Topic: All off

[digmore]

720 tenants will be served with notice to quit in Sept by St. Helens council. The reason being that the rents are going up approx 150% and new terms and conditions put in place if you wish to continue.

Any sensible comments plz.

Digmore

[RenishawPhil]

That's daylight robbery!. I don't know what to advise. Just wish you good luck in fighting this

[elvis2003]

THIS septemeber? and you have just been given notice of this? I understood they cant put the rents up with out giving a lot more notice than this...have you a committee,are you self managed or council?

[katynewbie]

Get Nsalg involved? That cannot be right, what are the current rents?

[Jeanbean]

Our Council did this last year, posting a notice to quit on our site . They did give 1 year's notice from April 2011 to March 2012 as I believe this to be the required amount of notice. Our  new tenancy agreements have given them more powers to increase rent. Does your notice to quit start with effect from August 2013, having notified you September 2012? Our rents went up from £2.50 per rod to £4.00 per rod and a small increase in our water. That was for this current year but I am waiting to see if this year brings another increase. Prior to this our rent was reviewed every 3 years and water yearly. I think the Council would be shooting themselves in the foot if everyone they served notice to decided to go. Then they would be collecting no rent at all. 150% is a big increase. Do you have the right to appeal against this or is it fait accomplis? Wish you luck with sorting this out.

[cornykev]

As said a years notice is required to raise the rent
Others have contested this comparing price rise to other council leisure activities, ie swimming pool
Good luck and do your research
As for shooting themselves in the foot, I'm sure that housing projects are ready to take it's place
One other thing, some sites pay a very minimum rent and in fact a 150% rise wouldn't' be that much as a comparison  :-\  ::)

[shirlton]

How much will you be paying with the rent increase

[persecuted unlimited]

our council put our rent up 100% last year and we are informed it will go up 5% every year after. They change the tenancy agreement every year without any consultation. Oh the joys of allotmenteering.

[CDave]

It would help us understand the full impact if posters could tell us what what rents are now - before the increase. I say this because on my holidays I came across a chap who was seething because he was facing a 50% increase over 3 years. But his current rent is £8 per year. So in this case - although a 50% increase sounded a lot - to me (and I accept that its just me" and others might not share my view) - 50% on £8 didn't seem too bad. Especially over 3 years. 

[daveylamp993]

I would not bother with the N.S.A.L.G,we had the same problem a few years ago and they were not interested in fighting our case,they said it was going to be too expensive if it went to court,having been full members for 23 years i thought this was ludicrous,i hasten to add we are no longer members of N.S.A.L.G. we have joined the allotment and gardens council UK who have been very helpful even though we have only been members 2 years they have negotiated with the local council,and have managed to get our rents reduced by 40 per cent with only a 5 percent increase proposed over the next 5 years,theallotmentsandgardenscounciluk.co.uk they are the best to deal with councils and all other allotment issues.

[Nigel B]

Thanks for that daveylamp993, I hadn't heard of them. :)

[Digeroo]

Sounds as if you need to get together and get organised.

Need not only price but also what is included, such as sheds,security fencing. etc.

Can you become self managing to save council and yourselves money?

[pigeonseed]

Our Council did this last year, posting a notice to quit on our site . They did give 1 year's notice from April 2011 to March 2012 as I believe this to be the required amount of notice. Our  new tenancy agreements have given them more powers to increase rent. Does your notice to quit start with effect from August 2013, having notified you September 2012? Our rents went up from £2.50 per rod to £4.00 per rod and a small increase in our water. That was for this current year but I am waiting to see if this year brings another increase.

Our council have just done the same, jeanbean, and the rent is due to go up about 80%-ish with more increases each year. Looks like they're watching what other councils are doing. Thing is they've been cut badly and are trying to save money where they can. Whether it's fair depends a lot on the current rent as others have said. But 150% does sound excessive.

If you fight it, hope you have some luck digmore.

[woodybrown]

Sorry to hear this , our rent goes up by a couple of quid a year its up to £50 now which is still not bad. We get a letter at the end of sept telling us its going up and we have to pay by the end of oct or we off. I didnt realise they were supposed to give us a years notice of any increase,i wonder if they did? might be worth a call what do you think.

[Digeroo]

Others in other areas have tried to protest that they have not been given enough notice of increases.  I am not sure it got them anywhere.

Still need to know how much 150% extra amounts to.  For example £4.00 a rod is still very reasonable when compared with averages.  Unwashed estimated the A4A average as of April to be £5.27 so anything less than that you still have a very good deal.

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,71968.msg739914.html#msg739914

[Unwashed]

Others in other areas have tried to protest that they have not been given enough notice of increases.  I am not sure it got them anywhere.

It got me a nice new plot!

But seriously, if you're going to dispute your rent I think you need to understand that the worst-case outcome is that you'll be in for a long lonely fight that you're unlikely to win.  Whilst I believe passionately in the allotment movement and the need to keep it affordable for the poorest in society, I believe that the problem of escalating rents now needs to be challenged by the national society, and to be honest I can't see that happening.  I'm not at all happy to say it, but I feel the real politic is to pay-up and shut-up, and the devil take the hindmost.

[woodybrown]

Point taken , i enjoy it too much to make it a load of aggro. ta