Landshare

[Bigmallly]

Has anyone heard of this & what are your views?.


Home - Homegrownuk

[Jeanied]

Morning, BM - I tried signing up for this when it was first launched as I thought it would be a good way of finding someone to work my allotment with me for equal shares. I think it was a bit too early for their system as it could not deal with the postcode of my allotment! But HFW has been an enthusiastic promoter of this from the beginning as an alternative to council provision of allotments. Running alongside the other thread this morning (councils' responsibilities for providing allotments) I wonder if this would let them off the hook rather. On the other hand if I had a big veg plot in my garden and couldn't cope I think I'd like some keen young veggie growers to use it.

[Bigmallly]

In principle it looks a great idea. My only concern would be that somebody would give their garden up in return for a fee & a bit of produce which sounds great. What happens if they move house?.......Does the tennent of the land move with them?

[Jeanied]

They had a brief discussion of this on the food awards - they compared it to a dating agency - so presumably couples can get divorced as well!

[Bigmallly]

Not such a good idea after all then.

[Nicos]

( correct/tweak me if his isn't exactly right)...but...In France - if someone uses your land with your permission for over a year- and the land is more than a certain size- then they have legal rights to continue with the use of that land until they die!!!..no matter who buys/sells the house and land! (There may be some legal tweaking to prevent this- but loads of peeps are caught out with this- esp foreigners!!!!)

[Bigmallly]

( correct/tweak me if his isn't exactly right)...but...In France - if someone uses your land with your permission for over a year- and the land is more than a certain size- then they have legal rights to continue with the use of that land until they die!!!..no matter who buys/sells the house and land! (There may be some legal tweaking to prevent this- but loads of peeps are caught out with this- esp foreigners!!!!)

Should be called adoptagardener.com

[Nicos]

It's quite often grazing rights. A foreigner buys a house with lots of land - and rather than paying a gardener to mow it- offer the use to a friendly farmer for his cows/sheep- and then when the owners want to use the land - say for an allotment, they can't!!!

[Incy]

( correct/tweak me if his isn't exactly right)...but...In France - if someone uses your land with your permission for over a year- and the land is more than a certain size- then they have legal rights to continue with the use of that land until they die!!!..no matter who buys/sells the house and land! (There may be some legal tweaking to prevent this- but loads of peeps are caught out with this- esp foreigners!!!!)

It's definitely more than a year but the only way my parents were able to have the cows moved off their land ( it was lent to the local farmer by the previous owner) was to put animals there themselves. They housed the local riding schools pregnant mares and foals for them which was a lot less smelly and noisy than the cows.

[Two_Sheds]

Not such a good idea after all then.

I think it's a great idea. I worked briefly for a charity clearing overgrown council gardens (the council wouldn't do it).
Such a waste of land: they were big gardens.
The tenants (mostly very elderly) would've been glad to be able to have someone in to garden for them, in return for a bit of veg/fresh flowers.

Sure, people could fall out, but you'd have some kind of agreement in place before you began.

[BarleySugar]

I went through that and found a garden. I did post about it quite a while ago. It has worked well, tho I know it's only been a verbal agreement. I haven't put anything too expensive there, and the owner hasn't ever bothered to pick any produce either. I think I gave more to his elderly neighbour to be honest. I know I've put the work in, but I've more in the freezer than I could have grown at home, and as I enjoy doing it anyway, and there's nowhere else I could grow, I'm willing to take the risk. I've got sprouts, kale, spring cabbage, celeriac, onions and garlic in at the moment. I could, I suppose, lose the lot if the owner moved, but I've only bought the onion sets from Wilkos, the seeds were all swaps or what I had. There's no chance of an allotment at the moment so without the garden I'd be back to my tiny space.

[Bigmallly]

I went through that and found a garden. I did post about it quite a while ago. It has worked well, tho I know it's only been a verbal agreement. I haven't put anything too expensive there, and the owner hasn't ever bothered to pick any produce either. I think I gave more to his elderly neighbour to be honest. I know I've put the work in, but I've more in the freezer than I could have grown at home, and as I enjoy doing it anyway, and there's nowhere else I could grow, I'm willing to take the risk. I've got sprouts, kale, spring cabbage, celeriac, onions and garlic in at the moment. I could, I suppose, lose the lot if the owner moved, but I've only bought the onion sets from Wilkos, the seeds were all swaps or what I had. There's no chance of an allotment at the moment so without the garden I'd be back to my tiny space.

It's really nice to hear of successes....Thanks BS.

[Hilary B]

It's quite often grazing rights. A foreigner buys a house with lots of land - and rather than paying a gardener to mow it- offer the use to a friendly farmer for his cows/sheep- and then when the owners want to use the land - say for an allotment, they can't!!!

That would be something like an Agricultural tenancy here, and unless there is a real agreement which has been breached by the tenant, it is hellish difficult to get them off! (it's not easy even with a breached agreement, for a start you have to prove it). An Agricultural tenancy can be established if the land is used 'continuously' for a year. If grazing livestock are moved off AT THE REQUEST OF THE LANDOWNER, even for just a few days before being allowed back, then unless the return was agreed definitely (as opposed to 'perhaps') before they were taken off, then no tenancy has been established.
When we were in Orkney we had a neighbour who tried to take over some fields that way, but we checked up and horses are not 'agricultural use'.
The alternative in the UK is a 'grass let' which allows the 'tenant' to graze, or cut the grass as hay or silage, for the growing season, but not for the winter.