Author Topic: Grantham Allotment - been given notice HELP! (Read 18079 times)

OliveOil · « **on:** April 06, 2007, 17:29:01 »

I'll keep this short. I have an allotment on a private site. The land has been gardens for over a hundred years. We believe the owner of the allotment left the land for people to garden within a 1/2 mile radius of the site. The 'owner' is rumoured to be selling the land and has given us until October to vacate the site. He is giving us another site - much much less land and it is scrub land - not much use for allotments. Also it is in a built up area and would be very unsecure.

A meeting last night at the site with owners solicitor ended up with everyone on the allotments telling him to bugger off and we aren't leaving!

So can anyone tell us what we can do? We don't have any documentation saying that the land was left to local people so where could i find the womans will? Is there a central place I could look?

As the site has been allotments for over 100 years is there any protection?

Thanks

Jeannine · « **Reply #1 on:** April 06, 2007, 17:50:46 »

Olive Oil, wills are public domain. I don't know where you go, look on the net, but folks doing their geneology get them all the time. Somebody will know. XX Jeannine

angle shades · « **Reply #2 on:** April 06, 2007, 17:54:58 »

I don't know the answer Olive, but I do hope someone can help you, all the best/ shades x

manicscousers · « **Reply #3 on:** April 06, 2007, 18:13:27 »

hope you can sort this out, olive oil, we're all heartily sick of this attitude..give us all a shout and we'll come round there and sort them out !!

flossie · « **Reply #4 on:** April 06, 2007, 18:57:02 »

Sorry Olive I cannot answer your question. I do hope that somebody on the site will be able to help you.

ellkebe · « **Reply #5 on:** April 06, 2007, 20:10:32 »

OliveOil - try

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/familyhistory/wills/step2.htm

which directs you to the Principal Registry of the Family Division in the Probate Search Room (London)

Don't know if this is the sort of thing you're looking for - but really hope you get it sorted out in your favour. Best of luck - not to mention fair play and justice ;D

sutton girl · « **Reply #6 on:** April 06, 2007, 20:15:51 »

Hi Olive get in touch with the NSALG the national society of allotment and leisure gardeners head office is O' Deil House, Hunters Road, Corby, Northants, NN17 5JU i am sure the can help you sort this out let me know how it go's

sutton girl · « **Reply #7 on:** April 06, 2007, 20:19:08 »

Olive forgot to give you tel phone number it's 01536 266578 email natsoc'nsaig.org.uk good luck

OliveOil · « **Reply #8 on:** April 06, 2007, 21:38:24 »

Thanks for the links and advice. As soon as I can find out the woman's name I can get onto it. Otherwise I don't think we have a leg to stand on, though if we do I'm sure one of us will find it LOL.

Am feeling really upset and deflated!

Marymary · « **Reply #9 on:** April 06, 2007, 23:02:27 »

What a shame OO you must be devistated after all the hard work you have put in. I do hope you manage to beat these b******s.

sutton girl · « **Reply #10 on:** April 07, 2007, 04:57:29 »

Olive can you not find out who the woman's solicitor is they should have a copy of her will , good luck on this and hope it all works out

legendaryone · « **Reply #11 on:** April 07, 2007, 06:29:18 »

Hi Olive, http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php is a brilliant family history site :) Find the county board you want and post your message there, there are many people who will help and give you guidence :)

jennym · « **Reply #12 on:** April 07, 2007, 06:52:48 »

Hello Olive - having read your post and feeling great sympathy with your predicament, did some quick googling. It seems that even private allotment land is subject to planning procedures. So, somewhere, the local council must have an application from the owner if they want to use the land for something else. I would have thought that this means that you can formally object to the local authority. If so,it would be a good idea to canvas support from not only allotment holders, but local residents, who may not like the idea of it being changed, to, for example be built on etc.
There seem to be loads of development plans on the net about land, council strategies etc in Lincs, and not knowing the actual address or local authority concerned, I found it hard to choose links to show you. I googled on phrases like:
Planning procedures change of use private allotment Grantham
If you do this you may find something of use, but would think that your local authority planning offices would be the place to start in order for you to find out what is intended and then start your objections.
The very best of luck with this, and maybe it would be an idea for you to start an on-line petition as well as a localised paper one.

Trevor_D · « **Reply #13 on:** April 07, 2007, 09:39:00 »

Two lines of approach:

One: Find out the benefactor's name & dates, then you can set about tracing the will. If you know her name, a search on the internet for the census and births, marriages & deaths will give you her dates. (www.findmypast.com is a good site) I've never researched wills (none of my ancestors was rich enough to leave one) but there are plenty of things published now: try the local library, or one of the monthly genealogy magazines (look in Smiths). It may have been in the local paper at the time. Worth a phone call. Or try googling her name or any other key words you can think of. I did that with our site and came up with all sorts of interesting stuff.

Two: Look on your council's website under planning and you should be able to download the application, both forms & maps; you can in our borough. Then you can put in a formal objection. But hurry, because there will be a cut-off date. If there are enough objections, the plans will be delayed at least, which will give you time to organise something a bit more high-profile. Get your MP & local councillors involved: they are all trying to look green at the moment and there are elections coming up.

Best of luck. We're all rooting for you.

OliveOil · « **Reply #14 on:** April 07, 2007, 22:47:13 »

HI guys - thanks for all of your support.

There is no planning application in what so ever. It is believed that the owner wants to sell it as a brownfield site with no strings attached.

The earliest record to link it back to gardens is 1875.

No one knows who the woman was by name and she didnt leave a will... and died in america. I've tried to trace it but can't.

The land isn't registered as its not been sold.

One guy i spoke to tonight said he has been there 25 years and wont be moving - i'm thinking squatter rights here as we dont pay rent and have no agreement so in effect are squatters i guess... but that doesnt help me as i have only been there a year.

I'll keep you posted... but although our allotment people are lovely there seems to be history between some of the old boys and they barely speak... so getting information is hard and getting everyone together is even harder... I just feel i'm waiting for the secretary to tell us what is happening.

Robert_Brenchley · « **Reply #15 on:** April 08, 2007, 00:16:59 »

If someone's been gardening that land freely for over 12 years without paying rent, then under common law they may even own it. You need legal advice, and the NSALG is the forst place to go.

scotch-mist · « **Reply #16 on:** April 08, 2007, 00:55:25 »

I agree with Robert,
I think you could possibly apply for legal ownership,
but a lawyer would be able to tell you for sure, get legal advice asap

Good Luck ;)

tilts · « **Reply #17 on:** April 08, 2007, 04:55:01 »

I agree with Robert and that by default ~ it is now common land. However, get legal advice. (Has the precedent been set anywhere else in England?)
I believe that the CAB give free advice or you may be able to get 15 mins consultation free, try ringing a few.
Land agents will also be able to advise you.
Obviously the solicitors acting on behalf of the owner would be your first port of call with the backing/representation of the NSALG, much better to negotiate from the outset rather than antagonise ~ you never know.
If not get Charlie Boy on the case! Set up your own e-petition on 10 Downing Streets website!
Good Luck

kitten · « **Reply #18 on:** April 08, 2007, 09:48:12 »

Hey OO, what a nasty situation you're in :(

Makes sense to me that the ground may be common land, so I'd follow that lead up if I were you.

But my first thought was that if the landowner is planning on selling the land, then perhaps some pressure on the local council to purchase it & provide allotments might be worthwhile? There are rules about the authority having to provide some land for allotments if a certain number of residents require it?

Good luck, and keep us updated on your progress x

Petits Pois · « **Reply #19 on:** April 09, 2007, 16:51:25 »

Some points I hope will help

I understand that under common law if someone puts a fence round a piece of land and it is there for seven years the person who put the fence up assumes ownership. This happened in a place I lived in in Surrey there was a piece of vacant land in front of our row of cottages and the owner of an adjacent house fenced it off and after 7 years claimed ownership (of course this depends on whether your allotments have a fence and who put it up) I don't know the full ins and outs but it is what a neighbour told me

How did the current owners obtain title to the land? If the previous owner did not leave a will then somewhere it will be recorded how they obtained the title have you tried the Land Registry?

There is a family history mailing list for Lincolnshire, send an Email to
eng-lincsgen@rootsweb.com With the word "subscribe" in the subject line you can then post a message. The more information you can provide (name exact location etc) the more likely you will get replies

Wishing you all the best

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Author Topic: Grantham Allotment - been given notice HELP! (Read 18079 times)