Unlawful eviction from my plot

Started by mahonia, December 12, 2010, 16:52:01

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mahonia

A nasty attack on me today!!!

Ok it was raining a little but I thought I would do some digging on the plot.

My friend and supporter was on his plot nearby and I had a surprise visit from the Committee chair lady and what followed was a very undignified attack on me with threats and all. She started off by demanding I give up my keys and leave the allotments. I refused to do both and told her I was staying put. She then threatened to call the police and I said please do, but she didn't. Then she said she was going to carry out a citizen's arrest and physically remove me from the allotments. I just laughed at her.

This was all witnessed by my friend who was standing next to me.

She said myself and my partner were in arrears with our rent and so we have to go.

I politely said that our tenancy was valid and as she did not have a possession order, we have a right to stay put and that is what we are going to do.

She then said that she had let both of our plots to new tenants and I decided not to reply to that.

She then asked me why I was causing the association so much trouble and I simply pointed out that she and the committee had started the actions against me by accusing me of thefts which were trumped up and unsubstantiated and I am simply defending my position.

Some nasty remarks were made about my Thai partner and that I should not be gardening on my partner's plot.

I let her vent off her anger and I walked away.

My good friend and myself had a cup of tea and a chat afterwards and he has agreed to make a statement.

What we would like advice on is the matter of our plots being let twice over to new tenants. Surely this is illegal and probably fraudulent as they would have taken rent money for plots which are already let.

We have standing crops, shed with contents, greenhouse with produce so how do we protect these? What happens if new tensnts enter the plots and remove our stuff?

I am making a complaint and statement to the committee about today and sending a copy of my statement to the CEO at the borough council.






mahonia


Unwashed

#141
That's awful mahonia.  Just stand firm, you're doing the right thing.

Remember that your plot is your property and you have a right to garden it, and a right to come to and fro to it.  If you're threatened with assault as you were it's probably time to call the police - they have a duty to prevent a breach of the peace.  Your committee lady certainly has no right to step foot on your plot or interfer with you, and she would certainly be breaking the law if she were to attempt to arrest you, and you would be entitled to use a minimum of reasonable force to resist.  

No one has a right to demand the keys from you, and it's really important that you never hand them over because that could look like you were surrendering the tenancy.

You need to go to the police and report the incident.  It's an unpleasant thing to have happened, and it's likely to escalate.  Involve the police now.  They won't do anything, but it's important that you report the incident to them.

If the committee let your plot to someone else that's fraud, and that is illegal - they're selling something that they know doesn't belong to them.  As you correctly say, whatever notices and such the committee give you, the plot is legally yours until either the committee affect a peaceable re-entry which is very difficult on an allotment, or else they get a possession order.

Bear in mind that if the committee have purported to let your plot then the new tenant is an innocent party and won't know what's going on, so it's not a bad idea to put some kind of notice on your plot saying that it's yours and please don't touch your stuff.
An Agreement of the People for a firm and present peace upon grounds of common right

pigeonseed

Oh blimey mahonia that's awful! Good you were patient, and didn't let her get you riled. Have you reported it to the police?

mahonia

I have prepared a statement which was  read and agreed by the witness. I have sent a copy of the statement to the council, MP, each member of the committee with a covering letter informing them that if any further action is taken against me whatsoever I would call the police.

As you have advised, I will go to the police tomorrow and give them my statement.

I am seeing the local newspaper tomorrow as they want to print our story and we will name names and shame these people.

I am quite relaxed about what happened as it was witnessed and I kept calm and I was very polite but firm and made it very clear that we would not give up our plots and we would not give up our keys.

It was fortunate that I was not alone as I took advice from this forum not to go there on my own.

When the news article appears I will let you know so that you will then discover where we are and the name of the association and our names of course (and our photo on the plot).

We are going to our plots tomorrow (Friday) and we will let you know if anything happens. We will be taking our camcorder so we can film anyone who approaches or hassles us.






goodlife

Well done...You sound really organized...I would not like be against you and your 'ice cold' calmness ;)
And camcorder too...Go girl..go girl... ;D

mahonia

The wicked witch of the west wasn't on the allotments today. So I worked on the plot in peace.

I did as suggested and made two notice boards , one for each of our plots, which stated that the plots are let to us.

One of the plots has been worked on with a small patch dug over which was very nice of whoever did it.

I am going to the police on Monday to make a statement about the Wednesday afternoon incident.

We are preparing a letter which we intend to give to as many plot holders as we can to let them know about our suffering and the Wednesday incident. We need to get more members on board to support us.

I have spoken with the newspaper reporter today and I am going to their offices on Monday to discuss details of our story.


mahonia

A question for you.

One member of the committee has told me that he feels he cannot be liable or held responsible for their decisions because he did not sign any documents to say he was on the committee !!!

He has been on the committee for years.

They are such cowards aren't they?  Now that the situation has reached crunch point they are looking for ways to escape their liabilities.




sazhig

I'd be very surprised if there wasn't some documentation that stated this person's name as a committee member, particularly if they've been on it for some years. At the very least surely there would be the minutes from the meeting when he/she was voted/co-opted in....but then again if they are as dodgy as it seems... :-\

Says an awful lot IMO about how the committee is being run if a member is wanting to disassociate themselves from the rest. Is this a person who is on your side about things? Might it be worth seeing if they can assist in gathering other members to help with your situation and maybe get rid of those doing the bullying/illegal activities and form a new committee?

tonybloke

mahonia, a question for you.

r.e.  the alleged committee member question.

if the committee never met, or did anything, was there actually a committee?  if they met, were minutes taken? if so, a list will be in the minutes of names of attendees.

apply to find out with a FOI request ( mention that the request is under the FOI, and you expect a response in 10 working days,  in the letter you send by recorded delivery to the secretary)

then see what happens.
rgds, Tony
You couldn't make it up!

aj

Taking his comments to their logical conclusion; perhaps there is NO committee at all.....

Who gives this so called committee the right to say they are on a committee; and the powers to do anything?


Unwashed

I don't believe there's any need for formality.  As I understand it the relationship between the members of a committee is contractural so the usual rules apply and a verbal agreement is just as good as a written one.  However, I don't think it matters much.  I believe, and again I'm not completely certain, that committee members share joint and several liability which means you can hold any member of the committee wholly responsible for any liability and it's then a matter between the members of the committee to apportion liability between themselves.

A note of caution: You need to be very careful that nothing you say, even in private, could be construed as challenging the legitimacy of your landlord because that invokes a quaint bit of common law that immediately dissolves your tenancy.  If for no other reason I think it would be wise always to respect the legitimacy of the committee.
An Agreement of the People for a firm and present peace upon grounds of common right

schmelda

Quote from: tonybloke on March 01, 2011, 22:37:37
( mention that the request is under the FOI, and you expect a response in 10 working days

An organisation has 20 working days to provide information under the FOI Act. 

It may be worth finding out who the FOI lead person is at the council, as they'd be the one most qualified to ensure that your request is dealt with promptly.  Many of the delays with FOI requests are related to the person receiving the request not knowing what to do with it.

Unwashed

It's likely that the FOI doesn't apply.  It applies to a parish council, and it would apply to an arms-length management company if they held information on behalf of a parish council, but it probably doesn't apply to the committee itself.
An Agreement of the People for a firm and present peace upon grounds of common right

mahonia

There is definitely a committee and the names and roles of committee members were published to all association members after the last AGM in 2010.

The committee publish newsletters and hold monthly meetings, but they are not prepared to give members a copy of the minutes.

The committee has dwindled to 5 members and regarding the member who recently bailed out I would not trust him to support me.

At this stage we are not looking to try to force the committee out but rather defending our own position.

We are meeting with the local newspaper tomorrow to discuss our story.

I was informed today that our MP is meeting with the leader of the borough council to discuss the deteriorating situation at the allotments.

It has been a struggle, but we are still on the allotments and even the sun came out today.

mahonia

Do we have the same property rights renting an allotment as people renting a dwelling?

There is a landlord/tenant situation with both, so shouldn't our association as our landlord have to act within the laws applying to tenants in general.

So a landlord harassing an allotment tenant is no different from a landlord harassing a tenant from their home. Am I correct in assuming this?

Regarding other rights, I was not given an opportunity for a fair and unbiased hearing. I was judged by the association committee guilty of thefts without any opportunity to hear details of the allegations, so natural justice principles were abused.

The committee held another biased 'hearing' at which they judged I was in arrears with my rent.

Does anyone have knowledge or experience of the Human Rights Act relating to 'Right to a fair hearing' and property rights.

I believe the association committee have acted unlawfully against us on several counts and we are now looking to bring a legal action against them.

The local newspaper reporter has spoken to them regarding our evictions and other matters I cannot mention here, so the committee would now be expecting a lot of trouble to come their way.








goodlife

Actually..I thought committee doesn't have any power to deal with things like theft...only thing they can do is reports 'supposed' theft to police and they will deal with it. Committees role is to deal with memberships, rules of the membership etc.

Unwashed

Quote from: mahonia on March 05, 2011, 21:14:23
Do we have the same property rights renting an allotment as people renting a dwelling?

There is a landlord/tenant situation with both, so shouldn't our association as our landlord have to act within the laws applying to tenants in general.

So a landlord harassing an allotment tenant is no different from a landlord harassing a tenant from their home. Am I correct in assuming this?
No. There are some rights in common, but in general it's very different.  Harrassment specifically recognises that your home is pretty well sacred, whereas your allotment is nothing special.

Quote from: mahonia on March 05, 2011, 21:14:23
Regarding other rights, I was not given an opportunity for a fair and unbiased hearing. I was judged by the association committee guilty of thefts without any opportunity to hear details of the allegations, so natural justice principles were abused.

The committee held another biased 'hearing' at which they judged I was in arrears with my rent.

Does anyone have knowledge or experience of the Human Rights Act relating to 'Right to a fair hearing' and property rights.
There's nothing to be gained by arguing HRA here.  HRA probably does apply to the committee as they are discharging a public function, though it would still be a tricky argument to make.  Your Article 6 right to a fair trial applies to judicial, or quasi-judicial hearings, not the delibarations of public authorities.  Your right to the enjoyment of you property under the First Protocol is already a common law right.

What you should be thinking about are the public law arguments that the committee have not followed due process, have behaved unreasonably (research Wednesbury unreasonableness), and have offended natural justice.

Quote from: mahonia on March 05, 2011, 21:14:23
I believe the association committee have acted unlawfully against us on several counts and we are now looking to bring a legal action against them.

The local newspaper reporter has spoken to them regarding our evictions and other matters I cannot mention here, so the committee would now be expecting a lot of trouble to come their way.
If you have been served with a notice purporting to forfeit your tenancy for a breach of your tenancy condition then you can apply to the court for relief from forfeiture - I think under the Councty Court Act, but I'm not sure.  Your grounds would be that the notice does not comply with S.146 Law of Property 1925.  That's all you need really.  If you're going to represent yourself you've got a bit of work to do, because if you bring an action and you start banging on about the committee telling lies and burning rubbish you'll easily find yourself kicked out of court with an order for costs.  You need to understand how the process works.

You also can't just start an action.  The court will expect to see how you've given the other side every opportunity to settle your claim.  If there isn't a specific pre-action protocol for an application for relief from forfeiture (and I have a feeling there is) then there's a generic one, but you need to be sure to follow it carefully - download it from the court service web site.  You need to formally serve your claim on the committee and give them time to respond, and propose some kind of alternative resolution.  Only when all that fails can you send a final letter before claim and set an altematum either to settle or face court action.  The court expects you to use the court as an absolute last resort.

Please don't take legal advice on the internet from an unqualified barrack-room lawer.  IMHO you have an excellent case, so best bet is to pop in and see a lawer and get a negotiated settlement - including your legal costs.
An Agreement of the People for a firm and present peace upon grounds of common right

mahonia

Your advice is much appreciated and I have a good local law firm in mind. You have given me the advice I needed so that I don't go off on a tangent but focus on the real issues and the ones which I am likely to succeed with.

I will research the legal procedures involved in bringing an action as you suggested, before instructing a solicitor.

This matter has gone on for many months and you have read my posts and noted that the association have acted unlawfully and unfairly in several ways and their response to my recent proposal for mediation was to harass and threaten me in front of a witness which shows how arrogant and foolish they are.

The committee have been bullying people off their plots for years and most people have just walked away but for once they have someone who is not prepared to put up with them and they don't know how to deal with it.

I will let you know how I get on with the solicitors.






mahonia

Help please.

Our plots have been fenced off so we cannot access them. We assume this was done at the weekend when we were not on the allotments. We have crops and possessions on the plots.

Now that this has happened, presumably our course of action is the county court.

Unwashed has mentioned that this may happen and it has.


miniroots

Hello Mahonia,

I've only just scanned this thread, and it sounds terrible - reminding me slightly of a situation we had on site about 3 years ago - but your case is much worse.

The similarities are that the committee were long-established, autocratic and abusive towards anyone who objected to the way they did things.  Refusing to share the constitution, minutes of meetings etc is all familiar. To cut a long story short we successfully gathered support from plot holders, called an EGM and the committee changed (although we offered them the chance to carry on and work along side new committee members voted in at the EGM, they chose to go).

However your case seems to be beyond those steps - it seems to me the only people who can sort out this kind of flagrant mismanagement are the Council, they should call in their legal department and suspend the lease agreement - If they are failing you then have you tried going to the local press?

However, to offer you a possible light at the end of the tunnel - in the 3 years since the change in management on our site we have turned around a badly run down site which matches your description quite closely, businesses have been turfed off, waste ground cleaned up and re-let and although there is still a lot to do, the community of the site is thriving with many plot holders volunteering to help clean up days etc.

So please don't give up!  Dig your heals in and force the council to meet their responsibilities - throw everything at them - local press, MPs - whatever it takes.

Hope this helps

Sophie

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