Eviction from allotment - help needed, please!

[Zebedeel]

Firstly, I wasn’t sure where to post this thread, so apologies if it’s in the wrong place.

This is a long and increasingly nasty story, but I’ll try and keep things brief.

I’ve had an allotment for several years on a site which is owned by the local council but managed under leasehold by a volunteer committee.

The membership of the committee changed earlier this year and with that came some undemocratic practices including decisions being taken unilaterally and the prioritising of members’’ friends for plots. I queried these practices with the council, and the committee retaliated by evicting me. They first issued a supposed ‘final warning’ for a non-existent problem, followed by a notice to quit alleging my queries about their management amounted to a formal ‘nuisance’ and therefore justified my eviction under the terms of my tenancy agreement.

i was given no warning about this alleged (and fallacious) breach of contract, no chance to remedy it, and no right of reply. The committee gave me two weeks’ notice but locked me out immediately (by changing the locks). They have refused to allow me to appeal and have also refused mediation. In addition, they’ve circulated defamatory claims about my behaviour which I can disprove categorically. This has been ongoing for more than three months now, and to say I feel bullied and harassed is an understatement, to the point where I’’ve needed to take sick leave from work. I have hundreds of pounds worth of equipment on the site, not to mention most of my food for the coming year which is now going to waste.

My question is, is the eviction illegal under section 146 of the Law of Property Act 1925? It has been suggested to me that it is, but I am unclear as to whether this act relates only to residential and business property. Also, my understanding of the Allotments Acts 1922 & 1950 suggests I should have been given a month’s notice. The site’s own rules within my tenancy agreement also stipulate a month. Does this alone make the Notice to Quit invalid?

Is the committee’s failure to allow me an appeal or any right of rely illegal under human rights law or any other legislation?

The council is doing its best to avoid any responsibility at all, on the grounds that it is not my direct landlord, but the committee is clearly breaching both the council’s own general allotment rules and the terms of its leasehold contract (for example, by unfairly distributing plots and by indulging in harassment). What are the council’s obligations, and do they still have a duty of care to me as a tenant?

i would be very grateful indeed for any thoughts, or any advice on how to address this and overturn the eviction.

[echat11]

Hi ZEBEDEEL

I'm sorry this is happening to you.

Send the Committee a SAR, they have 30 days to provide all the data on your tenancy of the allotment. That might throw us information to help your cause. Contact the LGO, ask them if you can lodge a complaint against the Council.

https://www.lgo.org.uk/how-to-complain

On a side note, have you considered 'vertical farming'?

[islandgirl]

Have you got your local councillor involved? What have they said? The local council wll have a standards committee dealing with complaints. I think a formal complaint may be the only way to go. If your tenancy agreement says a month it should be a month unless there is a specific clause saying it can be less in certain circumstances (and those circumstances have occured or are claimed to have occured)

[Zebedeel]

Hi both, thanks very much indeed for your responses. Echat11, sorry to sound simple, but what is a SAR, please? I already have full details of my tenancy agreement and the attached rules, but one of the issues I raised with the council is that the new secretary of the committee (who hadn’t even been formally elected) rewrote the rules and circulated them to tenants without even consulting anyone else on the committee, let alone taking a vote on whether the new rules should be accepted.

IslandGirl, I’ve involved my local councillor who’s been promising to intervene for weeks but who has so far done nothing…. There is no clause in the tenancy agreement stipulating notice can be less than one month.

Thanks again!

PS - Sorry for the awful punctuation - for some reason this site isn’t recognising some of the keys on my keyboard.

[ostell]

SAR = Subject Access Request = https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...ccess-request/

[echat11]

SAR = Subject Access Request = https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...ccess-request/

Thanks.

[Zebedeel]

Thanks.

Thank you for that - as I say, I already have full details of my tenancy agreement, plus a copy of the allotment committee’s leasehold agreement with the council. I have basically been evicted on a whim for asking unwelcome but entirely legitimate questions (such as what our insurance policy covers us for). I was actually told I had no right to ask this question, even though my rent obviously contributes towards the cost of this insurance. I contacted the police to ask for advice on what to do about my property on the site while this dispute is ongoing: they offered to mediate and rang the secretary who responded with defamatory lies about me being evicted for “phoning and texting numerous members of the committee in the middle of the night”. Both the council and police now have all my phone bills to prove no such thing happened. I just don’t know where to go with this as no one appears to want to help and the committee clearly feels free to say or invent what they like, as noone is holding them accountable.

[islandgirl]

Then a formal complaint to the council would be my next move I think. As I say there is a standards committee which will become involved. Keep the pressure on your councillor too.

[echat11]

Thank you for that - as I say, I already have full details of my tenancy agreement, plus a copy of the allotment committee’s leasehold agreement with the council. I have basically been evicted on a whim for asking unwelcome but entirely legitimate questions (such as what our insurance policy covers us for). I was actually told I had no right to ask this question, even though my rent obviously contributes towards the cost of this insurance. I contacted the police to ask for advice on what to do about my property on the site while this dispute is ongoing: they offered to mediate and rang the secretary who responded with defamatory lies about me being evicted for “phoning and texting numerous members of the committee in the middle of the night”. Both the council and police now have all my phone bills to prove no such thing happened. I just don’t know where to go with this as no one appears to want to help and the committee clearly feels free to say or invent what they like, as noone is holding them accountable.

SAR's always throw up something, for example, if they say they sent an email to you in the SAR, you can check back, did that happen (you know they lie, they will trap themselves making stuff up). Also if they don't respond, you can make a complaint to the ICO.

[Zebedeel]

Thanks both again - an SAR and formal complaint aren’t avenues I’d thought of so both very helpful, thank you!

[Ukmicky]

You had a form of tenancy that and just like with other forms of tenancies there are laws and rules which have to be followed before someone can be evicted .There was even an act of Parliament to protect people who have allotments .


Have read the the allotments Act

[Zebedeel]

You had a form of tenancy that and just like with other forms of tenancies there are laws and rules which have to be followed before someone can be evicted .There was even an act of Parliament to protect people who have allotments .


Have read the the allotments Act

Hi, yes I have, thanks - I’m trying to find out whether the Law of Property Act 1925 is applicable too, and human rights law in terms of me being denied a fair hearing.

[Cherokee]

I am in a very similar situation. What was your outcome? Is there any further advice anyone can give? What is the best course of legal action one can take?

[Zebedeel]

Hi Cherokkee, I’m so very sorry to hear you’re facing a similar predicament. I can tell you the outcome but it wasn’t good news for me, I’m afraid. I nailed down all the areas where the allotment association had broken the law. I gathered proof, including from the police who refuted the lies that were being told about me by the association. The National Allotments Federation and the local federation backed me completely, and were so appalled by the behaviour of the allotments association they threw them out. However, even though I had lost literally thousands of pounds worth of plants and equipment on my allotment I was advised not to take it to court by each of the lawyers I approached for advice. They said even if I won, it would still end up costing me considerably more than I lost. I kept battling with the local council, who lease the land to the allotment association, to intervene as the association was clearly in breach of several clauses of its tenancy agreement. Again, I was fully backed by the national and local allotment federations but the council flatly refused any responsibility. I then went to the Ombudsman, which was a complete waste of time as they produced a useless report showing absolutely no grasp of the issues and said the council had done nothing wrong. I appealed, and their conclusion was an ill-informed rerun of the first. The council provided a huge amount of inaccurate information and the Ombudsman merely took their word over mine. I cannot overstate what a pointless exercise it was. So eventually, after many months, I gave up. It’s the worst example of injustice and democratic failure I’ve ever personally come across, and it left a very bitter taste in my mouth. In essence, the council and ombudsman decreed that the council had no jurisdiction and the allotment association were free to do anything they liked. So I’m very sorry not to have better news for you, and I really hope you find a solution. For me, I’ll never go near an allotment again.

[Trustingh]

Hi Zebedeel

I've just read your post and I'm finding your situation is so similar to one we're dealing with. The council just do not want to take any responsibility for the appalling behaviour of the allotment association. I feel like we're the little man fighting, a bit like Mr Bates versus the Post Office. It is so wrong that this behaviour is allowed to happen without any consequences. I have no hope having read of your experience and I'm so sorry to hear what you've been through.