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.

Let's just fuck everyone then.

Barbara isn't 'everyone'.

OP, yep. Prev owner likely taken advantage of a bit. Please check your legal rights and obligations to ensure there aren't any squatter's rights to satisfy.

That's right she's an individual with a history and feelings.

No OP can do whatever she wants. It's her choice to interact. I'm suggesting some compassion.

Not complete washing her hands fuck off approach.

Can’t wait to be 60 if it means I can claim I’m an olddddd sweet innocent vulnerable lady. Every time I want to be a cheeky fucker 😂😂 so old and vulnerable she’s worked a huge plot plus has a huge garden and she’s the one who warned of a fight for land that doesn’t belong to her.

such a cute ickle old lady

She knew her friend had sold the house several months ago; the land would have been part of the sale. It is far more likely that she thought a younger couple would not be interested and sat tight, Immaterial how much work she hjas put in over the years; it is not and never has been her land.]
She has got a huge garden - ideal place for the shed!

Oh god ignore all the handwringing “poor dear Barbara” sympathisers. Give her a couple of weeks to get rid of her stuff and take your allotment back.

Plenty of terraces up north come with allotments. I can think of 4 people off the top of my head that have a terrace that came with an allotment across the road, or across the back, or round the corner behind their garage.

oh wait until you are 70.....scamtopia opens up to you

If it’s common to have owned allotments there, Babs will know perfectly well it’s not hers any more and is just trying it on because she a bit sad after ten years. But she’ll get over it. She has her own garden.

I was thinking this too

Telling the rightful owners that they'd have to fight for it is hardly the language of a reasonable person.

You seem to be placing all onus on the OP as if Barbara's mental health and personal situation trumps theirs.

They don't. Silly woman should have been more understanding and not launched into a fight

Barbara should have contacted the new owner (at the start of the year when her friend moved away!)
Barbara was the person suggesting there would be a fight.

No idea why posters are framing this as the Op being unreasonable.
The issues lie with the seller and Barbara.

You brought a house without opening the garage ? Or even viewing the allotment ?

I feel sorry for the allotment person tbh.

Words fail me with this thread. I think you should do whatever is necessary to stop Barbara from using your land. She is no right to use it now that it belongs to you.

I'm also shocked at a previous poster referring to a woman in her 60s as an old woman! That is SO bloody rude.

To be fair nobody has to even view a house to buy it. They where sold with garage and land with vacant possession.

Doesn’t matter if they viewed it zero or 100
times. The contract was as such. They paid the cash the seller took the cash.

BOUGHT, the word is bought. Not brought.

Bought from the verb to buy

Brought from the verb to bring

If you could
pm me
this every day for next 100’days it might sink in. Not a joke or satire. I genuinely fuck those everytime 😅

Just chuck the squatter off. No right to be there, fuckity bye to her. Don’t be nice! She’s a thief.

You were sold a property by deception. You were not told about the person who used the garage, nor the person who uses the allotment. The sellers are the real people to blame.

In my opinion the seller has committed a criminal offence, which can carry a prison sentence. I suggest that via your solicitor you sue to recover at least 10% of the price you paid, plus your legal costs.

I wonder who manages the allotment site as a whole. Even if the plots are privately owned, there must be some sort of management of the boundaries, the water supply, the access paths, the security etc. Maybe they would know if any other areas of land would be available for Barbara.

Agree with this. Leave it for the solicitors to handle. Surely there must be some legal recourse for not disclosing this information during the buying and selling process? If the seller was such a dear friend to Barbara then she should have let her know when the house/land sale was completing so she knew what date she needed to be out by. Presumably she knew by the end of the last growing season that her friend was moving away, so there was no reason for her to start to grow crops on the allotment for this year or continue to maintain the plot. The fact Barbara hasn't approached you to ask about buying or renting the land speaks volumes about her CFery.

It’s not an allotment site 🤦🏻‍♀️ it’s lots of parcels of land of which owners can do what they want. Leave to grass or anything. Just most use to grow veg.

Even if they had viewed the garage and seen it was full, the normal assumption would be that it was the owner’s items and they would be gone by completion.
likewise unless they happened upon Barbara when viewing the allotment, surely they’d just assume it was well tended by the vendor.