[lincspoacher]

look what i found...........


Small Holdings and Allotments Act 1926 (c.52)
     Main body
     Part I Small Holdings
     Loans by County Councils to Persons purchasing Small Holdings
                                            
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13.
Power of county council to advance money for purchase of small holdings.
— (1) Where a person being desirous of purchasing a small holding which he is able to cultivate properly has agreed with the owner for the purchase thereof, the county council of the county in which the holding or any part of it is situate may, if they think fit, advance to the purchaser on the security of the holding an amount not exceeding nine-tenths of the value of the holding as ascertained to the satisfaction of the county council repayable [F1 with interest at such rate as may be agreed between the council and the purchaser] by a terminable annuity for a period not exceeding sixty years.
(2) The provisions of this Act with respect to the terminable annuity secured by a charge on a small holding sold by a county council, and with respect to any small holding so sold, shall apply to a terminable annuity charged and a holding purchased under this section, as if the advance was the purchase money.
(3) No advance shall be made by a county council under this section unless they are satisfied that the title to the holding is good, that the sale is made in good faith, and that the price is reasonable.
(4) Where the person desirous of effecting the purchase is a person for whom a cottage holding could be provided by the county council, this section shall apply as if references therein to small holdings included references to cottage holdings.


So the County Council has the power to lend you 90% of the money to buy a smallholding...........and with the government trying to encourage allotments, i wonder what can be done to MAKE them lend you the money?

[SnooziSuzi]

Wow! my eyes lit up when I read that!

Unfortunately:

the county council... may, if they think fit, advance to the purchaser on the security of the holding an amount not exceeding nine-tenths of the value of the holding

In other words, the council could (and no doubt would) decide that they don't think fit so it's back to Northern Rock you go!  :roll:

[Yorkie]

Nice try, but nothing can be done - allotments aren't smallholdings.

You need to look at the definition of 'smallholding' in s.61 of the principal Act, i.e. the Small Holdings and Allotments Act 1908:  

The expression “small holding” means an agricultural holding which exceeds one acre and either does not exceed fifty acres, or, if exceeding fifty acres, is at the date of sale or letting of an annual value for the purposes of income tax not exceeding one hundred pounds.

The expression “allotment” includes a field garden.

If you read the whole of the 1926 Act, it is clear that a small holding means a farm or similar - there are provisions for dwelling houses and other agricultural buildings etc.