Allotment Rules and the Law

Your first port of call to take on an allotment plot would be to contact your local authority; Your local Parish/Town/Borough/City Council who may run your local allotment sites or be able to provide contact details for private allotment societies in your area. This varies from area to area and availability can be limited with long waiting lists. 

If you find that there is no allotment site in your local area, you can apply to your local authority under Section 23 of the 1908 Small Holdings and Allotments Act whereby all local authorities have a mandatory obligation to provide allotment provision excluding London (London Government Act 1963). This can be a long process and you will be required to bring together at least five other local council tax-payers who would also like an allotment plot to write an official letter requesting this provision.

If you have local knowledge of nearby land; particularly disused land, it would be worthwhile to find out who owns the land and approach them. Many keen growers are transforming their own gardens into kitchen gardens and vegetable patches to be able to grow their own. 

There is also the option of joining a Community Garden, however that option negates the opportunity to independently grow and lay out your plot as you desire.

An allotment society will usually be run by an elected committee who will collectively make decisions on funding, equipment and works to be carried out on site and any actions to be taken. They will invite members to an annual AGM meeting where plot holders will have the opportunity to vote in committee members and voice any concerns about the allotment site.

Committee members can sometimes claim work hours and some members will be voluntary, but they will have their own individual roles and skill sets to offer; such as treasury, chairperson and so on. Many committees will offer above and beyond the requirements and have more facilities for their plot holders and may also run a shop for growing essentials.

Many committees become members of the National Allotment Society and such organisations to ensure good practices and legal compliance for their allotment sites.

Once you have applied and have been offered a plot, you will be issued with a legal document to sign called an Allotment Letting Agreement; a Tenancy Agreement. The tenancy agreement sets out the rights and responsibilities of the plot holder. Common clauses include rent, duration of the lease and termination notice, undertakings of the allotment holder as well as permitted activities, the building of structures and sub-letting rules. 

Allotment holders are required to pay rent, which the law says should be at an affordable rate, which is deemed reasonable for the piece of land. The yearly rent can vary widely depending on the location and size of the plot as well as facilities, and the landlord is responsible for the payment of water rates and general maintenance of the site.

Allotment agreements usually run indefinitely; being renewed upon receipt of your annual rent charge.

The Allotments Act 1922 provided allotment holders with some security of tenure by setting out specific periods of notice for ending a tenancy. Landlords could only end an allotment garden tenancy by giving the allotment holder a minimum of six months’ notice. This was increased to 12 months by the Allotments Act 1950. The landlord may end the tenancy by giving one month’s notice where the allotment holder has breached any of the conditions of the tenancy agreement.

Requirements of the plot holder will likely include the following points but may vary:

• Keeping the plot to in reasonable state; weed-free and tidy
• Not to use for commercial use; for personal use only
• Not to cause any issues for the occupiers of other allotments or obstruct any path used by the other occupiers of surrounding allotments
• No subletting the plot without the written consent of the landlord
• No building any structures without the written consent of the landlord

Your Allotment Landlord will be accountable for general upkeep of the Allotment Site, which may include maintaining main accesses, roadways, parking, toilets and water facilities, security of the site and should hold Public Liability Insurance.

Although the last such Act was introduced in 1950, many of the provisions made by the various Acts up to and including the Allotments Act 1950 have been affected by more recent pieces of legislation. For instance, the Local Government Act 1972 amended the allotments legislation in a number of matters of detail, for example, removing the requirement upon local authorities to establish allotments committees (contained in Section 12 of the Allotments Act 1925). Similarly, the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980 abolished a number of minor Ministerial controls over a local authority's administration of allotments. Other Acts which have impacted upon allotments include the Town and Country Planning Act 1971, the Local Government and Planning (Amendment) Act 1981 and the Acquisition of Land Act 1981. More recently, the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1993 repealed various parts of the allotments legislation.