Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Chatting on the Plot => Topic started by: jaydig on July 27, 2022, 09:02
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Has anyone else been notified of an increase of 35%+ for the rent of their plot? I know that unless all other leisure facilities are being increase by the same amount this is an illegal move on their part, so we are gathering as much information as possible before we take them to task on this.
It would be interesting to know what others are being charged before we question our local council. They provide no services to us whatsoever throughout the year so we are at a loss as to how they can justify this massive increase, particularly considering that many of our plot holders are pensioners or people on lower incomes who want to provide food for their families.
Any input would be appreciated.
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I don't pretend to know your tax laws, but over here, our property values have gone up a lot, and so have our property taxes. Could it be related to that? I think our property tax increase this year would be close to 30 percent.
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I don't pretend to know your tax laws, but over here, our property values have gone up a lot, and so have our property taxes. Could it be related to that? I think our property tax increase this year would be close to 30 percent.
It's different over here, allotment rents are linked, by law, to the prices charged for any other community leisure activity, for example, swimming, bowling, tennis court hire, etc., and have to be what is deemed as reasonable. Any increase has to be within the parameters of, in the case of allotments, The Allotment Act 1950, which covers all aspects of allotment gardening.
The allotment rent in another area has been increased by 7%, which is more or less in line with the legal restraints, but we really need to know what percentage other areas are increasing their rents by in order to put the numbers forward in our objections to this.
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We don't get invoiced until September, so won't know 'til then.
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It is steep, but when were prices last put up, and how much were / are they charging?
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It is steep, but when were prices last put up, and how much were / are they charging?
Current charge is £49.80 per 1/16th acre plot. We had a massive 38% rise back in 2013, and rises since then have averaged 3-5%, more or less in line with inflation. The latest rise is around 35% on the current charge. We have no input from the council, nothing extra is provided and the council officer rarely sets foot onsite. As I mentioned, it would be useful to know what other councils are doing with increases to rents, just as a guideline. We don't usually get our invoices until September, like MoS, but there is a notice on the site gates informing us of the new charges.
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So it's going up from about £50 to about £67 for a standard size plot of about 300 sq yards.
Ours were £96 for a similar size plot in 2017 or 2018, when a newly-set up charitable trust took over management of the various sites across the city from the council. They were not breaking even at that point, and if the council continued to manage them, the rents would have had to go up further to cover the cost.
However, since the trust is now managed by volunteers, rents have not gone up since then, although with inflationary pressures on the various contracts that exist, they may have to do so at some point.
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Our council Allotment Project Officer has told us to expect rents to increase by 25%. They were due to do it this year, but had council elections in May and didn’t want to make a move before this. His explanation and he wondered why there was a bit of eye rolling at that point.
We have got some older plot holders that are heavily subsidised and pay around £6 to £9 pa, whereas the rest of us pay more like £35 to £50 pa. It’s not clear yet whether the 25% is just them coming into line with us or a flat 25% for everyone.
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No sign of an increase yet as ours are renewed in September.
One ominous thought is that the water use may have gone up due to the very hot weather. Having said that rather too many plot holders have neglected their plots so that may balance out. At present the plan is for us to make way for yet more housing so one can only plan short term! My shed is virtually collapsing but I’m not buying a new one any time soon. Apologies for rant. At present I think the cost will rise by 10% or less.
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Our rent is £30 a year for a standard plot. We have been told it will go up to £33 next year. It has gone up by a pound or so every year for the last 6-7 years so it's a bigger rise but only 10%! We only get a water supply.
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Our site was run by the council up until 9 years ago when we formed a association and run the site ourselves
We were prompted to do this by the council , Working well now for the last 9 years :)
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Thanks very much for all of your input, it has been useful. The actual percentage rise we are facing is, in fact, 38%. All rises over the past years have been more or less in line with charges for other leisure activities in the area, but the council will not tell us what the proposed increases are for these for the coming year. As I mentioned that last big increase we had was in 2013, followed up until now with normal increases. Many, many plots have been left untenanted despite a lengthy waiting list and the allotment site is right in the middle of an area that is undergoing massive housing development. It would be in the council's interests to close the site and sell it off profitably, which, although it is a statutory permanent site, could be achieved if they appeal to the relevant Secretary of State. Many plotholders are going to give up in the face of this rent rise, which is likely the intent. Time will tell.
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the council will not tell us what the proposed increases are
What about the freedom of information act ? ,
Have you approached them about forming an association , You run the site they charge you a yearly rent .
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Our lovely council = Welwyn-Hatfield = has just informed us that allotment rates are to rise by 300%. From £12.50 per 25 sq m to £37.50.
I understand the 1950 Allotments Act stipulates rents must be reasonable - a 300% increase putting our rates far higher than neighbouring councils does not sound reasonable to us.
The only justifications the council gives are:
1. Higher contractor costs
2. Increased use of water (not all the sites have mains water)
3. "Administration"
We have requested the council to put some figures on these reasons and are publicising our planight.
Anyone have experience with this issue? Any ideas on how we can get the council to reconsider?
Thanks, Philip
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We have a rise in plot payments this year, it was £20.00 per Plot now going up to£25.00, reason cost of water!!
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Philip, that does seem rather extreme, although I see that the price you've quoted is for a plot with water, and the cost of water during the drought must have been high (now up to £22.50 for one without water supply)
I'd also want to know how they can justify that, though.
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We also have a plot increase this year from £20.00 to £30.00 all because our lovely committee want to !!
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Never had an allotment, so what do they do with the money and how do they justify the increase?
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We are an association run by volunteers on behalf of the town council. We haven't had a price rise but once since about 2016 when the then committee protested loudly but weren't heard - rents went from £40 to £47.50. 2021 we had a rise waved through as the town clerk left to £50. We have half price for pensioners and a set rate for some small plots we have. How the money is spent?
1. Certain amount of insurance for the committee to undertake repairs
2. Membership of the National Allotment Society which we have found invaluable for advice from the legal team and access to the Kings Seeds scheme.
3. Repairs. The last nearly 5 years we have been playing catch up as previous committee had done nowt but let the town council take most of the income and put it into their coffers for other things. At the moment we are allowed to keep all our rental income - which we are cafefully spending on imrovements. We might just have 95 out of 100 plots which are in decent condition by end of this season. Our main problem at the moment is that we are still clearing pigeon crees where the old boys have died and left us with some monumental problems.
4. A small amount goes on paper, printer ink, stamp and such as you can't run an allotment association without some admin.
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We are lucky that we don't have to pay for water and we do get boundary repairs done by the council (well they are supposed to do so but it seems a little hard to get this done at present).
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Our Committee met last week to set the rent for the coming year. We decided to keep the rent the same at £40 a year plus £20 a year for water per full size plot, making a total of £60. We offer a reduction for those over the age of 60 to rent £20, which with the water makes a total of £40. We also charge a total of £40 for a half plot. Each plot gets a free jar of our own honey and this year 2 bags of compost.
Today our local council (Bradford) announced an increase of rent on council run sites from £45.32 for any size of plot plus £22 for water to a new price of rent of £55 plus water remaining at £22, giving a new total of £77.00, up from £67.32. They charge a concession rate of rent £27.50 plus £22 water, giving a new total of £47.50, up from £44.66. I expect there will be complaints about the level of increase soon.
We have only been self managed since 2019, but managed to reduce the rent to current levels in 2020 and maintain it at that level since. Our main expenditure is on water, public liability and equipment insurance and maintenance of fences, trees and machinery. We are still building a contingency fund in the event of a major requirement such as a water leak but also saving up for a composting toilet facility. A fairly small site with 41 plots, 3 of them half size (the fourth half has our shipping container).
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Don’t forget that under the 1950 Allotments Act, the holders of statutory allotments MUST be given 12 months notice of increased allotment rent.
https://www.allotment-garden.org/allotment-information/allotments-the-law/
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Don’t forget that under the 1950 Allotments Act, the holders of statutory allotments MUST be given 12 months notice of increased allotment rent.
https://www.allotment-garden.org/allotment-information/allotments-the-law/
Very interesting Aunty, thank you.
On another note but pertinent to Aunty’s post, how do you find out if an allotment site is a Statutory allotment?
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If a site has been acquired or appropriated by a local authority (of any type, from parish to county council) for the specific purpose of being used as allotments, then this site has special protection and is known as a 'statutory allotments' site.
https://www.farmgarden.org.uk/system/files/allotlawandcommgrowing.pdf
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Don’t forget that under the 1950 Allotments Act, the holders of statutory allotments MUST be given 12 months notice of increased allotment rent.
https://www.allotment-garden.org/allotment-information/allotments-the-law/
I don't think that is quite right. They must give 12 months notice of an end to a tenancy if there is no breach of the tenancy agreement, but there is no such requirement to give notice about a rent increase. In practice many councils do give 12 months notice, but by no means all.
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It is correct. Have you read this government document? :
https://www.farmgarden.org.uk/system/files/allotlawandcommgrowing.pdf
Our parish council always gives us one years notice !
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It is correct. Have you read this government document? :
https://www.farmgarden.org.uk/system/files/allotlawandcommgrowing.pdf
Our parish council always gives us one years notice !
I have looked at the document and I can't find anything in it about giving a 12 month notice of a rent increase. Sorry if I have missed it. Lots of councils do, but many, including our own Bradford Council, do not.
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I’m afraid many councils ignore the law.
I had one councillor try to tell me that creating a bylaw to ban keeping chickens would over rule the act of Parliament giving the right to allotment tenants to keep them - total nonsense.