Anyone had problems with joint ownership of a plot?

[alldigging]

"Not to assign underlet or part with the possession of
the Plot or any part thereof"

Maybe that's the bit they're worried about.

http://www.bradleyfold.org.uk/DGS-Constitution-2010.pdf

f Each plot shall have one plot holder and this shall be the tenant. Any regular assistant to a plot holder
must be a member of the society. These assistants do not have an entitlement to vote nor to invite guests onto the site. The family and friends of the tenants are allowed onto the site,but the plot holder is
responsible for all visitors that he or she invites onto the site. Dogs must be kept under control.

[Alison]

Difficult as from whoever looks after the site they could find that boyfriend is up there telling others how to do things and then starts attending meetings all without actually having a plot. Could he decide to use equipment that is not his or yours - again he is not an allotment holder.

You see it from your point of view, try another persons. Say boyfriend gets there early (first) another allotment holder asks who is that and gets told boyfriend of one of the allotments holders not actually a member here or anything to do with it.

I suspect this, or similar, may have occurred previously and so there is sort of hesitation in openingly allowing it to occur again.

Consider work, you do not expect anyone to come into where you work and look round and do things.

I would suggest that you simply take him with you when you go and leave it at that. It is not exactly inconvenient and it may make your life easier. If you go your seperate ways and he wants half your plot what then?

I would half suspect that the supervisor or whatever is being more like 100% safe (and possibly from prior experience), and their idea of "safe" is from the allotments and allotment holders point of view which is actually what they have to do.

Yet again this thread is giving me reason to be pleased that I don't have to put up with any of this rubbish on my site. It really would be terribly inconvenient if I wasn't allowed to have any of my friends or family going to harvest and check on things when I was away and when we all work full time it can sometimes be difficult to always get there in the week (this doesn't mean I can't manage my plot, I just have to choose my times). My name is on the contract so if me and OH split up (don't see why it should be any different if people are married or not) he'd not get any part of the plot so there is no confusion at all. With regards using equipment, it doesn't matter if he's an allotment holder or not, if it's not yours then you shouldn't be using it and I'd expect it would rather annoy my fellow plot holders if I suddenly decided their wheelbarrow looked worth borrowing. As I said, so glad we don't have this sort of thing to deal with and we can just concentrate on actually growing stuff rather than petty politics.

[SproutLover82]

Yet again this thread is giving me reason to be pleased that I don't have to put up with any of this rubbish on my site. It really would be terribly inconvenient if I wasn't allowed to have any of my friends or family going to harvest and check on things when I was away and when we all work full time it can sometimes be difficult to always get there in the week (this doesn't mean I can't manage my plot, I just have to choose my times). My name is on the contract so if me and OH split up (don't see why it should be any different if people are married or not) he'd not get any part of the plot so there is no confusion at all. With regards using equipment, it doesn't matter if he's an allotment holder or not, if it's not yours then you shouldn't be using it and I'd expect it would rather annoy my fellow plot holders if I suddenly decided their wheelbarrow looked worth borrowing. As I said, so glad we don't have this sort of thing to deal with and we can just concentrate on actually growing stuff rather than petty politics.

Oh, I couldn't agree more! I totally understand the other point of view and have experience first hand when I was comitee secretary a few years ago. I'm simply looking for an effective and fair solution that allows both me and my partner to enjoy the plot, be it together or peacefully alone on occasion. It amazes me that something that Its supposed to be a positive community activity has so many politics to contend with. I'm happy to play by the book but j can't see how my non married status is such an issue!
Happy allotmenting Alison

[Coopers]

Wow, I must be missing something... I wouldn't have even asked. Would never have considered it. I think you have the following options:

- Forget you asked and get him to attend
- attend together for some time to show intent then let him go without you
- ask jobs-worth what the alternative is?
- get your other half a nice frilly dress and a wig...

The plot is under my wife's name but my jobs worth (for other reasons) knows i attend.

Strange that on one hand you can let boyfriend live in your house if you own the mortgage or rent agreement. You can have a child together and he could solely look after the child whilst you pop to the shops. But let him tend the plot? No now your being silly.

Personally depending on how you asked formally or informally I'd forget the convo and just get on with it...

[Crazy_Tomato_lady]

Tell 'em you got married! Bish,bash, bosh, family plot.

[Coopers]

Ha, let your boyfriend know with the kind help of the people here you have found cheap long weekend tickets to las vegas. After all it seems the only way...

[Nicola.P]

My partner and I have lived together for 10yrs but have no intention of ever getting married. I would be very annoyed if this meant we were treated differently and not classed as a family. It would be discrimination if you said to someone you can't help because you are married so why not the other way round? If you are living at the same address it shouldn't be a problem.
I too would phone council and ask why you cannot be counted as having a family plot.

So glad my site is very relaxed with the rules.

[Hazel at the Hill]

I'd go down together the first few times - your fellow plotholders will have no idea of the ins and outs of the agreement signed (single person/family etc) and will just see you both as 'the plotholders'.

The steward is between a rock and a hard place - if there has been some sort of history of unauthorised access to the site, theft or damage, perhaps - or if anything happens on site, it will be him who gets it in the neck. That said, I would have thought that you could have the site in joint names/family plot.

[Bill HH]

Once rules and committees raise their ugly head you are in trouble. I am so glad I never did get an allotment despite trying. I would just get on with it, go together for a while and once he is know to all I am sure it wont be an issue.

[sparrow100]

I still don't understand why associate membership can't be granted. The plot's still in your name, he has no real rights over it, other than being able to regularly help you. Even family plots will surely only be in one person's name, otherwise there are wrangles if the relationship ends.

[SproutLover82]

I still don't understand why associate membership can't be granted. The plot's still in your name, he has no real rights over it, other than being able to regularly help you. Even family plots will surely only be in one person's name, otherwise there are wrangles if the relationship ends.

Well, exactly! He's just not prepared to deviate from the rule book one inch and no offers of associate membership is on the table. I'm waiting for council to come back to me and will then take my challenge back to the steward, and committee if need be.

The more I think about it the more irritated I get by the whole thing. My challenge now feels like it is as much about the principle that diferent rules appy to non married households as much as the actual rule book itself!

[Olorin2001]

From a common sense point of view, a family or people living at the same address would be a household, while the plot is down in one persons name, members of the household should be able to visit as a group or singly. For married couples this seems to be the norm, so it would be discrimination to treat other "households" differently.

[rosiepumpkin]

I have a plot on a Haringey Council site with its own site association. The plot is in joint names of me and my man, we are unmarried at same address and there has never been a hint if an issue. We also have a set of keys each.

[Zelenina]

Does this officious gentleman actually check people's marriage certificates? Does he know for sure that all the other couples are properly married? maybe it would work to buy a couple of cheap rings and pretend you got married, like others have suggested. But then if he's that old-fashioned maybe he would insist that you change your name to Mrs on the agreement.

[Hazel at the Hill]

BTW, the reason that I wanted a plot was when I did one of those 'assess your life' type exercises; but being a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to cope with a plot on my own, I asked my friend Jane if she & family would want to join in. She was all for it, so she put her name down on the plots nearest her, and I put my name down on the plots nearest me; about 3 miles apart.

A vacancy at the ones by her came up first, so we both went up to see the secretary, nodded our heads, and it was Jane's name on the tenancy. I - er - took over a bit , being the keener of the two of us, so although we'd both been down for the first couple of months, it was soon me who spent the most time there, and who the plotters (and committee) saw - and in the clubhouse - and it was assumed that I had every right to be there!

It was only when it came to the AGM twelve months later that I realised that I was voting for things, but I was not technically a plotholder, so at that point we sorted out the paperwork to put the plot in my name.

Hence the blog being 'Hazel and Jane's Allotment'. Jane is quite happy to have buckets of anything going at glut-time, but was probably never cut out to be a plotter, despite my coercion at the time!