Topic: Greenwich Council Increasing Plot Rents

[EnglishRose]

I have just heard on the grapevine that Greenwich Council are proposing significant plot rent increases - in many cases increasing the rent by over 100%  :o

Now, you would have thought that such a significant proposal would have been communicated to plotholders by letter.  But no.  I found out via a local blog which I follow.  Further research on other websites revealed that the Council have even held a 'consultation meeting' about the proposal - pity that at least one plotholder who would very much have liked to attend didn't know a thing about it (and I bet I'm not the only one).  The whole thing seems incredibly sneaky and underhand.

I'm furious.  The rent is due in April - I've been budgeting for a minor increase in rent but not a 100% increase.  I just don't know how I'll find the extra money - I'm on a pay freeze, have already had to shoulder significant increases in my train fares and utility bills and will almost certainly have to cope with a rent increase for my flat later in the year.  I really don't want to give up my plot having only just got started and having put so much back-breaking work into clearing what was a very neglected plot, but I may well have to give it up if I can't find the extra cash in the next two months.  I'm not a happy bunny.

[Digeroo]

I am interested in you not being told about consultation  My husband was receiving a service from our local authority who held a 'consultation process'.  When I queried it no one responded to the consultation so there were no objections.  Presumably because no one knew about it. 

[EnglishRose]

I've got a horrible feeling that's what's happening here, too.

Information about the consultation appears to have been published in one of the local newspapers.  However, distribution of the paper is patchy at best and I've never seen a copy.  In any case, as a plot-holder I'd expect to a) be notified formally about the proposals and b) sent an invitation to the consultation.  I suppose that this wasn't done as any plotholders who found out about the proposals were bound to attend - and object!

I'd be interested to hear whether others are having similar experiences or whether it's just Greenwich Council being particularly 'difficult'.

[Rage in Eden]

We have this in Nottingham too:

http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Price-allotments-Nottingham-triple-years/article-3131443-detail/article.html

I need to find the consultation on the Council website and fill it in this week.

I'm quite annoyed, we've only just got our allotment and it is costing a lot of money (raised beds, plants, seeds) and is very hard work. Long term I think it's worth it but if the allotments become too expensive to keep it will have been hard work for nothing.

[saddad]

I'm fairly certain that you can pay it as an Agricultural rent... (IE in four installments on quarter days) but it would be better if the rise can be reduced/avoided...
Maybe Unwashed has a better understanding of the law on rents... but as a "passive resistance" campaign it has its merits...  ::)

[gwynleg]

this post gave me the thought of checking my local council for any 'consultations' that might be happening - the website said 'no consultations' at the moment. I feel I ought to keep an eye on it though!

[ConfusedRhubarb]

Hello English Rose and others

I was at that meeting with Greenwich Council.  My site and one or two others knew why there was a meeting, but most of the people who turned up (one invite only per site) had just had a letter mentioning "allotment issues".    The Council have had a link on their main webpage about another "consultations" but only this one meeting so far on allotments, which they wanted to be the only one.

This is about to become a long post - but I think other Greenwich plot holders may be interested in this email correspondence I have had recently with Greenwich Council about the "consultation".  It was before the meeting.
I have taken out a little bit, [and my explanations are in brackets] but PM me if you really want to see the whole thing.

Subject: RE: Cabinet Meeting on 14th December 2010 & allotments
From: Daisy Cairns [aka ConfusedRhubarb]
To: Chris Roberts [and various other senior councillors and staff of Greenwich Council]
Sent: Tue Jan 11 22:37:44 2011
Subject: Cabinet Meeting on 14th December 2010 & allotments

Dear Cllr Roberts [the Leader of the Council]

I am writing to you about the Cabinet Meeting on 14th December which I attended along with a number of other people who had an interest in allotments because we wanted LBG to reconsider the increase in allotment rents. We were pleased with the outcome. [they agreed to "consult" on the increase in allotment charges]
...
In the meantime I was forwarded an email from Frances Dolan saying "Yes it was agreed by Cabinet that we would consult on the proposed charges.  All allotment holders will be consulted through their representative groups, and through the Friends Groups"
and sent another from Robert Goring about arranging a consultation meeting, which said that "Councillor Fahy has requested that the invitation is made to each of the allotments committees".
[I ask why their formal record don't show the agreement to "consult" - this has been amended - sort of]
...
I was pleased that the Cabinet had taken our representations seriously and that they were to be dealt with in a democratic manner, but since then I have become increasingly worried that those promises are being watered down,

Firstly that only committees were to be "consulted" - this is not a time of year when people are likely to be at the allotments as much, so this makes it difficult for committees and friends groups to get feedback from their allotment neighbours via word of mouth contacts.
Secondly that officers are unwilling/unable to provide information to my allotment society Chair.
And thirdly that other allotment societies have not in fact been contacted - this was confirmed by the secretary of Pippenhall allotments earlier today.

On December 14th I believed that you and the Cabinet sincerely intended that allotment holders would be fairly consulted, have a reasonable opportunity to be heard, and for this to be actually taken into account when decisions were being made.  Please could you confirm my faith in LBGs democratic systems by arranging for the record of decisions to be corrected, and personally ensure that all allotment holders are going to be consulted.  Time is running out for everyone concerned and I realise you are all under a lot of pressure.

Daisy Cairns
Kidbrooke Park Allotments

[I didn't get a substantial response so sent more emails asking specific question such as]

Please can you let me know how many confirmations your officers have received that people are coming to the meeting next week, and from which sites?  Do the LBG managed sites have noticeboards?  Have LBG used these to notify plot holders at all?  About the rent increase, or about the meeting - or about how to make their views known if they are not allowed to attend the meeting due to number constraints?  Were letters or emails sent and to whom?  What did the letters say? And crucially when were all these things done?  Did LBG make these communications with any consideration of a timescale that would reasonably allow time for "representatives" to canvas views from their co-allotmenteers?

[and eventually I got this reply]

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Goring
To: Daisy Cairns; John Fahy
Sent: Wed, Jan 12, 2011 4:15 pm

Dear Daisy,
 
I have been asked to provide a response to your email questions sent to Councillor Fahy this afternoon.
 
I can confirm that letters were prepared for allotment representative on 23rd December 2010. Unfortunately there was a delay in them being sent from the Council's post room over the Christmas and New Year period and were only actually sent from there last week. The only exception to this was the email invite I made to you on 23rd December and asking you to nominate 3-4 representatives from your committee to attend.
 
The letter asked site representative to attend the meeting to discuss allotment issues. The Council's Allotments Manager phoned around yesterday to ensure that site representatives had received their letters and representatives from all sites have confirmed they will be attending the meeting next week.
 
We haven't used the notice boards in the allotment sites to notify allotment holders about the meeting or proposed price increases as we intend to consult with the site representatives next week with wider consultation to follow.
 
I hope this information is helpful.
 
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you require any further information.
 
Kind regards,
 
Robert Goring
Assistant Manager (Parks & Open Spaces)
 
Greenwich Council
 
Tel: 020 8856 0100
________________

thanks for reading this far - ConfusedRhubarb

[ConfusedRhubarb]

PS - the increase is not just over 100% - it works out as 199% - that means it will triple.

[Unwashed]

What was the rent, and what is it going to be after the increase?

When is the rent due?

Have tenants been notified by letter that the rent is to increase?

What does your tenancy agreement say about the council increasing the rent - post the terms please.

I wouldn't get hung up on consultation.  Councils very rarely actually want to know what their pond-scum think.

It is unlikely that the Council can impose a rent increase without giving at least a year's notice, and then only if the tenancy agreement allows it to happen - Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 - but it might take someone to refuse to pay and let themselves be taken to court to prove the point.

Actually challenging a large rent is difficult, though Harwood v. Reigate and Banstead BC suggests the council cn't increase allotment rents out of line with their other leisure services, but the argument rested on legislation that has ben partially repealed so it wouldn't be an easy thing to argue.

Best defence is to demand self-management.

[ConfusedRhubarb]

What was the rent, and what is it going to be after the increase?
...
Best defence is to demand self-management.

Hi Unwashed - thank you very much for your response - i'm not sure i would have bothered reading the whole of my post.

answers as follows
rent is £6.70 /rod =£67
rent will be £20 /rod = £200
due on 1st April
no letters sent to tenants - only a vague letter to site reps inviting them to the meeting on "allotment issues"

and for the other questions - our site is self managed already - though english rose probably isn't as only 3/15 sites are.
the really stupid part is that council have the power to set the rents but no right to collect it from us. we are allowed to carry it over to spend on maintenance of the site or something like that.
the council would have just upped the rent if we hadnt made a fuss at a cabinet meeting in December when someone hadn't tipped us the wink. 
I just want to put the info somewhere public so that the non self managed sites can find it. 

(rant over - sorry)

and thanks again

[EnglishRose]

ConfusedRhubarb: thank you for taking the time to post your letter.  I'm now thinking about writing to the Council myself to express concern about what's going on.

I've seen nothing at our site about the consultation even though I've been down there fairly regularly.   I presume that our site rep is the Secretary, although I don't know this for certain as I'm not sure how our site is managed (I've seen/heard nothing from anyone since I got my plot last August).  I therefore can't help but wonder how anyone can represent our plotholders when they haven't got a clue what we think!  I also wonder whether this affects the validity of the 'consultation' process.....

As for rent, I'm currently paying £33 p/a for a five rod plot.  The council is talking about increasing the rent to £20 per rod, which would take my rent to £100.  That doesn't sound like a lot - less than £10 per month - but I really will struggle to find the money by April as I hadn't been budgeting for such an enormous increase and have very little disposable income.  I'll dig out the tenancy agreement later today but I suspect that there's a clause in there somewhere that allows the council to get away with what's being proposed - there always is  :(

[kt.]

I think some councils are trying to increase rent so high that people will not pay and eventually give up their plots....  Allowing councils to apply to sell off "unused allotment sites"

[johnlawrence84]

i have attended two recent meetings at greenwich council,over the proposed allotment increases.
it looks to me that the council are pretty adamant re quite large increases,
but there are quite a few people in opposition to it.we are looking at the allotment act 1950.
also a judicial revew.to see if the proposed increases are disproportionate to other rises.
last evening i attended a local councillors who are in the process of organising a petition
to present at council.

[Unwashed]

Can you post the tenancy agreement please.  Unless there is a term of the agreement that allows the landlord to increase the rent then any increase is unenforceable.

If the term isn't fair under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 then any increase is also unenforceable.

Please post the tenancy agreement!

Can you also post the self-management license agreement because I'd like to know who the landlord actually is - self-managing site association, or council.  Only the landlord can set the rent for the tenant, though the self-management agreement may well oblige the site association to pay the council whatever it demands, but that's a different thing altogether.

Only bit of case law I'm aware of that might help is Harwood v. Banstead and Reigate BC where the court found that the council had unfairly discriminated against allotmenteers by increasing rents for allotments by more than the fees for other leisure services.  However, the judgement depends on some legislation that I believe has been repealed, though it might still be possible to use it as authority.

Judicial Review is possible, though you'd need to be quick - delay looks very bad - but it is potentially very expensive so not something you want to do unless you don't mind being bankrupted or someone else is paying, because it's never easy to say if you'll win or lose.

It may be possible to seek declaratory relief under CPR Part 40.20 in the county court which will be much cheaper thn JR in the high court.

Best of luck - £20/rod is completely and utterly unacceptable.  It will exclude the poorest and make allotmenteering a middle-class preserve.  It's completely wrong.

[ConfusedRhubarb]

Hello Mr Laurence!

I'm so pleased to know how to get in touch with you! And that's great news about the petition. I'm sure there would be people on my site, and EnglishRose and others who would sign the petition so please let us know how - I'm about to send you a Private Message with my email and postal address.  I think some of my site are in touch with one or two people at other sites too so we could spread the message.

Have you had any of the information that LBG promised to send yet?  Our chairman hasn't, but did have a phone call from S. who told him she was putting them in the post.  Isn't it interesting that LBG do it that way, when S's normal method of communication is email and it will be slower to arrive and more expensive to send it by post.

Some one on another forum suggested writing to the Mercury and the Newshopper - congratulating them on covering the story
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/8819025.GREENWICH__Consultation_begins_on_allotment_rent_increases/
http://www.mercury-today.co.uk/news.cfm?id=2892&searchword=allotment
And its been in the Sunday Times twice, and the Evening Standard so if anyone out there likes writing letters...

[ConfusedRhubarb]

http://www.amateurgardening.com/home/allotment-rents-set-to-rise/
Oh Dear. ;)  Greenwich Council's allotment price increase is in the news again!
I like this bit....
"National secretary of the Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners, Donna McDaid, said some plot rents had gone up “considerably”.
“Rent increases vary,” Donna said. “But even if local authorities put allotment rents up by 50 per cent, it wouldn’t make much of a difference to councils’ funding situations.”

Mistress of understatement!

PS As far as I can tell, £200 for a 10 rod plot would make Greenwich Council's allotments the most expensive council run allotments in the country.  Does anyone know different?

[Unwashed]

CR, if you're interested in challenging the enforceability of the rent increase under UTCCR 1999 would you like to post the tenancy agreement?

[johnlawrence84]

i am waiting for more information to come regarding the petition,but it seems it is underway.
there has been quite a lot of publicity in the local and national papers regarding the proposed
increases.
the proposed increases are generating a great gounndswell of upset and general unrest.

[ConfusedRhubarb]

CR, if you're interested in challenging the enforceability of the rent increase under UTCCR 1999 would you like to post the tenancy agreement?

Hello Unwashed - I appreciate that you are trying to help.  But i'm doing this to raise awareness and try to make contact with other Greenwich plotholders as I think that is the best thing I can do to stop this.

Your tone is rather abrupt and feels overly forceful which makes me a little wary.   With respect, i don't think i will be posting the terms of my associations tenancy agreement on this public forum, as it is not the same as other allotment sites in the borough.  We are lucky to have a solicitor plotholder so although i appreciate the legal pointers, I will not be making any legal approaches to the council except through them. 

Other sites may not be so lucky, and I expect all the council managed allotments will have the same agreement, so perhaps you should direct yourself towards them as you are so keen to see a Greenwich allotment tenancy agreement.
 
ATB with your struggle in Newbury.

[Unwashed]

Pardon me I'm sure your majesty. :P