Renting an allotment - can the local authority change the terms?

doodle2 · 26 June 2017 at 10:42AM

Hi I have held an allotment tenancy for 5 years with the town council. At renewal this year they have written and asked me to agree to a reduction in notice period from 12 months to 3.

As far as I am aware the Allotment Act 1950 gives protection for allotment holders by specifiying a legal minimum notice period of 12 months, with the cessation date to fall in the winter months.

I strongly suspect the Town council has reduced the notice period as they wish to take back the land (given that there is a large development planned close by)

So, my questions are:

Can they legally force me to agree to the new terms?

and secondly

If they were to offer an alternative location to 'replace' my current plot, can get round the 12 month minimum notice period that way ?

If any one can get me a speedy answer I;d be really grateful. Apparently the town council are calling an allotment holder's meeting tonight at short notice (never had one before in the 5 years I've been a tenant & I smell a rat!)

TIA

loveka · 26 June 2017 at 10:57AM

I believe that if you don't sign the new tenancy agreement then you are still bound by the old one. That's what we did when our council tried something similar.

It sounds like they want to take the land back. I expect someone at the meeting will know for sure.

doodle2 · 26 June 2017 at 11:03AM

Thanks -what was the outcome for you in the end?

G_M · 26 June 2017 at 12:12PM

I've no experience in this area, bu it seems pretty clear:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/14/31/crossheading/allotments

1 Extension of length of notices to quit allotment gardens.

(1)Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section one of the M1Allotments Act, 1922 (which specifies, as the only kind of notice to quit that may be given by a landlord in respect of land let on a tenancy for use by the tenant as an allotment garden or let to a local authority or association for the purpose of being sublet for such use, a six months’ or longer notice expiring on or before the sixth day of April or on or after the twenty-ninth day of September in any year) shall have effect with the substitution, for the reference to six months, of a reference to twelve months.

moneyistooshorttomention · 26 June 2017 at 12:32PM

In your position - I'd also be looking up how much notice they are required to give of a meeting legally.

It must be longer than a matter of hours. It's very suspicious to hold it at such short notice and at a period of the year when many people will be on holiday.

I would have thought that it would be deemed unreasonable to give less than a fortnight's notice and highly unreasonable to give less than a week's notice and am guessing there must be some law/allotment rule/something that says a meeting is deemed to be invalid unless at least x amount of notice is given.

The decisions at many meetings are deemed invalid unless the meeting is quorate too (ie has at least a fixed number of people at it). Certainly trade union meetings, for instance, have to be quorate and I would imagine that applies to a lot of others too.

NB; You do have time to phone the local paper and get a reporter along....

loveka · 26 June 2017 at 1:29PM

In our case, they just changed the contract. New people are bound by the new contract, but older tenants who didn't sign aren't.

They haven't tried to build on it or sell it though. I think they were just preparing for a time that they might.

olliebears · 26 June 2017 at 8:27PM

You cannot change a contract or enforce a new one if it does not comply with the law. So they would still have to give six months notice. I think this was brought about because gardeners said that two crops are grown per year for summer and winter grown fruit and veg.

TheGardener · 26 June 2017 at 9:03PM

I think it depends entirely on who owns the land - it may not belong to the council, it may be leased (many allotment sites are leased by local councils from local landowners)and if this is the case - 3 months is correct because the landowner only has to give the council 3 months notice. It could be that the council have realised their old tenancy agreement was incorrect.

Only a 'Statutory' allotment site on land owned by the council gives a tenants 12 months notice as a right. This is determined by "the purpose for which the land was acquired" and it would be for the council to prove it wasn't statutory. A non statutory site would not give the 12 months protection under the Allotments Act - a common example of this would be a site on land that was acquired by a council to provide future burial provision with the intention of allotments being a 'meanwhile' use until it was needed for burials.

The Law of Allotments by Paul Clayden (5th Edition) gives a good overview.

doodle2 · 27 June 2017 at 10:41AM

Attended the meeting having sent the Town Clerk a copy of the relevant section of the 1950 Act, and they have conceded that they think I am legally right, and are going to re-draft the tenancy agreements, and will retain 12 months notice until the new agreements come out.

So all is good.

No mention of ceasing the current plots, but at the end of the day if they ultimatley do decide to relocate or sell them, I probably can't do much to stop it BUT I can make sure I do have proper notice.

Interestingly they say they had sought legal advice about reducing the terms and were told that 'legally it was fine'; ( but I think whoever they asked didn't actually look at the specific legislation regarding allotments!) I hope they get their money back!

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Renting an allotment - can the local authority change the terms?

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