How’s this for a whole new level of cheeky fuckery - someone has token our allotment!

[YaMuvva]

Moved into our new house in January. Bought off a lovely lady who was a widow and something of a popular figure in the street (relevant).

We were pleasantly surprised to find that in the deeds it came with a garage across the road (which we’d seen at the viewing but it wasn’t clear it belonged to the house) and an allotment plot. We’ve actually been on an allotment waiting list for years so it was nice news.

We’ve already had aggro with the garage - when we got the keys we went to open it and found that it was rammed full of full boxes! I called previous owner directly as she gave us her number (as assumed they were hers) and she said she allowed our next door neighbour for years to use it. He was most put out when we told him to clear his stuff as we needed to use it. This was 3 months ago, and only last week did he finally clear it out, and only did so when we had to get shitty with him and say if he didn’t clear the garage we would do it for him (don’t want to get off an a bad foot with the neighbours but he was taking the piss).

Anyway we have never checked out the allotment before now (it’s not far about a 10 min walk from here) just because of time constraints and illnesses and crappy weather but decided to finally today go and find it as the sun is shining here.

Anyway, when we got there we looked on the sheet of paper we’d been given and found the plot - and a person sitting next to a full and lush patch sitting on a chair having a cuppa! There is also a shed full of tools coffee cups newspapers etc in it too . We asked the person if we’d got it wrong as we are new owners of number 8 on X Street and thought this was our new allotment.

Apparently she is our neighbour down the road (never yet met her) and yes whilst it is the allotment belonging to number 8, the previous owner (a “very dear friend” of hers apparently) let her use it, she’s been using it for 10 years.

My DH, still stinging from the garage debacle, said well I’m afraid your very dear friend doesn’t live in no 8 any more we do and we are reclaiming the allotment, thank you for looking after it but it is OURS to enjoy.

She bloody said no! And that she’s cultivated this patch for several years, she grows all her veggies here and it’s her sanctuary so if we want it we will ‘have to fight for it’! She also said she paid for the shed.

DH said that’s fine, expect a fight then, and we shuffled away in shock. I then rang the old owner and she said “Oh yes it’s Barbara’s plot really she was good to take it off my hands and it would be awful to take it off her”. To be clear - the plot has NOT been sold to Barbara.

I just can’t believe the piss takery of this. DH thinks we should just go and take down the shed, leave it at her front door and dig up everything and chuck it all in a bin.

I feel like the neighbours just took the piss out of the old owner and think they genuinely have a claim to the stuff she was kind enough to let them borrow.

It’s a parcel Of land owned by the op that’s used for growing food. Its not a council ran allotments.

I wonder if the old owner genuinely thought because she’d “given” it to her friend, she no longer owned it and that’s why she hadn’t advertised it - surely it would have added value?

LOL maybe that’s why she decided to sell up and move - was fed up with the neighbours’ CF-ery!

No, she doesn't.

She was using it with the permission of the then owner.

Option 1 all the way as others have stated. Given how she responded to you going to look at your patch of land knowing her 'dear old friend' had sold up I wouldn't trust her.
She has had 3 months to come to you but didn't. Wonder why?

The number of people offering 'legal advice' with little or no legal knowledge is quite spectacular.
As are the number of people commenting without reading any of the posts... or even any of the OP's follow up posts!

OP, sounds like your solicitor has given you excellent and accurate advice. I will watch with interest to see how it goes - and I hope you get a speedy and satisfactory resolution.

I think you’re right - when we first moved in we caught neighbours kids (not the garage thief, the other side) jumping over OUR 6 foot fence into our garden as they’d kicked their football into it. I did say that from now on they’ll have to knock on us as they could damage the fence. I got a right dirty look. I’m thinking previous owner didn’t mind and would let them jump in the garden.

We are going to be so unpopular aren’t we.

But op said this was linked to the deeds of the house. No ones deeds shows a council rented allotment, it's not related to your house if you rent space from the council 🤔

Id allow Barbara the use of the allotment to the end of this growing season. If she’s already planted stuff etc, then it’s hers. It also allows her time to part with it and make other arrangements.

I would offer her until beginning of October when she returns it back to you in 5 months time, in entirety and after that you can work a shared/split arrangement.

If you use that shed she has made you could offer to buy it off her. Or dismantle it and take it to her next allotment.

Id get this put in writing and signed by a solicitor. Verbal discussions and agreements when there’s been this level of ire should be formalised legally.

Then you are all clear.

I might give a bit of an apology for the outburst. If you’re new in the area you don’t want to piss everyone off though they do sound like CFs.

😱😱😱WTF!

Probably. So many people rarely see a favour or an indulgence as just that - over time it becomes their right and their entitlement. I would hazard a guess, as others have, that the previous owner moved away to get away from all these people walking all over her. It's hard to stand up for yourself if you are elderly and alone.

😂😂😂😂😂

I was in such a foul mood this morning but this thread has cheered me up

The old owner really should have told her solicitor about all of this and she should have mentioned to the neighbour using the garage that he'd have to move out. Suerly he must have known the house was for sale and this should not have come as a surprise?

As for the allotment lady, that's a tricky one. If you allow someone use over part of your land for years on end, on the understanding that they maintain it when you cannot or would not, I believe they can actually stake a claim to it in law.

I'd go back to your conveyencer immediately and ask them to look into this with the vendor's conveyancer. Someone has dropped the ball somewhere along the line. Your best hope is that Allotment Lady has some cash to spare and is willing it buy it from you, or rent it long term. If you didn't know you owned it anyway then that might be the best solution all-round. If you push her into taking it to court, you might lose.

I think op had failed basic checks, all of which should have been done before. And you would expect garage to be cleared, so seller was to blame for that part.

"Hello! Sorry to bother you, but dear Janice let us bury our dogs in the bottom of the garden as ours wasn't big enough. Do you mind if we pop down with some flowers? We do it every year. She didn't mind, as long as we left enough space between our dogs and where the Wilsons scattered Cyril's ashes."

The solicitor gave the latest title deeds to us before completion

I think given that she's had permission to tend the plot for over ten years, paid to put the shed up and clearly wasn't given any notice to vacate, this is not only unkind and unfair but quite possibly illegal. The OP needs to handle this properly and find a workable solution, not go in like some sort of thug or bully.

Fortunately, in this instance, the law doesn't agree. Unfair / unkind of the previous owner to not give Babs notice? Maybe.

Definitely not illegal to tell her to sling her hook now.

I think I would be tempted to go with option two if she would agree to renting it

I feel for you OP.

When we moved in here, the previous elderly owner had left bits of furniture (beds!) and food in the cupboards. It wasn’t a huge problem so we let it go and got rid of it all, but it was annoying. She was in touch and popular with our neighbours so it seemed sensible at the time, and she did offer to pay for any disposal fees.

On the other hand, we found the locals had been using a gate into our garden to cut through and visit friends in our road. This meant people were literally walking into our back garden and through to the front, going alongside our French doors and lounge window. We knew about this and had checked the legalities were with us before we completed. When we moved in, we decided to just rip the plaster off and deal with it - told immediate neighbours we were having it fenced in and got the work done. Only one moaned about it - I fronted it up and politely asked how they would like people walking through their back garden, and that it wasn’t viable with our dog. Never heard another thing about it.

I hope this goes well for you. All very well for people to think you’re the new big bad wolf in the neighbourhood but if the shoe was on the other foot they would do the same.

Yes we are in Yorkshire

Wow

You’re welcome…

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There’s been poison, glass buried, human turds but into raised beds. Sometimes they just burn them to the ground. Sometimes they wait and come steal all The crops once the new person has done it. Looking after council allotments is entertaining 😅

Poor Barbara, I bet she was hoping that you weren’t interested in the allotment and just starting to relax because you’d not been to see it for 3 months after the house purchase.