowth occurs during
your ownership, the impact
on value further down the line
will probably be minimal.Nic Seal, the founder and
managing director of Environet
UK; environetuk.comGET OFF THE MARK
Q
How do I remove water
marks from chrome
towel radiators?
AndreaA
Chromed metal isn’t as
durable as stainless steel.
So, when cleaning
watermarks and other stains,
use mild detergents. Start by
dusting the radiator with a
dry microfibre cloth. Then,
with the same cloth, gently
wipe the radiator with warm,
soapy water or a diluted
white vinegar solution.
Don’t use kitchen cleaners
— they’re more potent and
may damage chrome plating.
These two homemade
solutions should lift water
stains if you use a good-quality
microfibre cloth. After this,
dry and buff the radiator with
a new microfibre cloth.
Should this not work, try
lemon juice on the stains in
addition to your solutions —
the mild acidity helps to lift
marks. Alternatively, spritz
a microfibre cloth with glass
cleaner, which is also good
on chrome.Chris Wootton, the managing
director of Poppies Cleaning
Service, poppies.co.ukSend questions to
homehelp@sunday-
times.co.uk. Advice given
without responsibilityHOME
HELP
READERS’ CLINIC
HOW DO I GET A SMOKE ALARM TO STICK TO THE
CEILING WITHOUT DRILLING HOLES?
AliceUse magnetic
self-adhesive
detector mounts
from amazon.co.uk.
I used the 65mm size.
Been up for ages — brilliant.
Jan FergusonCircular Velcro pads: one
half stuck to the alarm, the
other half to the ceiling. I
used Anderk’s six-pack of
10cm round sticky pads
from amazon.co.uk.
PerditaA couple of Command
strips will do it. They’re self-
adhesive picture-hanging
strips, but the heavy-duty
ones would easily hold a fire
alarm. And they don’t markwalls. Try Robert Dyas
or Screwfix.
Geraldine Blake,
WorthingFUTURE QUESTION
How do I keep my
electric toothbrush clean
and stop it from dripping
toothpaste all over myself
when I use it?Reader tip of the week
The man who installed my
washing machine told me
to use powder rather than
liquid or gel, which build
up and cause smells.
Christine KolinskySend tips and questions to
homehelp@sunday-
times.co.uk Advice given
without responsibilityW
hen my partner
[the music manager
and hotelier
Garfield Hackett]
and I moved to
Clapton, right on Hackney Marshes,
in east London, 22 years ago, nobody
wanted to live here. Our street was
known as Murder Mile because there
were a lot of stabbings. It was a run-
down part of Hackney, which was
why we were able to rent a flat from
a local housing trust. They were hard
to-let flats but we have always loved
it here.Why?
All of our neighbours look out for each
other. If somebody has a birthday
party no one complains. We just say
“happy birthday” and carry on, even
if the party goes on until five in the
morning, because we know how to
live together. We’ve done it for
decades. It’s also a very strong
multicultural community. On my
street alone there are at least 35
languages spoken.Is London your forever home?
No. I’m planning to buy my first house
next year. I don’t fancy giving some
ridiculous estate agent £1 million for a
two-bedroom flat in Hackney. I’m
thinking of moving to a small town in
East Sussex. I have family and friends
there, and I need more space. My
mum is 85 and she’s going to move
from her home to live with us. I can’t
wait to have a garden and grow my
own vegetables.Where did you grow up?
My father was a clerk in the RAF and
we lived in Biggin Hill, where he was
stationed. When I was about six he
was posted to Cyprus, which I adored.
We lived in a bungalow in LimassolTIME AND SPACE THE WAY WE LIVE NOW
ANDI OLIVER
The chef on growing up in ‘weird’
East Anglia and moving to Sussex
BBC; DAVID CORIO/REDFERNS/ROBERTO MOIOCA/GETTY IMAGES
built into the side of a hill, with a big
marble patio at the front and a large
garden at the back. I thought it was
home, so when my parents started
talking about returning to England it
made me very distressed.
I remember clinging to the pillars
that supported the house, screaming,
before they shoved me into a cab on
the way to the airport. I somehow
knew instinctively that our new home
in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk wasn’t
going to be a laugh. I started having
nightmares. I thought things were
living under the bed. The change in
the light also upset me and I didn’t
find the people friendly. East Anglia
in the 1970s was weird.Did things improve?
No. I was the only black girl at my
school. I remember my mum
sending me into school one day with
little white beads in my hair. I felt
really pretty but my German teacher
made me stand in front of the classwhile he ridiculed me in German.
I was only 11 years old.
I rarely talked about it at home
because my brother, Sean, was ill with
sickle cell anaemia and I didn’t want
to be another problem. The
difficulties were compounded by my
father’s crazy behaviour. He was
either Mr Party, singing to Sam Cook
and dancing to James Brown, or really
fractious. A therapist has suggested he
may have been bipolar.How did you get into cooking?
I started helping to make Sunday
lunch when I was seven and by the age
of 12 I was hosting little dinner parties.
Marguerite Patten’s cookery cards
became a portal to the fantasy life I
was going to have when I grew up,
where my cakes would be perfectly
risen and my green beans shiny with
butter. One of the things I loved about
cooking was that it represented
something I could control because
there were a lot of things I couldn’t.Where else in the world would you
like to live?
Antigua in the Caribbean. I visit most
years and it fills my heart and soul.
When I’m there I feel connected to my
people. If you come from a migrant
family, feeling connected to
something other than the place you
happen to be is really important.
Interview by Angela WintleAndi Oliver is hosting One Dish, a new
weekly podcast on BBC Sounds and BBC
Radio 4, from August 31Inset from top: Oliver with her late brother, Sean; with a young Neneh
* Cherry in the band Rip Rig + Panic. Above: Antigua, her spiritual home