CF allotment thief part 2: the Battle of Barbara and the Beansprouts

[YaMuvva]

Hi all, sorry I didn’t get a chance to post the link to this in the last thread, but it filled up too quickly.

So, another update

DH and I sat and had a looooong talk last night. We poured over every option, the pro’s and cons and the best and worst case scenarios. We thought of every possible situation that could arise from each option and we made a decision this morning.

it was actually the best/worst case scenario talk that clinched it.
Best case scenario for selling it to her was we get a little bit of money. Worst case is we have no allotment and the house possibly devalues.

Best case scenario for if we shared the land is that she is a pleasant plot neighbour and isn’t bitter that we are on the land that used to be ‘hers’ and doesn’t try to boss us about. But worst case scenario is that she remains bitter and makes our lives hell, interferes and our allotment space becomes an unbearable place to be.

Best case scenario for if we keep it to ourselves is we have the enjoyment of a long awaited allotment, one that makes a massive difference to DH’s MH and our general life enjoyment. Worst case scenario is that we make a neighbour - who is smart enough to find another plot or use her own generous garden - cross.

We figured that the worst case scenarios for all 3 weren’t worth risking the absolute best case scenario could bring.

So we are kicking her off.

We discussed letting her wait some months before making her leave or until the end of the growing season around about the end of September. But that when you consider the weather, that would mean we wouldn’t truly be able to enjoy the allotment in good weather for a whole year. I know it can still be enjoyed in horrible weather but the thought of missing out on a whole entire summer of gardening, relaxing and recuperating just feels too long. She has also indicated she will fight us - well she can try and she won’t win so I’d rather the ‘fight’ was a short one not a long one

We went to the plot this morning (no Babs in sight!) and took a soil test, took pictures, used that app to mark the plots (thanks to PP for the tips), and measured it and took pictures of the measurements/readings. From what we can tell she has root veg, fruit and a little herb garden patch, all growing fairly well considering the time of year. We didn’t disturb anything

Going to call the home insurers today to see if we can get legal cover and reclaim costs from the previous owner so solicitors can write her a letter - if not we will just instruct our current solicitors and make the reclaim too. I know we could do a letter ourselves but I really think a legal middle man would be worth the money. We will take solicitors advice on how much notice to give her - but it won’t be long notice. No point, may as well rip the plaster off now. We won’t be offering to buy the shed as I don’t want to be beholden to Barbara or have her make out to others that we stole the shed. We want a clean slate, to pick our own items.

I do feel bad that Barbara will be losing something that is so dear to her and that her ‘sanctuary’ will be taken away but the bottom line is it does not belong to her and she has known this for 10 years. She could have spent that 10 years, or even just the nine months since the house went on the market, to find another sanctuary. We are being selfish, we have been through unimaginable struggles and it’s time to just live for ourselves not a random neighbour. If that makes us a pariah in the community I can take it.

DH also messaged our police officer friend of ours this morning who said if the time comes to bin her stuff and dismantle the shed to call 101 and tell them “We are doing this, it’s our property and we will handle everything with care and bring it to her home” and then if she calls them saying we are stealing or damaging our property then we are one step ahead at least.

If you do get any neighbour shite just do the head tilt and "well what would you have done if you brought a house with an allotment and garage and then someone else told you you couldn't use them?"

Always out the ball in someone else's court. They generally have to then agree with you when you clearly aren't being unreasonable!

@fungipie what would finding out more about her achieve? The land would still be OPs, she would still want to use it, so Barb would still need to be gone. Regardless. If the other allotment owners think that OP is being unfair, then they can put their money where their mouth is and hand theirs over to Barb!

oh yes she blooming did know!

Well done @Another2Cats I could only find the third part of the saga in Classics and the inter-thread links no longer worked as they had been moved around.

Couldn’t believe how brave you were crossing the border, more like.

There be dragons.

*(only joking, was an honorary Yorkshire woman for 20 years before returning back to Lancashire recently)

how do we know that she has been having an awful time? And its not an allotment community. Its the people who own houses who also own tracts of land which are not connected to their houses.

Totally. Entitled so and so

I don't know- what I am saying, I would have tried to find out a bit more about her situation first. Makes no difference that the land is privately owned as far as the community spirit of such 'allotments'.

I am no push-over, but be it with family, friends, colleagues and community- I try to avoid unpleasantness, and try to respect people and their feelings, before acting.

They would've shred Barbara to bits if this was a reverse 😂

There's Adverse Possession, after 10 to 12 years Barbara could make a claim. Always risky to not have things legally sound.

Shamelessly placemarking.

It’s definitely time to pull up her carrots and parsnips, bag up her sprouts and send her packing. 😂

Even her lettuces would be shredded.

I can’t believe you even had to discuss, it’s your land, take back what you have paid for!

It's registered land

so you have had experience of situations where people own land not adjacent to thier houses? and it seems that the unpleasantness started with Barbara? Barbara's expressed feeling was that she wanted a fight.

I don't know. There's a possibility she saw the allotment as Seller Sally's possession that was given to her, rather than it being part of the house which was sold. It is unusual for an allotment to form part of the property of a private house nearby.

She might not have expected the sale of the house to have anything to do with the allotment that she felt Sally had given her 10 years earlier.

😂😂😂😂😭🤣😂

Taking soil samples incase anything is creamed off ...
It's a allotment not sodding Southfork and the oil fields of Texas

nope She was there with the owners knowledge and consent therefore an adversed possesion claim must fail.

its in case additives are added, eg diesel or engine oil....

No, it’s not, but it is still valuable to OP, so she is well within reason to protect her interest!

I’m just here to say how much I am loving these threads.

Yeh, or in your garden?

There are different types of squatters. If you are a tenant and then stop paying your rent you become a squatter. However, since you had been a tenant immediately prior to this then the Housing Act 1988 applies and the landlord has to go through all the proper legal steps to get the tenant removed.

In contrast, if someone just gets into a residential property and starts living there as a squatter then that is a criminal offence.

It is also a criminal offence to park on somebody's land with eg a caravan or car and live there as a squatter. So, if Babs rocked up with a caravan and started living in it on the allotment then that would be a criminal offence.