Topic: eviction

[persecuted unlimited]

I was hoping someone can help us. We both have separate allotment plots on a council allotment site . My daughter was joint tenant on a plot with an elderly man who passed away last year, in the tenancy it states if one dies the other takes the plot over. We have both now been served with eviction notices as the committee has made accusations that we both didn't work our own plots and that other family members were working them on our behalf., This is total lies and now we must go to an appeal hearing later in the month, but the hearing is with council who are the people who served the eviction notices in the first place so the chances of us getting a fair hearing is doubtful, so we were wondering if we can appeal to anyone independent. They are trying to evict us under the clause that states the councils word is final which this clause is usually used for disputes between individual tenants.

[saddad]

Have you spoken with the National?  :-\

[Unwashed]

Hi PU, can you post the tenancy agreement please with the terms the council are relyng on, and can you post the eviction notice too please?  When is the hearing?  Is it a parish/town council or borough/county/unitary council?

[Fuchsias]

Why do they think you have not been working the plots yourselves.  I would have thought they must think they have some sort of proof to give an eviction notice and even then. I've had help on my plot when the other half has had health issues and I've struggled to get it dug over.  As long as its cultivated I can't see why they have issues.

[digmore]

hi pu,

As with Saddad, have you contacted the Nsalg.

Where abouts in the country are you ?

Digmore.

[cornykev]

As said if its dug whats the problem.  ???

[Robert_Brenchley]

Did they accuse you of subletting, or just of having other people do the work? If it's the former, it would be a clear breach of any tenancy, if that's what's happened, but they should be able to back it with evidence, not just an allegation. If other people are helping to work the plot, there seems nothing unusual in that.

[Unwashed]

Am exchanging PMs with persecuted unlimited.

[Unwashed]

Can't say too much openly, but the crux is like Kev said, if its dug what's the problem!

Secondary issue is that allotment managers don't always appreciate the difference between a Notice to Quit, and a Notice of Forfeiture, and it's one of those things that you really need to know if you're managing a site.

[louise stella]

THis sounds like someone is after the plots and wanting to push you out!

[alexE]

We've got a similar problem.

We were given a letter evicting us from our plot from the date of the letter,
They've given us 2 weeks to clear any stuff we want and then they want the keys back.
the rules of the association state that we should have a letter staing what the problems are and a 40 day period to sort them out then a 40 day eviction period in which we can challenge the eviction. They've given us neither.

I can't put what I really think of the committee, well unless i post it in the "Watershed"

[cornykev]

Whats the reason Alex.  ???

[alexE]

basically plot not in a clean and tidy state, but we were building a shed from reclaimed timber and we removed all the un-needed wood from the site 3 days  before they gave us the letter. they've also brought up dumping rubbish on the plot, err, that'd be the wood for the shed then, having non-biodegradable material on plot, that'll be the tyre wall holding up the collapsing bank i'm suposed to maintain and giving me some under-shed storage (which I asked the secretary if it was alright to do and he said yes), um the shed itself isn't in a good state of repair, uh I'm still building it. they went in and sprayed our plot with roundup and now my wife has a resh on her leg due to an allergic reaction to something. Oh and 11.1, whatever that is, i don't know my rules and regs only go up to 10.7. basically they want us of the plots, ive got a 19ft x 14ft first tunnels polytunnel and i think they want that, it was originally on my sisters plot but they forced her out so I took it down and moved it to mine, now they're trying to evict me, a bit suspect i think

[Unwashed]

Hi Alex

Knowing your rights is one thing, getting your rights another.  These, as best as i know, are your rights:

Your landlord can't just end your tenancy because you've broken a condition of the tenancy agreement.  Forfeiture (which is the technical term for it) is regulated by Section 146 Law of Property 1925 and your landlord must give you a written warning saying specifically which condition of the tenancy agreement you have broken and giving you reasonable time to put the matter right.  If your agreement says you get 40 days then actually that's a minimum, because the legislation says you must be given "reasonable" time and depending on what's wrong and the time of year 40 days may not be enough.  Sometimes the condition that you've broken isn't capable of putting right, such as if you had a bonfire that you weren't allowed to, and in those situation the landlord must offer you the option of a fine instead of forfeiture, where the fine is only as much as the landlord lost by your breach, which for something like a bonfire is probably only the cost of writing you a letter of complaint.

And there's more:  to end the tenancy the condition that you broke must clearly be a condition, that is it must unambiguously be phrased so that it's obvious that keeping it is a condition of your tenancy.  That's quite difficult to do so mostly there needs to be some additional clause which says if you break given terms the landlord will end the tenancy.

Sometimes a tenancy agreement will give the landlord a right of re-entry in the event of a breach of the agreement.  Essentially this is where the landlord walks about on your plot and legally takes it back, and that makes the eviction good, but without that explicit right the landlord must get a court order for possession in order to evict, and without that the landlord is trespassing if they go onto your plot, and if they try and manhandle you as some will that's assault.

Never give the keys back.  Landlords will demand this but you are under no obligation to do it and actually if you do you'll almost certainly end your tenancy by surender - surender is where you give the tenancy up voluntarily and the landlord accepts is.  Hang onto your keys and don't do anything that suggests you've given up the tenancy until the game is up.

Once the landlord has forfeited your tenancy, so for example they gave you 40 days to dig it and you didn't manage it so they write to you again saying they've ended your tenancy, that still doesn't completely end the tenancy.  If for example the landlord accepts rent from you after this then the law says unequicocally that the landlord has waived the forfeiture and your tenancy is alive and well.  It's more or less the same with the other rules and regulations - once the landlord has forfeited the tenancy you aren't bound by the rules and regulations, so if the landlord subsequently writes to you telling you off for having a bonfire which is banned by the rules then that again will probably be conclusive evidence that the tenancy is actually alive and well.

So far so good.  Problem is that asserting your rights is difficult by yourself.  If the committee just turf you off it's unlawful, but it's a devil of a job applying to the court for releif from forfeiture and you almost always depend on the committee being reasonable, and sadly some just aren't.  I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that the allotment movement needs some kind of national society that can mediate in these circumstances and stamp out the tyranny that can occur, but I don't see any likelihood of that happening any time soon.

Best of luck.

[alexE]

thanks Unwashed

I also asked the Chairman overthe phone for the date of the meeting where the eviction was disscussed and was told "that's none of your buisness"

We've done a letter challenging their eviction and posted it recorded and signed for and I think I will do a letter formally requesting the minutes from any meeting where they have disscussed me, my wife, my daughter, our plots and our conduct and any logs of complaints they've had"

nothing in there rules and regs state how many officials are needed for a quorum and it even states that the commitee (5 people) are responsible for "interpretation of the rules" and that their decision is final.

if I get no response from the letters (which I wont) then i'm going to produce a report into the commitee's actions for the council. the lease on the land is up so they may not get it re-leased and it will probably go back to council run. then the secretary will lose 2 and a half of his 3 and a half plots and the chairman will have to remove the door from his house to his allotment plot, amongst other things.

I've also contacted the Devon Wildlife Trust about the newts in my sisters plot's pond. Luckily fro the commitee they're palmate newts so they won't get a £1000 fine for destroying the habitat   

[cornykev]

Who come and sprayed your plot.   ???

[persecuted unlimited]

We had our appeal meeting with the council and should find out if we were successful in our appeal by Wednesday, we will not go down without a fight, ;D

[cornykev]

Good for you.   :)

[Unwashed]

We had our appeal meeting with the council and should find out if we were successful in our appeal by Wednesday, we will not go down without a fight, ;D

Best of luck PU, I hope you gave a good account of yourself.

[persecuted unlimited]

with all the good advice we were given, we are feeling positive, but wont hold our breath, anything is possible were the council is concerned.