allotment and a bad landlord ,advice needed please!

[fishfish]

been growing veg on our 2 allotments for a while now about 5 years on plot 2 and 8 on plot one,both small plots but we grow nearly all we need with the use of our garden at home too.

our allotments arent councill run but run by a charity,and said charity has just given us 12 months notice to quit or plot number 2 as they want to turn it into 3 tiny plots and make more money,they plan on changing the shape of the plot completely and as i said into 3 plots not using all the ground the current plot uses.We have not been given notice due to any fault of our own .Now what i was hoping to ask you lerned chaps and chappets was whether this is completely legal? also i read some time ago that in addition to 12 months notice a chap should be compensated for soil improvement ,the land was just grass before we took it over,i had to fence it myself kill the grass and generally care for and improve the ground for the last 5 years.

does anyone know about this?

 

[crosslandkelly]

Sorry to hear of your problem with your allotment. I can give no advice but lots of moral support. Please keep us posted as you go on with this dispute.

 

[fishfish]

cheers mate,god bless the National Trust eh! they must be near bankruptcy to have to turf a struggling family off their plot eh!?

 

[joejoe]

just nearly hapened to a friend , council run. managed to keep 2nd one.was told boils down to money how many houses can you build on a alotment

 

[Mesquite]

Check your lease agreement...

You'll probably find there is a clause in it that allows the landowners to give tenants reasonable notice to quit. 6 months is the standard length of time on allotments that I've had dealings with so 12 months would be seen as more than fair notice

You are allowed to remove any structures, paving and fencing that you might have erected on the site as they are your property but I doubt you'd get any compensation for soil improvement as it could be argued you have benefited from that improvement.

 

[Bigfoot]

^

What Mesquite said, the devil is in the detail........

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Are you a member of the National Allotments Association ?....if so get in touch with them......... Contacting your MP may be a good idea too......C.A.B. if you're desperate.

Unfortunatly I don't think you have much chance of gaining your cause as the charity concerned has given you more than the required notice to quit the plot & are well within their rights to alter the arrangments of the land they have jurisdiction over.

Failing that, dig a little pond in plot No.2 then chuck a couple of great crested newts in it.................

 

[Gaudette]

I'm no expert but we had a similar thing a few years back with our council run one. They had to back down in the end and give up. I didn't get too involved but basically if land has been designated for allotments and the owner of the land wants to use it as something else they have to supply similar land for use as allotments. One thing that came out of it was that if you request an allotment from the local authority they have to provide you with one. Our local mp was very helpful


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"If we had some bacon we could have bacon and eggs, if we had some eggs"

 

[Gaudette]

http://www.allotmoreallotments.org.uk/legislation.htm

You may find something here it has all the allotment info in one place.


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"If we had some bacon we could have bacon and eggs, if we had some eggs"

 

[Mesquite]

I didn't get too involved but basically if land has been designated for allotments and the owner of the land wants to use it as something else they have to supply similar land for use as allotments. One thing that came out of it was that if you request an allotment from the local authority they have to provide you with one. Our local mp was very helpful

That's not quite true... afaik that applies for council run allotments but not in this case.

The OP has said it's run by a charitable organisation (National Trust in this case) and as the land owner they are under no legal obligation to provide alternative land for allotments. That duty falls to the Local council be it Town, parish or District. Having said that, in cases like this it is good practice to offer an alternative site to avoid bad publicity but it is not a legal requirement for them.

There isn't going to be any change of usage of the land based on what the OP said, the landowner just wants to split the plot up so they can increase the number of growers on the site. That may well be down to demand for allotments nowadays with waiting lists in certain places running into 10+ years before a plot becomes available. As the OP already has an allotment the landlord might think it fairer to take his second one from him so that 3 new growers can have a chance of an allotment.

What the OP needs to do is see if there are any other allotment holders who have 2 or more plots who have been given similar notices to quit their second plot. If there are and they haven't then why has he been singled out?

Also are all the plots being fully utilised? I see a lot of allotments in my travels where it's a full size plot yet only one little corner is being used or nothing at all is being grown. Those plots should be the ones the landlord should be looking at before someone who is using all of their plot to it's maximum extent.

 

[Gaudette]

Many thanks for clarifying.


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"If we had some bacon we could have bacon and eggs, if we had some eggs"

 

[Laurentius]

I have recently joined the committee of our local allotment association, generally speaking, if people don't turn up to meetings when new rules are being discussed then they will miss out on the opportunity to comment before something happens that they don't like. The association basically makes the rules, for instance it was agreed that in future new tenants will only be given half a plot due to the numbers of people who have been neglecting the larger plots. It's also the case that there are waiting lists and not everybody can manage a large plot. It's been quite a struggle for me to wrest mine back from the state of abandonment it has been in. First thing I would do with you is check your allotment agreement and the rules, since if what they are doing is within the rules, there is not much you can do, because that is what you signed up for when you paid the rent. Other than that the rules should also tell you what the dispute settlement procedure is and who to make your representations to. I fear if it is some large faceless bureacracy albeit a charity, you may be stuffed.

 

[Intheround]

Interesting reading..I've just got an allotment after amazingly only 5 months wait, 3 came up at once too. I know land nearby has been sold for houses and hope I get at least a couple of years on the plot..sounds like I've alot to learn!