Topic: Allotment access by landlords

[Mitch Griffin]

Hi I am a newbie to this sight and also to having an allotment!!.My name is Mitch,we are a virgin site and have some what ambiguous tenancy agreement ,could anyone please advise me on the rights for us to ask for notice on visits by said landlord.At the moment they just  gain access whenever and without notice and stomp all over the place.Hope I have not asked to much of a sticky question,but I would be most grateful for any help.Landlord aside we are beginning to get some lovely plots and a fantastic community.Happy growing thanks for reading this .Take care.Mitch ??? :)

[betula]

Only having the council and parish council as Landlords I presumed they can vist whenever they wish.

What do you mean by stomp all over the place ??

Allotments are very public kind of places but many have fences and locked gates to keep out the general public.

Good luck with your Allotment.

[Mitch Griffin]

Hi betula,thanks for coming back to me.By stomp I mean that the landlords come and remove stuff we were supplied with to use, without warning.To overrule the committee although we have had their permission in the first place to run the allotment .I all seems childish to us and all we want to do is grow things and enjoy our community.The landlord has rented the ground from the council, they are a P.R.T.A. our chairman is disliked for being on the council.As I am new to allotments I am still trying to feel my way and find the facts,I am also the sec for the committee.Thanks again Mitch :)

[manicscousers]

Hiya, Mitch, welcome to the site  ;D
don't know if you've heard of them but N S A L G (national society of allotment and leisure gardeners)can help with all sorts of queries, only 2.00 per member,per year, 20.00 minimum, cheap seed scheme amd a legaldepartment, may be worth an e mail?
http://www.nsalg.org.uk/

[betula]

Hi Mitch...........seems very unfair to remove stuff they said you can use.What sort of things are we talking about here?

You can bring it up at meetings but you have entered the strange world of Allotment committees and all too often you will hear of unfair going ons LOL

I hope unwashed picks up this post,he seems very good in this kind of area,he may advise you.

I found that getting involved with the politics of an Allotment can be quite stressful at times and I much preferred to just get on with my Growing...........I am becoming a wimp in my old age I reckon LOL

[Mitch Griffin]

betula,we are talking spades, forks, wheelbarrows ,sprayers ,hand forks,trowels.The poly tunnels have not arrived as well as water containers and compost ors. We have some of us our own tools and do not mind sharing.one chap has put some old tools in. The sad thing is we have just started to get in some young people in and they like the rest of us just want peace not babyish politics :(.

[Mitch Griffin]

 Hi manicscoucers,thanks for coming back to me and for the info,I shall get on to said site and see what we can do.Thanks again have good growing speak to you again .Mitch :)

[:(]

Are these private allotments? It would be very unusual to get the kind of tools and facilities youre talking about. How much is your rent? What does your tenancy agreement say? Who is the landlord?

[Digeroo]

We are on a privite site and the landlord does remove weeds.  It is in the agreement not to have weeds.  Most people are quite happy for them to go.  But I am sure he would stop if someone was unhappy about it.

We also have communal tools and if left on allotments they are rsometimes retrieved.   If tools are provided for specific use of a particular allotment holder I would not expect someone to take it back.  If it is provided for communal use I would expect them to be returned after use to the communal storage area. 

As weequinie says it all rather depends on what is in the tenancy agreement.  In general I would expect use of my space without invasion.  I would expect the landload normally to have to ask to access. 

 

[Trevor_D]

Our tenancy agreement specifically forbids our landlords from entering the site unless we are in breach of the lease. The Chairman does an annual walk-about so that he can report back to the Board of Trustees - it's the local church charity - but we have to formally invite him.

In practice, we work very well together, but it's important to have the safeguards in place.

[Mitch Griffin]

Hi Weequinies sorry not to have come back sooner but I have been out to the allotment and in the garden.The tenancy agreement is between ourselves and the Tenants Association.When we applied to the allotments for a plot we were all told that we would have a spade,fork wheelbarrow each also communal poly tunnels (2) and compost or.These were funded by an outside funding agency sorry don't know which one .All wheelbarrows ,forks and spades were stamped with the allotment plot no .Thanks to every one who has been kind enough to come back .Hope you are all well,happy growing!!.Mitch :)

[bluecar]

Hello Mitch and welcome.

As others have said it's down to the tenancy agreement. However if you have tools that are stamped with the plot number and you were informed that you were going to get this equipment, it seems odd that the landlord is collecting them up.

Is it that these items should have been returned to a communal store and have been left out?

[Digeroo]

If the landlord is the Tenants associiation I presume that there is some kind of committee and meetings structure.   I would suggest that you find out when meetings are held and turn up and find out what is going on. 

Have you seen the film Grow your own? 

[betula]

I have never had an allotment that provides spades,forks and stuff like that.

[Mitch Griffin]

Hi Betula,Digeroo and Bluecar, the committee is headed up by the landlord(well lady don`t want to discriminate can put my foot in it some times!!) she has been in position for some years I believe. Some of us are off  to said meeting.The tools and stuff were funded , also trying to get people interested in the project.No , the tools were put in a communal store. we had had a previous theft and the police had been called by the T.A.but the security was not beefed up as the person had got a key.After the second theft there were four committee members on site and I foolishly offered to get a new lock, so with agreement,.. I replaced the lock and left keys with the two people who lived near the plots.Both committee people and one who lives a couple of meeter's from the gate.Problem sorted so we thought,but the T.A was not told ,we had understood that the committee for the allotments were to sort this sort of thing out.Hence I wanted to know about access as we are more than happy to let the landlord view anything with reasonable notice.Also dose any one know whom is it the responsibility off to produce the constitution for our allotment association? .Thank you all for being so kind as to reply.Mitch :(