Fair Allotment Rent

[Dom2599]

AP, i've also sent another FOI to the council today asking if they own any agricultural land and if so how much do they rent per acre, would be interesting to see if they do acutually rent any out and at what cost

[Aberdeenplotter]

Dom, make sure you don't get information about grazing rents as they can be astronomic as can leases for less than a year where ground may be let as an example for a single crop of potatoes or similar. What you want is info about ordinary agricultural leases.

[Dom2599]

I've had another email, FYI. It states that the 'legal dept' have requested all the increases applied to other leisure activities under the council, this to be produced before tomorrow were the council will approve the increases....fingers crossed.

I am concerned that i have had to explain a judgement to a 'legal team' so they actually understand it, these people are supposed to be looking after my council and it's (our/mine) money....quite scarey really.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Dom, it seems to go with the territory mate. They deliberately misunderstand but it can come back to haunt them. In my situation, our Council denies having made Regulations for the management of it's allotments(Regulations need to be confirmed at Government level to give them legal force.) They gave me Notice to quit my allotments and have founded a Court Action for recovery of possession on that Notice to quit. Any notices required in connection with the letting of council owned allotments up here need to be defined in a Regulation for that purpose and that Regulation needs to be confirmed at Government level. Ermhhh oopsie, did I say our Council denies having made any regulations? I haven't told our Council about this yet as it forms part of my defence but you had better believe I'm going to enjoy delivering the good news along with my counter claim.

[Aberdeenplotter]

I am concerned that i have had to explain a judgement to a 'legal team' so they actually understand it, these people are supposed to be looking after my council and it's (our/mine) money....quite scarey really.

Dom, I'm certain their responsibility also extends to the residents of their local authority area and not just to the Council. Not that you would think so though.

[Dom2599]

AP, the thing i got from their email, was that they DO run leisure activities as they have requested the figures. Knowing what this council is like, if the other leisure activities do have differing % rises, i will put my mortgage on it, they will raise them all to the % increase they are applying to allotments.

On another note, the councilor said to me that the council sets aside £30k for maintenance for all their 700ish allotments per year, he also said that they pay an administrator person £20k, so £50k in total. The councilor sent to me the councils allotment database (spreadsheet) this includes total numbers, associations and annual rents received per site, added up this comes to £33,840...so discounting the administrators £20k (i told him that he has enough council site managers to do this job, so would not entertain the idea that alotment rents should be upped to pay for this), they are actually making £3,840 per year profit! Once the 20.99% is added, this will rise to £40k+, so much for a heavily subsidised leisure activity, it is actually more than paying for itself!

[Aberdeenplotter]

Dom, the rent for allotments in England if I remember correctly is the rent that a reasonable person would be prepared to pay. (In terms of harwood, that is a notional person) Once that rent is established, that is that. It's not the rent + a bit to cover their admin costs. Stick to your guns mate. They may well increase their charges for their other recreational facilities but that doesn't get them past the Unfair terms in consumer contract Regulations and they won't want to risk pricing their customers out of the market either. Involve the OFT. They have an obligation to check it out.

[Dom2599]

I had an email on 9th March from my councillor stating that the council legal dept have requested the increases for all other leisure activities that the council provide, this was requested prior to the council making its decision last tuesday about the increases, it's seems strange that i have not heard anything since?? normally have plenty of emails from the councillor.....is it maybe that they have realised i have a case to argue? have they maybe requested further legal clarification?? no matter what, the sudden silence from the council is deafening.....

[Jeanied]

I have just found by googling a freedom of information response from my council with regards to allotment rents. They held them static for a few years but are putting them up 2.5% from April this year.
So it looks like someone has been on the case already!

[Aberdeenplotter]

2.5% seems very reasonable compared to the 152% increase we had in 12 months

[Jeanied]

I thought so too, AP - and I get it half price in 5 years' time if they still have that policy in place!

[Aberdeenplotter]

Our Council presently discriminates against male plotters and doesn't give them a discount till they are 5 years older than female plotters. I can see that going as well but I won't be mentioning it because they will probably remove the early discount for women if I do.

[chuffa]

Lucky not so lucky

My lottie rent went up by 33% in 2010, 25% in 2011 and just under 25% for 2012. Some or lucky some are not. There is a passage in the Allotment Act that states if an individual finds it difficult to pay for his allotment, an example is being retired on a small pension, can ask the Council to reduce his rent . I think it has had no repeals, so is still in force today.

Copy from the 1950 Allotment Act:

10 Rents to be charged for allotments let by local authorities.(1)Land let by a council under the Allotments Acts, 1908 to 1931, for use as an allotment shall be let at such rent as a tenant may reasonably be expected to pay for the land if let for such use on the terms (other than terms as to rent) on which it is in fact let:
Provided that land may be let by a council as aforesaid to a person at a less rent if the council are satisfied that there exist special circumstances affecting that person which render it proper for them to let the land to him at a less rent.(2)Not more than a quarter’s rent for land let by a council as mentioned in subsection (1) of this section shall be required to be paid in advance:
Provided that this subsection shall not apply where the yearly rent is twenty-five shillings or less.(3)In this section the references to a council shall be construed as including references to the parish meeting of a rural parish not having a parish council.

[Dom2599]

Hi Chuffa,

I have mentioned sub section 2 of this act to my council, they are now in consultation to see if rents can be paid on a quarterly basis rather than all in one go. I am slowly making head way with them and think that they are now starting to listen....even if they dont like what they are hearing

[Aberdeenplotter]

Stick with it Dom. At least your Council isn't totally deaf.

BTW, Your Council doesn't have any alternative if they choose to charge rent in advance. It's simply no more than 25%.