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.

Take down the shed, plant what plants you can into pots & leave it outside her house with a letter stating it's your land therefore you do not give her permission to use it.

Personally I'd do nothing to the land now but take and act on legal advice on how to proceed.

Presumably because the previous property owner told her it was hers.

The Vendor could have sold the house and part of the land and given the 'allotment' to her friend. Clearly she didn't as it's on the deeds but Barbara might have thought she had.

I wonder if you can sue previous owner for lack of vacant possession/omission of facts? Either way, you need a solicitor, preferably the one you used for the purchase-did the6 not mention anything re garage/allotment to you?!

This. The solicitor needs to sort this one out.

I dunno. Surely if the lady said she owned the allotment or had transferable title to it, the conveyancer should have checked this?

Mines not?

Oh dear, you’re going to end up pariahs through no fault of your own 😔 that’s shitty luck

No - OP has already paid for the land and 'fittings' its the old owner that 'owes' the squatter

@DahliaStar mine isn’t waterlogged and I’ve already got a decent sized crop on the go, what are you talking about?

Put yourself in Barbara’s shoes for a second- she has been working on this allotment for 10 years, as far as she is aware the allotment is hers , if no one has informed her differently why would she think the allotment wasn’t hers?

Then OP and her DH turn up one day to tell her that the allotment isn’t hers, and instead of giving her a bit of time to digest this information they start having a go at her and demanding she shifts pronto-I can see why she got defensive to be honest!

OP you need to let the dust settle a bit and then go down and have a sensible chat with her. Think about how you would like the situation to be handled if the situation was reversed, is there some room for compromise with regards to time line for her handling it over to you?

But before this you do need to establish that the allotment is definitely yours -What does it say in your deeds about the plot?

Very messy situation - go back to the selling estate agent and your solicitors and get them to sort this out. This then takes the personal out of it - the seller is at fault here. There maybe costs to be recovered for any legal costs incurred to get this sorted.
The neighbours are taking the mickey to assume the situation could continue with the house sale going through. The seller may have forgotten or just not thought about it....
Also get all correspondence in writing - email is fine, even just to follow up a phone call to confirm what was said....

If Barbara didn't pay for the property and/or receive the deed, why on earth would she thinks she owns it?

She's an entitled CF and I'd chuck her off immediately. There's still time to get your own plants established.

If the other neighbors want to unfairly side with CF squatters, let them.

Absolutely hilarious that both of these cheeky fuckers live on the same street as you, so will have been FULLY aware the house was up for sale, and have both seperately decided to just dig their heels in!
I could understand allotment woman being disappointed, but SURELY you'd respond with 'oh god, sorry the time has run away with me, would it be okay for me to have a couple of weeks to arrange to clear out?' Or 'oh, thats disappointing, Barabara said i could still use it but it is your plot, can you give me a few weeks to sort?' Not just 'no'!!!!

😂

This is all the sellers faults .She has lied by omission.
I feel a bit sorry for the neighbours tbh .
I've an allotment I would be absolutely devastated after 10 yrs work to get chucked off .
But I would leave
I would be very honest with your neighbours that this isn't your fault

Oh, I read it as Barbara knows the allotment isn't hers, and knows its a loan?

If Barbara didn't pay for the property and/or receive the deed, why on earth would she thinks she owns it?

Surely that's obvious. She's been tending the plot for 10 years and the previous owner used terms like "took if off my hands". It's clear from her reaction to the OP that she wasn't warned about the sale of the property including the plot of land, and this has been a huge surprise to her. Yes she may not legally own but after all this time I can see why she thinks it's her plot of land.

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.

...

To be clear - the plot has NOT been sold to Barbara.

From what Op says in first post above Barbara isn't saying the land is her's at all and seems well aware the land goes with the house belonging with no 8 and that house was recently sold.

Just seems to have oddly assumed her situation could continue with new owners - maybe if she knocked on door she could have got another year or so as OP settles -but to get aggressive about someone wanting their land back is odd.

Yeah, I'm with those who are saying an allotment is different from a garage.

There's time invested in an allotment, an emotional attachment and possibly even a lifestyle element. Plus, this woman is your neighbour and your allotment neighbours are your neighbours, and they WILL talk.

If you do your research and find out that the land is indeed yours and the neighbour hasn't acquired squatters' rights, I'd go about this differently from the garage. You don't want to aggravate the community, you've bought this house so you're probably in this for the medium- to long-term. Technically your recourse is against your seller, but sounds like she's a "little old lady" type of woman who you're not going to get anything out of in terms of logic/sense/reason.

Be clear but firm with the squatting woman. Something like " I appreciate [our seller] didn't tell you she was selling, but she has and we are now the legal owners of this land. I'm sorry this has come as a shock to you. You're clearly attached to this allotment. We'll let you have it through to the end of the summer, but by [give a date, say 30th October] we want it back cleared of your possessions. Given our experiences so far, I'm afraid we will take formal steps against you if it's not cleared by then. I hope you can find something new, good luck." One summer out of many won't hurt you (given you didn't even know you had it), and it'll give you time to figure out what you want to do with it - you don't want to 'evict' this lady now, only for the plot to lie unused all summer, even though of course you're technically entitled to. Plus, it'll be better for the soil if it's being used.

Also, maybe consider setting up a CCTV camera. Just sayin'.

Exactly. All the people saying Barbara should stay because she's elderly are ridiculous. Supposing Barbara was renting out the spare room in the house- should she stay there after they move in because "she's elderly"? what absolute rot.

Just because someone has lived a long time doesnt mean they are sweet and lovely- cheeky fckers dont all die at age 40 FGS. You paid for this property and it belong to YOU OP. I'd give her a month's notice and chuck her out.

Just an idea. An allotment is loads of hard work. You said yourself you have only just managed to visit after 3 months. Why not let the neighbour grow on half and have some beds for yourself. My Dad has half an allotment and it is loads of work. He can be there all day in the summer. So it could work well to share the space. I agree that the original house owners should have gone telling everyone that they were selling and any prior agreements would be ending. It is not fair to put that on you when you have newly arrived somewhere. Good Luck.

Isn't that 20 years? I've heard people loosely use the term allotment when in fact they simply mean a patch of land they own.

There are allotments that come with houses.
There is no fixed definition of an allotment. The technical definition is a piece of land allocated or allotted to a person as the result of an inclosure award. There is a substantial amount of allotment land which was created in this way, usually for the benefit of the “labouring poor” in compensation for the loss of rights of grazing etc. on the common fields which were inclosed and divided up by inclosure awards. These have nothing to do with council allotments.

But surely no one is so naive as to think ownership is just ceded without paperwork?

If the house was on the market last winter, she's had time to prepare for a change. Not just sit there and belligerently stake her claim.

Given her attitude, I'd roust her immediately.