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.

@WarshipRocinante, you badly need to look in the mirror.

This is far from a the simple situation you claim. Barbara owns the crops on the plot and, if Barbara claims that she is using the land without the original owners knowledge, the OP would then have to prove otherwise. The OP would be advised to follow legal advice and proceed with caution

Er yeah, except the part where when she was told she can't her response was "I'll fight you".

Honestly there are some fucking doormats on this thread who'd give the knickers off their fanny to someone who insisted they needed them more because "be kind".

@YaMuvva@Scirocco

RE: Illegally occupying
Not necessarily.... verbal agreement with previous owner for a period of years without notice of change.
Hopefully nothing in writing (even a note on scrap paper acknowledging permission of use) that would assist the occupier(s).
OP needs a legal opinion on how to give proper notice to vacate.
I don't have time to pull cases for you OP, but hopefully I've pointed you in the right direction.
You might also have a case against previous owner for failure to disclose, giving you the option to seek reimbursement of your legal costs plus compensation.
Please proceed carefully.
The "I'll fight you" comment is a red flag that "Barbara" has some indication of a leg to stand on. Even if she loses it is your time and money to remove her and good luck recovering those costs... not to mention being unable to use your land until the court decides.

Good god, do people really care this much about what their neighbours think? Why would OP and husband give a toss if Barbara and friends don't like them, they can live perfectly well without being best friends with the whole street. Why would the street have a WhatsApp group, I've never heard of that, highly unlikely to have one if most people are elderly, I've lived in my road for 30 years, neighbours have mostly lived here for similar length of time with few moving, we all are polite and friendly enough but certainly aren't friends and there's no WhatsApp group.
Also just because Barbara is old it doesn't mean she's magically a sweet old woman who doesn't know what's going on, there are lots of horrible people who become horrible old people. Barbara knew that the house and allotment had been sold, she knew she shouldn't be using the allotment. She's taking the piss, OP needs to get her solicitor to send Barbara a letter asap telling her who owns it and that she no longer has any right to set foot on it.

1. except both the previous owner and the CF have already confirmed that she was using it with permission.
2. the OP can prove that they own the land by right of purchase and no claim for adverse permission has yet been made. If the owner turns up and says "on yer bike sunshine BEFORE the claim is made then no claim can be made.

In all seriousness now OP, I can see that this thread has gone all MN an there are even some people worrying about Babs etc.

I am the legal advice people are advising you to take.

Do not damage her property.

Get a litigation solicitor to write to her setting out that you completed on the purchase of X X X registered under title number AC4566 on the X of March 2024. The solicitor will include a copy of the register and plan and will highlight the plan to show the land (I am not calling it an allotment).

The solicitor will say that you are now the legal owners of the land and require possession. You give her until the 30th April to remove her belongings from the land, including the vegetables, and you intend to move onto the land your own possessions on that date.

Should she not remove herself or her belongings from the land by the day, you will have no choice but to enforce proceedings against her in trespass and possibly nuisance.

Whilst it would be preferable for bother parties to incur no further legal costs beyond this letter and our clients' (that's you OP and your DH) initial consultation, you are willing to do so and that couple lead to a substantial legal bill for costs should Babs not play ball.

Now kindly, Babs, take your shed and your courgettes and fucking fuck off to the other side of fuckington, sharpish...

Well. Even I wouldn't leave in the last bit but that gives you some idea of why the litigators at my firm don't let me play with them...

I do, however, know enough that she's on shaky ground if - once asked to leave - she doesn't. There's very little sympathy the courts would have with her, an Englishman's house is his castle.

My advice would be not to fully-dally - she's taken her war stance. Now it's time for you to lawyer up.

Apols for typos. I am just wrecked at the moment.

@Dabralor yeah I really wouldn't worry about getting off on the back foot. I'm yet to meet a bully or a nutter who doesn't crumple when faced with someone who won't take their shit lying down.

Unfortunately for the OP, they gave the CF who used their garage too much wiggle room-those boxes should have been out the day they moved in. If they now proceed with all this 'be nice' nonsense they will never hear the end of it and these CFs will be on them like flies.

Only on MN do people actually care that much!

Why wouldn't they wait until spring, especially if some family members have been ill?? Were they supposed to rush to the plot in February with pneumonia?

Ridiculous. Barbara knows where they live; why hasn't she come forward in all this time, eh?

Because she's taking the piss and she knows it.

Barbara must have known of the impending sale and must have realised someone would eventually get around to the allotment

Barbara is welcome to take her crops and fuck off the land she was generously allowed to cultivate without rent

I haven't looked at my roof in 3 months but it's still mine. Hell I have shoes in my cupboard that I haven't looked at for 3 years and they're still mine. I'll have food in the freezer that's been there for longer than 3 months without seeing the light of day and it's still mine. Why? Because I bought it all!

1. she's not an old lady
2. she knew her friend was selling the house and the land, and didn't arrange to buy the allotment land
3. she's been living across the street from the new owners for 3 months, and has made no attempt to talk to them about the land

of course she's a CF, and she's already has plenty of notice that she's got to leave

I'm loving your advice and am shocked on your behalf that someone on here earlier assumed you were a male lawyer 🤬

AND 60 IS NOT OLD!!

But there is an edit button.

[EDIT]

This is the bit I've just edited

Brilliant!

I'm loving the contrast between the super aggressive posters giving out free legal advice and those acutely worried about Barbara's shaky mental health. I give this 24hrs tops before it's on mailonline. Beware any phone calls from the daily mail looking for sad face pics, Op!

Amazing to think that, somewhere in Britain right now is an allotment and a garage - blissfully unaware of the online controversy!

I hope both sites are safely in the hands of their new owners soon and that the invaders are left feeling like they had a good run but their time is up.

There’s a thread you’d enjoy at the moment on this very subject 😹

Why?? She's taking the fucking piss. If the friend was so dear to her, why didn't the friend give her the land, formally? This woman knew that one day, she might not be able to use it anymore. She's testing you.

Go for option 1. Don't even think of 3 - it's allowing yourself to be shoehorned into giving up a piece of your land without payment!!

OP has already spoke to the previous owner though. She has confirmed she allowed her to use it.
Also
The PO signed a legal sale doc agreeing to vacant procession. Vacant includes Barbara’s plants. Anything left behind legally belongs to OP.

And when I say super-aggressive, I don't mean that in a bad way, quite the opposite! Just to be clear 😬.

She has already taken legal advice. The previous owner has already said that it was with permission. As has cheeky Babs. There is absolutely no issue of adverse possession or of Barbara having any rights here.

It wasn't allotment woman's choice to sell the house - she was given that land by a friend in good faith and probably thought, well, I'll hang on to it until I'm told I can't

Nothing wrong with that at all, except that when she was told she won't be able to use it any more her immediate reaction was to offer a fight

Disappointed or not, that's not the reaction of a reasonable person

To everyone saying
give Babs until the end of the growing season. She is in Yorkshire. At best she has some early spuds and broad beans in, everything else is either not sown or still on the window sills. She needs to leave now before she starts sowing in earnest.