massive rent increase

[lynnew]

Beautiful day, birds singing, couldn't wait to get to the lotty. The old man on the plot next to me came over with tears streaming down his face. He had just had his renewal contract through and without any warning our landlord wants to put our rent up from £11 a year to £120!!!!!!!!
We dont know what to do. Mine isnt up for renewal until june. They are owned by punch taverns and we have no facilities such as water or anything.
I just feel sick and so upset I have three plots so thats going to cost me £360 a year. Ive had mine for 5 years and they were completly overgrown and its only now that we are reaping the benefits.

[SarzWix]

Oh Lynne, that's awful I don't know much about rent laws, but I'm sure it'd be worth having a chat with the CAB and see if there's anything you can do. It does sound like they may have another agenda there though...
Perhaps they might agree to being paid monthly instead of all at once?

[greendean]

sorry to hear about that. last year they decided not to increase the rents so put the water rates up to £30 even though the sky is full of free stuff!

since they they have been creating new plots etc to cope with increased demand i dont think it will be long before we have to pay for it somewhere

according to some legislation the money generated should be put back into the allotments etc but it never does

have they got an alterior motive ie they want you off the land to sell it?

i'm sure others on the grape will give you more information about your rights etc

[jacob marley]

They are having a laugh ain't they....jacob

[BrideXIII]

Beautiful day, birds singing, couldn't wait to get to the lotty. The old man on the plot next to me came over with tears streaming down his face. He had just had his renewal contract through and without any warning our landlord wants to put our rent up from £11 a year to £120!!!!!!!!
We dont know what to do. Mine isnt up for renewal until june. They are owned by punch taverns and we have no facilities such as water or anything.
I just feel sick and so upset I have three plots so thats going to cost me £360 a year. Ive had mine for 5 years and they were completly overgrown and its only now that we are reaping the benefits.

might also be worth while checking that that isn't a misprint it could have meant £12 ? just a thought, or wishful thinking maybe?

[jacob marley]

If whaty you say is true that is 1100% increase that puts a £3 pint of beer up to £33,0 that is definitly Rachmanism they probably want you of the site it might pay to ask how much to go....jacob

[Peter]

....according to some legislation the money generated should be put back into the allotments etc but it never does...

That is for "Statuatory Allotments", those provided by Councils under the allotment acts, if the Landlord is Punch Taverns then they are "private allotments" and you need to read your lease agreement ver closely, but they could be within their rights.

[snuffer]

Like BrideXIII I was wondering if it might be a typo. and they really meant £12.00. If not it looks like it's time for GYO'ers to be boycotting any business owned by Punch Taverns.

[Snadger]

Possibly a case for NSALG (National Society of Amenity And Leisure Gardening........I think?)

[Norm]

Snadger's right. This is the web addie
The National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners, NSALG, Allotments, protect, promote, preserve, grow your own
They should be able to offer all sorts of help, but you will need to join and get as many of the other plot holders to join as well. Membership is only a couple of quid a year.
Sedgefield Borough Council are about to raise their plot rentals for Shildon in Co Durham and the holders are up in arms. The rents go up from £3 to £10 a year ????!!!!!

[Paulottie]

We had a 900% increase a couple of years ago too!....however as the rent was just 10p a rod before so an increase to £1 thus an average plot for £10 + £5 water is still well within a reasonable average. These are parish council allotments so I looked into my rights at the time.

As I recall the principles of allotments..ie providing land from which the parisioners can feed themselves are still pretty much the same but the 1922, 1925, 1950 Allotments acts set out that rents could not be more than you could reasonably be expected to pay. (and that would definitely fall outside the normal range) Particularly the 1950 act dealt with compensation at any time of year, notice to quit being extended to a year and interestingly the apparently never used, making tenants that quit neglected plots liable to pay compensation!!!. I digress....There are several other acts but allotment law is quite complicated for one post!

I agree with Peter that privately owned allotment may not, on the face of it, be bound by quite the same legal restrictions as council run sites but there may well be some form of covenant on the land....or you may have statutory or implied right after a period. If that covenant said... eg ...'they can only build if less than x% of the site is occupied', you might then argue a sort of 'constructive dismissal' angle....that sort of thing

Definately try NSALG. as a first port of call....let us know what they say as I have a couple of other contacts if that fails.

[NOG]

and you need to read your lease agreement ver closely, but they could be within their rights.

First: Ouch
Second: You will normally have a licance for an allotment and not a lease. The main differace is that you can use the land for a set period and it does not create a tenancy so at the end of the licance the Landlord can say "bye" or "1100% rent increase please"

[snohare]

You have my complete sympathy, our allotment rents have gone up from £19.05 to £70 in two years ! It just makes you absolutely heartsick, doesn't it. It's against all natural justice. But the devil is in the details, read the lease.
My immediate thought is, talk to the local newspapers, particularly explaining the amount of time, effort and money that this old bloke will have put into the ground. This is the sort of story they should love.
The other thought (a long shot) is, think about getting a grant to manage the place yourselves as an association. If Punch Taverns are doing this not to get the land for development but simply to improve their bottom line, the prospect of a landfill tax grant helping to provide facilities and subsidise your rents might help convince them to hold off on increases until you have got a grant awarded.

[Matt.]

Wow thats a lot of money for not a lot. If it was me I'd definitely jack it in...

[Eyren]

I agree with Snohare - go straight to the local newspapers with this. Big human interest story with a strong "credit crunch" angle - the landlords aren't going to come out of this one smelling of roses