Buying a house backing into allotments

[asks62]

So we're one of those people going crazy with house hunting tendencies during the stamp duty holiday period and the chancellor has just extended the frenzy by a quarter or two.

We are very close to making an offer on a lovely house which backs into allotments that belong to the council. This is in Ruislip, London.

The house has a medium-ish size garden and beyond the fence are lots of allotments on a large plot.

All looks nice & calm now (winter maybe!), but what we were worried about are any long term side effect of this on our property.

The main concern DH has is what if the council one fine summer decides to sell it off to a builder to build flats or for council housing.

It would not just affect our immediate surrounding, but may also have impact on the property's value.

Other than this, we love the house.
Anyone with experience on a similar situation? Any advice is appreciated.

Have you looked at the land on land registry to check ownership? Is it all owned by the council?

If it's near enough and you can get down there again I'd try and speak to someone on the allotment to see if they've heard any rumours of the land being sold. I'm not sure if councils have to provide a certain acreage for allotments and whether they are protected.

Allotment owners tend to forget that they are in a residential area and like to have bonfires at all times of day and night. Well the ones we back onto are like that anyway.

joelstreetallotments.weebly.com/

This is again about Joelstreetallotments, from their website -

Society established
The 1908 Allotments Act was passed to make local authorities throughout the country set aside land for allotments. A group of local people set up The Ruislip-Northwood Smallholding and Allotments Society Limited, which was registered in July 1910. They entered into negotiations with the Ruislip-Northwood Urban District Council to lease eight acres of the Eastcote Poor’s Field from the Ruislip Cottagers’ Allotments Charity. The original lease was for fourteen years and dates from Lady Day (March 25th) 1912; to this day, our rent is still due on Lady Day. As the allotments were filled, so more land was rented, until the Society occupied the entire site.

Hopefully this is the one behind your house!

I lived overlooking allotments. It was bloody lovely. Not overlooked, peaceful. Definitely no fires allowed on that site. They aren't allowed where mine is situated either.
I would definitely do so again.

But unwanted development could happen around or near any house you may choose to buy.

Or the house next door or across the road may become a halfway house for offenders (yes it does happen in ordinary residential roads).

Councils are not prevented from selling allotments so yes anything could happen.

I'd rather be near allotments than a school.

But then they could build a school on the allotments, with access via your road!

There would be a huge objection if they sold off allotments for development tbh

Constant fires on the ones opposite mine

Another thing to consider is that people could gain access to your back garden more easily without being seen via the allotments for the purposes of burglary. Use the met police crime map for the area to see if there have been any reports.

I thought allotments couldn’t be sold off by Councils? I’m in Scotland, and might not be right!

Can you just look up the bylaws/ terms for that allotment site - livestock, fires, etc.

@RandomMess

There would be a huge objection if they sold off allotments for development tbh

It happened here unfortunately .

We aren’t allowed fires or livestock on our site. There’ll be bylaws. Allotments aren’t always tidy, but tend to be quiet.

It could get sold for development but there’s a bit of a row about it if it happens.

I’d buy a house next to an allotment in a heartbeat.

@FoolsAssassin 😢🤬

They have no resisted everyone RandomMess but there was a gap of a couple of years. My current one is behind where my original one which is currently houses nearing completion .

The rhubarb i inherited with that original plot lives on though. It went from original to another site to home and now to new site which is lovely.

I grew up in a house with an allotment on the other side of the back fence. It was great. No fires, no noise. Just peace and quiet. It's still there 50 years on...

@Choconuttolata

Another thing to consider is that people could gain access to your back garden more easily without being seen via the allotments for the purposes of burglary. Use the met police crime map for the area to see if there have been any reports.

Quite the reverse, I'd say. Allotments are usually very well fenced-off and have padlocked gates, with only allotment-holders allowed keys. It is to stop opportunist thieves making off with the fruit and veg.

You can check the towns development plan. That should indicate whether the area is earmarked fir future development. But these plans do change. If the allotments are well used then less likely to be developed- you can check with whatever the group is (usually a sign on one of the entry points if not listed elsewhere).
I would have thought it was a desirable asset.

The allotments behind us have got a fucking cockerel on. It's awful. I'd rather have houses tbh!

If they're statutory allotments then it's much harder to sell the land as the Secretary of State's permission needs to be sought (and I think they also have to place the tenants elsewhere).

You can check on your councils planning policy pages to see if the area is an allocated site for future housing.

I wouldn’t be put off buying by this. I’d also get myself on the allotment waiting list straight away as you can easily walk to it and grow allsorts! But I imagine the waiting list is at least a decade long

I was expecting a 4+ year wait for mine and it was 10 months! Sometimes you get lucky.

Allotments can be sold/developed but are lower risk for development than a random field on the edge of town. Especially when, as now, there is high demand for plots.

Often there is a no bonfire policy.

They are likely to be quieter than school, play park or other gardens imo (people rarely have hot tub parties on their allotments!).

My only personal issue is if the allotments are entered by people frequently at night, having been aware of crimes near my house in the past I now prefer to live someshere that doesn't look like a crime-y place as I don't want to be the person doing lots of reporting even if the crimes are quite low level - so check the police crime map and see how many reports there have been for the allotment site. Also ask around to find out whether there is any bother at the allotments.

Your solicitor can ask specifically for info about the allotment site, it doesn't mean the current owners won't lie but it makes it less like they will 'forget' to mention something.

I like it personally, make friends, fresh fruit/veg there’s an enormous pigeon cot ion ours too they are fascinating to watch in the summer.