Unlawful Eviction From Allotment Association

[mugwump083]

I have been unlawfully & very spitefully evicted from my allotment & not being a lawyer am clueless about how to fight this & prevent eviction. Can anyone help with advice on the legal steps needed to be taken to prevent eviction ?


I have been a member of this Allotment Association for about ten years. There are about 200 allotment holders which was set up many decades ago as an unincorporated organisation. It is not a Co-operative or charity or Limited company. I signed a lease from an individual who I think was the chairman at the time of signing the lease, in which I agreed to abide by the rules of the allotment association.


The Association is run by means of an annually elected committee of officers head up by a Chairman and a secretary who both actually do all the day to day management & organisation.


A few years ago a new chairperson and secretary were voted in. Since then these two people have apparently behaved in a bullying and offensive manner towards many plot holders and these two people, who are in total control of every aspect of the allotment association, have evicted a number of plot holders, apparently unreasonably. I have been told by the now retired previous Chairman that in his & other's view many plot holders have been evicted simply because the secretary 'doesn't like them' & is simply of a bullying and offensive nature.


In March 2022 I had lit a small bonfire on my allotment to burn only brambles and prunings from fruit trees. This was permitted within the rules of the allotment association.


The secretary of the Association suddenly stormed onto my plot & snarled at me "put that fire out immediately". Being totally amazed and utterly flabbergasted at this violently aggressive behaviour all I could think of to say initially was "no"; particularly because the fire had almost completely burnt out at that point anyway.


When I then asked why I was being asked to put the fire out the secretary started telling me the smoke was 'blowing towards the adjacent road and that the secretary had recieved a complaint about the nuisance of the smoke from a resident householder in that road who lived about 150 yards distance from my plot'.


This person has been known for a long time by the allotment association members to be a troublemaker & nuisance to the allotment association by virtue of making numerous unreasonable complaints and in particular about any bonfire on the allotments and this nuisance person has frequently threatened to complain to the council and call the fire brigade and generally acted in a threatening manner.


Meanwhile this nuisance neighbour had also appeared standing in the road at the other side of the high fence between my allotment and the road. He immediately took hold of the fence and shook it violently in the manner of a monkey shaking the bars of his cage and at the same time started screaming obscenities at me at the top of his voice


The secretary was also now shouting loudly at me that this man had complained to her that he will call the fire brigade if the fire wasn't put out etc and the secretary refused to let me speak to her, simply shouting even louder at me to prevent me from discussing the issue with her in a rational manner. With the nuisance neighbour shouting obscenities at the top of his voice only four or five metres behind me and the highly aggressive and offensive secretary shouting at me at the top of her voise to prevent me from saying anything, telling me she "didn't want to hear anything I had to say", the only appropriate thing I could think of to do was to turn to the raving nuisance and try and persuade him to stop shouting so I could attempt to converse with the secretary. To be able for me to do this I was then obliged to raise my own voice in order to be heard at all over these two shouting individuals in order for me to tell the nuisance to stop shouting aas it was making any conversation between me and the secretary impossible.


The secretary subsequently departed and a few days later I received a notice of eviction based on the fact I had 'broken the rules' of the allotment association.


This is simply untrue.


How can I fight this off ? What would be the best way of dealing with this legally as there is no possibility of negotiating. Do I get an injuntion. If so how is that done. I have no money to pay a lawyer as I'm a pensioner living more or less only on the basic State pension level.

[EnglandPi]

Legally I doubt there is anything to be done. If the other allotment holders feel the same way would it not be possible to vote in a new chair and secretary?

[atticus]

Plainly this comes down to a study of the rules of the association, and analysis of how what has happened fits in with those rules.

[dslippy]

And why there is a delay of a year.

[mugwump083]

Plainly this comes down to a study of the rules of the association, and analysis of how what has happened fits in with those rules.

If I had had sufficient time earlier today I would have been able to answer the various questions posed as I know they are germane. But life's little ups & downs demanded my presence elsewhere & now I'm actually completely exhausted & have had insufficient sleep recently + a bit ill. So will provide the more interesting second part of the matter tomorrow.

[mugwump083]

Plainly this comes down to a study of the rules of the association, and analysis of how what has happened fits in with those rules.

I was evicted from my allotment on the grounds of my breaking four allotment rules. They are:



1. That although I was allowed under the rules to have a bonfire I had nevertheless broken the rules 'by allowing the smoke to drift over the road' contrary to the rules - which is approximately two metres from the edge of my allotment. The road is a dead end leading only to a very small number of houses.



2. I had caused a conflict/altercation with another plot holder and that the rules state than when an allotment holder has any argument/disagreement/altercation with another plot holder that cannot be amicably resolved between the participants then both parties will be consequently evicted as a means of resolution.



The only conflict/altercation that was being referred to was the incident that day whereby these two people accosted me that day to both shout abuse at me, and my perfectly civil response, particularly to the secretary, whereas both that secretary and the nuisance neighbour were both shouting abuse at me at the tops of their voices. There was not any other incident in play other than the one created by these two wholly ignorant individuals that day.




3. The rules state any dog taken to the allotments must be on a lead and not allowed to roam freely. The secretary had not noticed my dog, slightly hidden from view and tied by means of a lead to a fence post as it always is when I visit the allotment. The dog had been entirely silent. As the secretary turned to leave at the end of the encounter only then did she notice the dog. She said "is that your dog" & I replied "yes, but don't worry he's tied up?. At which point she smirked and said as she started walking away "you will be hearing from us".




4. The generality of the allotment's aims & objectives state the allotments are for the benefit of people living within the area of the local town (name withheld temporarily) and because I had moved my home from the edge of the town to six miles distant and though still within the boundaries of that borough, paying my Council tax to that borough etc, that I must now be evicted anyway as I was 'no longer a resident' of the local borough and was no longer entitled to have an allotment at this particular site.







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When I received my notice of eviction I informed the secretary that I had not contravened any of these rules & pointed out she was simply deliberately lying about the dog as it was & always has been tied up and & she was obviously entirely lying about me causing any altercation as the only altercation had been as I describe & my response had perfectly civil despite the provocation.




I also pointed out to her at the time of the incident the bonfire had been relatively smoke free as it was small and very dry and pointed out to her at the time of the incident that what was by then a vanishingly small amount of smoke was going absolutely straight upwards as there was virtually no air movement, it being a still day with good weather and little cloud and at no time had there been excessive smoke or in particular it was a physical impossibility for any smoke to have visibly reached the nuisance neighbour's house about 150 yards distant.




I also informed the secretary I had a contract of lease which I had not broken in any way and that I was legally entitled to continue using my allotments as I had absolutely not broken any rules and she was simply fabricating a tissue of blatant lies & utter nonsense (rather in the similar power crazed manner of that utter Moron Putin, being exactly similar bullying psychology at play).




I therefore informed the secretary I intended to ignore the eviction notice as it was based entirely on lies and deceit & that I would continue to work on my allotment - which I then proceeded to do throughout the entire summer until the end of the growing season in Autumn.




I also had a detailed conversation with a person who wrote to me informing me they were a solicitor representing the allotment association and that I was evicted and if I did not give up possession then she had been directed to take legal proceedings in the County Court for a warrant of possession to be served on me. I explained to this solicitor exactly what had happened and I pointed out I would under no circumstances give up possession and I looked forward to a summons to the County Court which would then enable me to expose the venal deceit and ugly and bullying behaviour of this poisonous woman.




This solicitor suggested that I could obtain another allotment elsewhere on another site to avoid any conflict. I pointed out I had invested a lot of money and time in particular over about ten years growing a large number of fruit trees which were only now reaching sufficient maturity to actually produce fruit. This effort over so many years would cost many thousands of pounds to replicate & was also impossible without the passage of time, by which time I might be dead because I am already significantly 'elderly' at age 75.




This solicitor suggested I could dig up these mature fruit trees and move them to another site. I replied that would likely cost thousands of pounds with mature full sized apple pear & plum trees & various other items.




A debilitating but temporary illness then initially unexpectedly put me in hospital A&E and then confined me at home in a long recovery period preventing me from going to the allotment throughout the winter. Not having received any promised summons to the County Court, I wrote to the secretary on the 25th March 2023 informing her that I had been waiting to receive a County Court summons and that I was now intending to commence work forthwith on my allotment after a winter of being unable to do much because of illness.




When I first attended my allotment on April 3rd I discovered my entire greenhouse frame had been stolen & removed along with a large number of items that had been in that greenhouse. The value of all those items being quite signifigant at hundreds of pounds at least. As it appeared to me this was something that had happened as a direct consequence of the secretary's previous threats to poison all the vegetation on my plots and remove all my possessions I wrote to the secretary that this was theft and a criminal offence and as such I would be reporting it to the police & seeking an order from a court restraining her from interfering with my right to use my plot etc. until such time as the matter resolved in a full hearing at the County Court.




That has what has happened so far & my vague understanding of law is that the allotment association has to ask the County Court for a warrant of possession and until that takes place I have a legal right to continue using my allotment. Is that right ?




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Two other things to mention to help put a fuller perspective on the issue is that I have been reliably informed by the previous Chairman that the nuisance neighbour was directly known to the now retired Chairman as having had a serious mental illness which the retired Chairman proceeded to tell me about in some detail concerning how the man had lost his job as a result etc and that this illness had resulted in this erratic nuisance behaviour which had been plaguing the allotment association & numerous plot holders for years.




The retired Chairman also told me in considerable detail how he was aware of the two women, Sturgis the new Chair-person and Phillip the new secretary, had unjustifiably & unfairly evicted numerous plot holders and had displayed general incompetence by not re-letting many of these now vacant plots even though there was a long waiting list of plot applicants.




Also that stunning incompetence had been displayed by these two people now in complete control of the allotment association, who proceeded to cancel the major annual show which had been held in conjunction with the local council in the town's park for many years, being a considerable public attraction within that borough and a great disappointment to the local council and many other participants in what had been a significant and fairly major summer event within a wide radius of that town in this County.




And this retired Chairman explained to me he had left a healthy balance of about £100 000 after his long tenure as Chairman which he feared was being frittered away by these two women. As indicative of which the entire committee had recently resigned in protest at the behaviour of these two women whose behaviour those committee members felt they could no longer tolerate.




The retired Chairman also informed me that most plot holders loathed these two women as they were frequently very rude & unpleasant and bullying towards plots holders. But because apparently nobody else wants to do the work of running the allotment association, these two women have gained an iron grip on it as the ex chairman explained, and the two women in his opinion connive to prevent people attend meetings whereby they might be voted out of office. This connivance had been evidenced to me when the secretary prevented me from communicating my eviction issue with other plot holders via the allotment association dedicated google 'social media' messaging group.




And all the small number of plot holders I have spoken to have told me they notice the two women are rude & bullying and unpleasant etc but they just want to ignore it and not get involved in it in any way as all they want is to just enjoy working their plots. This reminds me of the general apathy which tends to be found in most voters in the political arena and usually only a small number of people are prepared to take any real & direct interest in things like voting and contributing to any organisation.

[Thundridge]

Were you served a notice? Have they taken you to court? Do you have any updates?

[digger111]

I can help as you mirror my experience exactly.
First point is you can't really stop an allotment landlord evicting you based on lies about breaching rules.
Allotment law only requires that they suspect you have broken laws. They have no legal requirement to prove you broke the rules. If you challenge through the court system you will lose ... that is the bad news.

now the good news

I was evicted by force.
I ignored their eviction letter, and said I disputed their allegations.
They ignored my request for details of allegations, they just said I broke the rules.
They continued to harass.
Ignored my solicitors letters which said the eviction was unlawful.
And eventually they invaded my plot and destroyed it.
I called the police who was told by the chairman that the eviction was by the rules and the police advised me to leave.
So that looks like a win for the association.
NO!!
Nearly 6 years later I took legal action against them for unlawful eviction and won my full claim for damages.
The damages was for loss of property and loss of amenity.
I won't put up the figure but it is up to you to value your loss.
Read up on the Law of Property Act 1925 s146 if you have a proper tenancy agreement.
A landlord has to serve a s146 notice to quit and then go to court for a possession order.
Anything else is unlawful.