About Us

Japanese Knotweed Mortgages was established in January 2021 by me, owner and founder Bob Dibden. I formed Japanese Knotweed Mortgages because in the last few years I have come across a number of clients who were buying homes that had or appeared to have Japanese knotweed.

The first one I came across was in 2015. At the time I knew nothing about Japanese knotweed apart from knowing the name, so it was a new one on me and a massive learning curve. Having sight of the rather lengthy 48 page report and liaising with the mortgage lender, valuer, the builder, the school on the other side of the boundary and even the firm providing treatment plan to the school enabled me to ensure the purchase completed and my clients moving in to their lovely new home.

Since then I have come across other properties with Japanese knotweed so my initial experience was invaluable and have acquired further knowledge and experience since then. I then decided to use that knowledge & experience to help others to purchase their dream home or obtain a mortgage against their property where Japanese knotweed is present.

My philosophy has always been to do my best for the client and to assist as appropriate during the whole process. Often this means plenty of phone calls to many different parties to give the best possible and timely outcome for you the client.

Most of my business is conducted over the phone and online which fits in well with most people’s busy lives. I do sometimes meet clients when required depending on the distance.

Background

I started my financial career working for one of the UK’s largest banks. After 5 influential years I pursued a personal goal as a music producer in the early 90’s where I enjoyed success before deciding my future was in financial services. 

Embarking on a new career in business finance with another of the UK’s largest banks, I gained 5 years of experience working with small to medium sized business and underwriters to provide lines of credit, before setting myself a new challenge within the personal finance market.

This experience in the commercial sector gave me great knowledge and experience in dealing with businesses, understanding of company accounts, and in how to write supporting reports of recommendation to underwriters.

This helps me hugely in getting mortgage applications approved with mortgage lenders.

I then decided that I would like to work in personal finance. I passed the Certificate in Financial Planning and Certificate in Mortgage Advice & Practice in 2005 and started as a mortgage adviser within an estate agency. This has given me a valuable insight as to how estate agency operated & also about property too.

Following many years’ experience working with different mortgage firms I had aspirations to set up on my own with my own brand. I established Cactus Mortgages in September 2019 and then in October 2020 decided to expand and set up Japanese Knotweed Mortgages.