Allotment increase - is it legal

[veggiechicken]

I agree with Wendy, this is an old thread and the OP hasn't returned! We may never know the outcome!
Yet another unresolved thread

[john9159]

I haven't read all replies to this post and haven't established if your allotments are privately owned or owned by the local council.
We at Hough End in Manchester are owned by the council and their rule is that a notice period of 12 months must first be given before any increase can be implemented.
I manage the site and collect the rents in advance although sometimes it's like trying to get blood out of a stone; no-one has tenancies updated until fully paid up.
The last time the council proposed an increase a few years ago, this was to be 1p per square yard but as they didn't give the required notice, they scrapped the increase and haven't asked for this in the years since.
Only one other allotment that I know of in Manchester collected rents in arrears so I imagine a few people had their plots free of any charges should they have decided to leave after one year. Can't think how or why the council allowed this practice when we or I have to pay collected rents to the council usually in January following the start of the allotments year (November).
Incidentally, as we manage the site on behalf of the council, we are allowed to keep 30% of rents collected each year which is helpful but then I don't get paid for all the work I do, nor do any other members of the committee.

[Thelma Sanders]

Ours changed from paying 12 months in arrears, to paying in the middle of the year, with a view to changing to paying in advance within a couple of years.

All discussed/decided at a widely advertised meeting about how they could make the change from in arrears to in advance, because too many were leaving before the end of a year, without paying.

[Snadger]

I/we manage the site for the Council. They have just updated the tenancy agreement to cover the next three years so we know how much our costs will be.
They bill us half yearly which is handy if we were cash strapped and waiting for plotholders to pay rents. We aren't cash strapped and at £45 per plot, for the last four years, we haven't needed to put the rent up to the maximum we are allowed to charge by the Council of £60.00.