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.

Go when she’s not there. Dig the whole patch over. Take the shed apart and put a note on it to remove and relocate it by a certain date.

It will be a long thread full of mumsnet frothing and very limited input from the op

Just my prediction

And the daily Mail will pick it up..

She might claim it if she's had free access and use of it for x years. Adverse possession? She may well have the law on her side if she does do seek advice.

Quite gobsmacked!! The old owner should have let neighbours know who used her stuff that she was selling and new owners would want all they are entitled to. Too late for that now of course. If it’s in the deeds then it’s yours- end of story. Send her a strongly worded letter that she is to clear her belongings by x date or you will have them tipped. Keep it short and to the point. She is trespassing on your land.
oh and do keep us updated OP!

If the garage and allotment plot are on its deeds then your solicitor should have drawn your attention to this before exchange so you could go and inspect both. Agree with pp you need solicitor to clarify the legal position asap before you have any further encounters with the allotment occupier.

Once you've clarified the legal stuff, if you want to try and minimise bad feeling from your neighbours, you could let the lady finish out this growing season on the allotment (if she has already planted stuff for this year). Then she can choose to take down her shed or sell it to you. Entirely up to you though!

Everyone here sounds a bit odd tbh. When did you find out that the garage and "allotment" came with the house? I can't believe the old owner has just forgotten to mention that they are used by two other people - did any of the enquiries specifically ask about them?

Thats not how allotments work

If the garage and allotment plot are on its deeds then your solicitor should have drawn your attention to this before exchange so you could go and inspect both. Agree with pp you need solicitor to clarify the legal position asap before you have any further encounters with the allotment occupier.

This.

Obviously it is yours OP as the owner of the new property, but the way you've handled it you seem very unpleasant.

And then find out it doesn't actually belong to the OP? The first thing to do is get back to the solicitor who did the conveyancing.

I’d be livid with the former owner, for not giving you this info before, which she certainly should have. Whether you can make a claim against her for withholding info I don’t know,

As for the ‘squatter’, I do agree that it’s downright CFery, but in the circs I’d probably give her until roughly the end of the growing season - say the end of November - after which she must vacate. A solicitor’s letter will almost certainly be needed.

😂

I'm so invested in this already.

Me at the allotments watching it all unfold :

My money's on 14 pages in and the OP will pop up answering a question with a 1 liner. Then crickets.

Does this fall into adverse possession I wonder?

Wouldn’t this have come up in searches?

Thats not how allotments work

I agree they are usually council or community owned land and you rent a small plot but it's possible this is some odd situation as PP had where council allocated to house or it's just land the OP owns sperate to the house.

Hence OP needed to get in touch with their solicitor and find out what the legal situation is and if it's their why this wasn't flagged up before sale.

So we hadn’t either and queried it in the conveyancing stages. Apparently when the previous owner bought the house it came with it so I’m assuming it’s some sort of old inherited deed. I’ve emailed our solicitors to see if they can send any more information or even just an absolute clarification, just so we are armed with as much proof that it’s definitely our plot

I did feel a bit bad too but she knew the previous owner had moved away so I feel like a grown up conversation with us could have been had before now she knew where we live!

Id be happy for them to take anything and start from scratch

OP, its an odd situation.

Firstly go back to your legal documents and check title - were the garage and allotment on that and were they advertised as part of the sale/ mentioned through the sale process?

Did the solicitor check freehold ownership/ vacant possession.
Were they negligent?
Did the vendor lie? Or not declare a "casual" arrangement or rental?
What are the laws on adverse possession (think its 12 years so you are probs OK on that.

You need proper advice not MN advice.

I'm just amazed you let the garage debacle go on so long.

Oh dear, I'd go back to the solicitor.

I really don’t think that this is how allotments work..

I've viewed flats in Scotland where the garden/allotment is associated with the flat, but in a separate area, across the street for example.

In those cases it was part of the deeds. I can imagine it not being immediately obvious that someone else was using it

Nothing about this makes sense at all.

I can't imagine not bothering to walk 10 mins to view the allotment for 3 months after you think you became the legal owner of it.

I mean I don’t think the previous owner made it clear to anyone that some of the property was being used by others but I’ve emailed them anyway and asked for absolute clarification that it is all ours, under what terms and told them what’s happened.