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.

Don't apologise to Barbara, don't approach her at all. Make your decision then let your solicitor handle it all. When all is sorted you can be civil when you see her but I'd leave it at that.

I doubt it. She was there under licence from the previous owner and wasn't trespassing. She is now though.

Tell seller that she sold you the land so either she gets her mate off it or you’ll sue her (seller) for the legal costs of you having to sort it out. And if it can’t be sorted you’ll also have a damages claim for the value of the land.

You've wanted an allotment for years so I think you need to fight to get it back - Babs surely knew it was for sale. You will be devaluing your property if you don't.

This is true.

I’m thinking how so very awkward/dramatic it might be with DH and Barbara passively aggressively having secret marrow growing competitions and glaring at one another over the cauliflowers 🤣. It might be nice to retain control over the patch

I think Babs knew fine well she has no right to the allotment, thats part of what motivated her to spend time & effort on it, she thought it could be used as leverage should she ever be challenged.

Best advice I ever got was from a lady called Hilda when we moved into our first house. She said that she (and most of the others) had been there since the houses were built. She said take your time making friends and whatever you are told by neighbours, do things YOUR way from the beginning.

Lots of people saying that's not how allotments work but my friend has a new build that came with an allotment and the idea must have come from somewhere! Its a new build estate and everyone has a normal garden (not massive but not the usual pokey size of new build gardens either). Then the estate has a plot of allotments on it and bizarrely it was something like the first X number of people to buy off plan also got an allotment allocated to their property with their purchase. It's hers and I'm assuming when she sells it will be sold with it.

We did view it but never clocked on the garage was included and the EA didn’t point it out either during the viewing. But but the time we put an offer in and conveyancing started we found out

I wouldn't say it was nice, I'd say its essential

How stressful. A formal letter to Barbara with two weeks notice for her to dismantle her shed and remove her deckchair is in order.

Well, it sucks to be Barbara. I totally understand she's be upset since she's been lovingly cultivating her allotment for years (I love mine!) but at the same time, she knew full well she didn't own it, didn't bother to make an offer to purchase it to make it hers, and so she can't really complain that she's had years of free enjoyment from something that isn't hers. It is unfortunate for her that it is coming to an end, but you own it now and she has to get off your property if that's what you want. If it were me, I would be evicting her from the allotment I just paid for and I wouldn't feel too terrible about it.

Oh God, you have all my sympathy.
We moved to an area like this (it is 100 x worse as its an inescapable tiny island) and it would appear that the entire place is built on various gentlemen's agreements and understandings, everyone just openly takes advantage of everyone else and gets REALLY nasty when not given everything they take ask for.

Sounds like your neighbour's have had a long, fun ride of the previous owner being very very easygoing massive pushover

No solutions from me, but every sympathy!

I would start now and tell the allotment neighbour via a letter that you are intending to use the land yourselves but say that you appreciate that she has worked it and so in agreement/discussion with yourselves she can harvest crops she has until a particular date ie sometime in the autumn as that’s the end of a growing season. It would stop her planting lots of new stuff now but give her a last crop of apples etc or anything she has already planted. If she’s nice and you want it, you could offer a reasonable amount of money for the shed/equipment. Be firm and fair and do everything by letter. She can get over her obvious disappointment in private and you can gradually move onto the plot and work out what you want to do with it via co-working.

I can't see how sharing it with her would work tbh.

Renting or selling won't work either if you want to use it yourselves!

Shame her house didn't also come with an allotment!

I will do!

We are going to check it out after school drop off tomorrow (and hope she isn’t there) and asses the size, layout, DH is probably gonna fanny about poking soil and what not and see how desperately we want every square inch. We are also going to take pictures and measure it and takes pictures of the measurements in case she tries to slowly creams land off us! There are posts in place between plots but they are only those stick things so could be moved.

Not with most allotments but a friend of mine has a new build on an upmarket development. Every house in the development has an “allotment” which is separate to their garden. All the allotments are a short walk across the communal garden (behind the private gardens). But each house has an allotment which is marked on their deeds. So totally different to a normal allotment set up.

Option 3 - sharing the allotment sounds good.

They are absolute time suckers honestly you think you can maintain it in an hour a week you can’t and tools/seeds/compost - all costs a fortune with no guarantee of success!

I definitely wouldn’t go for option 2 or 3.
It will be costly for example for you to sell or do part sale of the land plus allotments are very sought after and unfortunately some get built on for housing. In your case though this could be a big financial win down the line.

It’s yours, your seller gave vacant procession which you haven’t been given so it’s up to the seller and her solicitor to get and pay for vacant procession.

Like many others on here I would definitely go for Option 1. Keep it simple and don’t give part away which will lower your property value ( potentially )

Oh we definitely do and they made that clear but they just advised that they can’t guarantee that if we started scopping out Barbara’s stuff out that it wouldn’t be considered criminal damage.

Im sure they want us to hire them to send expensive letters too (they quoted us and the cost of the warning letter is nearly twice as much as we were planning to spend on stuff to get the allotment going!) but it’s the best way to get our land back in a civil manner.

I did ask about adverse whotsit and as PP have stated it only counts when permission has not been given.

I will check that forum out though thank you

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Her name isn’t actually Barbara and I’m really gonna have to remember not to call her Barbara IRL 😂

I think you’re right! She’s screwed half the village over and fucked off to her new bungalow 50 miles away 😂

Cf too from the previous owner! You'd think she might have mentioned the "arrangements" she had with the neighbors about the use of the garage & allotment. PS; what is an allotment? I'm thinking a garden? Patch of grass type of thing?

OP I'd be very careful here and take some specialist legal advice. I have no knowledge of agricultural tenancies really but if I was Barbara I would claim this was one and you had to give me 12 months notice. She could say she'd given the previous owner veg and therefore had a contract with her. I dont think that would fly in court (doesnt anything to do with land have to be in writing?) but I wouldnt be sure enough not to have good legal advice.

Dont apologise though - it's your land and your right to use it. At most say you hadnt been told anyone was working the land and it was a shock to you to find her there. But it is your land, she has no legal right to it and she will have to stop.

Perhaps it might be ‘unkind’ that the prior owner advertised and sold the house with the allotment and shed included? Perhaps it’s ‘unkind’ that the people are using those amenities for free when knowing someone else has paid for them - and refusing to vacate them. I’m not sure OP is the ‘thug or bully’ here.

By the way, maybe one of your neighbours would like to use your garden? It’s a bit unkind to withhold it when you only pay for it via mortgage / rent?