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.

But surely if she thought she was renting it she would have been paying someone?

please send that weather over to me. miserable 12 degrees today here and constant rain. rain all weekend too 😕
watching in interst of how this plays out

I suppose it does get it over with. Forks at hand!

She cannot claim adverse possession as she was allowed to use the land by the previous owner.

I'd go for Option one and reclaim your land with a legal letter asap. Barbara's reaction to you tells you all you need to know about her entitled manner. If you try and share the allotment I think she would be a nightmare.

Your say the land is bigger than you were expecting, but it doesn't mean you won't use it all. You could plant fruit canes and fruit trees, create a small orchard, make a wildlife pond or a wildflower garden. You might want to keep chickens or keep bees, as well as put up your own shed where you can put your feet up and live your best life in your sunnies, instead of bloody Barbara.

I do hope that you and your DH manage to get this resolved without too much aggravation and that Barbara and her marrows bugger off before too soon.

This!

Yep and I’ve been a standing on a ladder in DD’s room to get a proper look it’s bloody huge.

So she’s a greed sod who can move her gardening into her garden.

Just move fast on the allotment, get down there and start redesigning the plot, dig over the beds, order the water butts, compost bins etc. If she turns up give her 7 days to remove her shed, then offer to take it down. Be nice and cheerful but clear. It's yours, you are not getting into any discussion about it, you have the deeds. She has been told she has to vacate and the job is done. She must no longer trespass. Start to pile up anything that is not soil, ready for removal.

I had a neighbour try to claim ownership of my garage..I was very clear. no room for miss communication.
That's how you deal with Cf's.
She can fight, after she has vacated, she can get a solicitor..she won't. But you need her off NOW.

Yes, I read it very carefully. The new owners handled it very badly, without any sympathy or understanding for her situation. Without thinking about what this piece of land meant to her, perhaps helped with loneliness, bereavement, depression, and more. Who knows.

Without trying to understand what she is distraught at the thought of losing it.

And without any attempt to try and understand how their behaviour would impact their relationship with the other allotment owners and users. They have very close social links and friendships. They will probably be very unpleasant and possibly worse, if they feel their friend Barbara has been badly and nastily treated. Very easy to cause all sorts of unpleasantness.

Well she can sit in there with her cuppa and make that her sanctuary can't she?

Sorted.

@YaMuvva I would avoid sharing or renting some to the lady who’s using your ‘allotment’. I know it probably seems like a nice thing to do, but I really think you need to draw a line under this as it could cause problems in future. Obviously not forcibly removing her stuff but doing it the legal way (getting her to do it) and perhaps offering to buy the shed etc if there is nowhere for her to move it to. Are there any actual council allotments she could go on the list for that you could then help her move her shed to or purchase a new on on her replacement municipal allotment? It’s not her fault and it’s not your fault but obviously can’t go on.

I really don't think you are going to be able to have a shared space with her. I think you need to use whatever legal means necessary to get her off your land. Maybe build a shed right in front of hers - like a cm away from the door 😁

Yes fine - didn't see until later that she's in her 60s. But point still stands. She's somebody who has put effort into cultivating land that she didn't realise she would be booted off

@YaMuvva

You could charge for use of the Garage and charge for rates for the Allotment too L.o.l 🤣

If you bought your new house and found Barbara living in the attack..would you feel the same?

No I don't think so...it's not her land she has to go.

Thanks for the info on UK trespass laws @YaMuvva . Seems crazy to me that someone can park up on your land and all you can do is take them to court. What a waste of time when a quick call to the police should be able to get them moved on, pronto.

So, can you file eviction papers?

She may be using it to save money. She may be using it to stave off depression. She may well have friends there.

Tough. She's got a massive garden of her own. If I'm skint and have mental health issues, can I just claim my next door neighbour's garden.

She’s not an ‘old lady’.
As bad as I feel about today I think she must have known that the plot of land she was using was a favour from a friend. And therefore when that friend didn’t own the plot of land anymore, someone else did and would want to claim the land they’d bought

Then she may there for friendship and community... as many people using allotments are...

Life can be more nuanced than that, as you know.

Just bulldoze through everyone then.. yes, why not?

Does she not have her own plot or is she using 2? If you live in close proximity why do you have a plot but not her?

If she is lonely, widowed, depressed, been sick, or ...
her own garden will not provide the social contact and friendships of an allotment, will it? You have no idea why this allotment means so much to her.

If she lives in the same street and doesn’t have a plot of her own, she may not have been aware that ownership of the allotment was linked to ownership of the house. So sale of the house might not have caused her any concern if she thought it was owned by the vendor independent of the house. If she was a bit naive about legalities, she may have thought she’d been given the land 10 years ago and with the vendor having away months ago without saying a word, that her ownership was clear.

Which isn’t to say you shouldn’t claim your land back, just pointing out that Barbara’s confusion/shock may be quite genuine. Though, obviously, you were there when she was making the claim so may have read her very differently.

It's a plot of land rented, leased or owned which allotment holders cultivate and grow fruit, vegetables, flowers, use to step away from the rat race for a time. There's often a shed plus casual chairs and tables. There's often a very long waiting list to be allocated the rented/leased plots. Sometimes friendly interactions between the various holders. 🌹