allotment rules

BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL ALLOTMENT RULES

1. Application
These rules are made under Section 28 of the Small Holdings and Allotments Act 1908 and apply to all Allotments including any let before these rules came into force. They come into force on the date they are sealed.

2. Allocation of Vacant Allotments
Vacant Allotments on a Site must be offered by the Council or the Association to applicants on the waiting list for that Site kept by the Council or Association except where the plot falls vacant because of the Tenant’s death where they must be offered to any member of the Tenant’s family who wishes to take over the Allotment (and if more than one, the one the Council selects).

3. Assignment
The Tenancy of an Allotment is personal to the Tenant. Tenants may not assign, underlet or part with possession of all or part of their Allotments (including the chalet or tool locker/or greenhouse).

4. Rent
4.1 Tenants must pay Rent when the Council requires. The Council may offer or require discounts to be made on whatever basis the Council
decides.
4.2 Rent may be increased at any time provided the Council takes reasonable steps to give all Tenants 12 months notice. An accidental failure to
give notice to an individual Tenant will not invalidate that Tenant’s Rent increase.
4.3 The Council may increase the Rent without notice where additional amenities are provided on a Site.

5. Cultivation and Use of Allotments
5.1 Tenants must use Allotments for their own personal use and must not carry out any business or sell produce from Allotments.
5.2 Allotments must be kept clean, free from weeds, weIl manured and maintained in a good state of cultivation and fertility.
5.3 Allotments must not be used to grow any crops for which compensation may be payable at the end of the Tenancy.
5.4 Tenants must keep hedges, fences and gates within the boundary of their allotment properly cut and trimmed and ditches within the boundary of the allotment properly cleaned and maintained.
5.5 Tenants must not cut or prune any trees adjoining the Allotment.
5.6 Tenants must also observe any other rules or regulations which the Council makes at any time in the future.
5.7 Tenants must comply with all directions given by an Officer of the City Council or any directions properly given by or on behalf of an Association.

6. Hoses, Bonfires and Other Restrictions
6.1 Hoses or sprinklers are not allowed except where required to fill water containers.
6.2 Bonfires are only permitted for the burning of diseased plant material and such bonfires will not be left unattended.
6.3 Tenants must not bring or use corrugated or sheeted iron (or similar metal objects) or barbed wire on the Allotment.
6.4 Carpet and underlay may not be used on the Site.
6.5 Rubbish refuse or decaying matter (except for a reasonable amount of manure or compost required for cultivation) must not be deposited on the Allotment by the Tenant or by anyone else with the Tenant’s permission.
6.6 Tenants must not remove any mineral, gravel, sand, earth or clay from the Allotment unless they have written permission to do to from the
Council.
6.7 Tenants must not cause or allow any nuisance or annoyance to the Tenant of any other Allotment and must cover any manure on the Site which has not been dug in to the Allotment.
6.8 The Allotment may not be used for arty illegal or immoral purpose and the Tenants must observe all relevant legislation or Codes of Practice relating to activities they carry out on the Allotment.
6.9 Where the Council’s title to a Site requires certain conditions to be observed, all Tenants on that Site must observe those Conditions.

7. Dogs, Animals and Bees
7.1 Dogs must not be brought onto Allotments or any part of the Site unless they are on a lead.
7.2 Animals or livestock (except hens or rabbits) must not be kept on Allotments.
7.3 Hens or rabbits must not be kept so they are prejudicial to health or a nuisance.
7.4 Beehives are not allowed on the Allotment.

8. Unauthorised Persons
8.1 Only the Tenant, or a person authorised or accompanied by the Tenant is allowed on the Site.
8 2 The Council may order any person wrongly allowed onto the Site in breach of these rules to leave immediately.
8.3 The Council may take action for breach of their Tenancy agreement against any Tenant who the Council reasonably believes was responsible for allowing an unauthorised person to be on the Site. .

9. Paths
9.1 Paths provided by Tenants must be within the boundaries of their own Allotments and kept reasonably free from weeds.
9.2 Paths between two Allotments must be kept reasonably free from weeds up to the nearest half width by each adjoining Tenant.
9.3 Paths must be kept clear of obstructions at all times except for paths provided by Tenants only for use on their own Allotment.

10. Sheds, Buildings and Structures
10.1 No buildings, walls or structures may be put up on the Allotment by Tenants, except for a shed or greenhouse which complies with the Council’s specifications and conditions from time to time.
10.2 Any shed or greenhouse which the Council allows on the Allotment must be maintained in a good state of repair and condition to the satisfaction of the council and if the council is not satisfied with the state of repaid it may order the Tenant to remove the shed or greenhouse.

11. Council Chalets, Greenhouses and Tool Lockers
11.1 Tenants must not move, demolish or alter the chalet or greenhouse but must keep them in good repair at all times and in particular must make good any defect or repair within one month of the Council giving the Tenant a notice specifying the repair required.
11.2 In the third year after the Allotment is let to a Tenant and every third year thereafter, the Tenant must apply a coat or wood preservative to the chalet.
11.3 The chalet or greenhouse must not be used except in connection with the proper cultivation of the Allotment and in particular no trade or business may be carried out from the chalet be greenhouse.
11.4 Petrol, oil, fuel, lubricants or other inflammable liquids must not be stored in the chalet or greenhouse.
11.5 The Council is not to be liable for loss by accident, fire, theft or damage of any tools or contents in the chalet, greenhouse or tool locker and need not replace any chalet or greenhouse which is destroyed or damaged.

12. Notice Board and Advertisements
12.1 All Tenants must provide a notice showing clearly the number of the Allotment and maintain it in good condition.
12.2 No other notices or advertisements are allowed on the Allotment.

13. Inspection
13.1 The Allotment (and any shed or greenhouse on it) may be inspected by an officer or member of the Council or an officer of the relevant Association at any time and the Tenants must give whatever access is required by them.

14. Disputes
14.1 Disputes between Tenants are to be referred to the Council (or where the site is managed by an Association, to that Association first, but subject to a right of appeal to the Council) and the decision of the Council will be binding on all the Tenants involved in the dispute.

15. Termination
15.1 The Council may terminate Allotment Tenancies in any of the following ways:-
a) twelve months written Notice To Quit expiring at any time between 29 September to 6 April inclusive; or
b) three months written Notice To Quit:-
i) if the Council requires the allotment for building, mining or any other industrial purpose, or for roads or sewers necessary in connection with building, mining or an industrial purpose; or
ii) where the Council acquired the Allotments for a purpose other than letting as allotments or has appropriated them to another purpose’, or
c) one months Written Notice To Quit if:-
i) Rent is in arrears for 40 days or more (whether formally demanded or not); or
ii) the Tenant is in breach of these rules’, or
iii) the Tenant has become bankrupt or compounded with his or her creditors’, or
d) automatically on 31 December following the death of the Tenant.
15.2 Tenants may terminate Allotment Tenancies by giving the Council one month’s written notice.

16. Change of Address and Notices
16.1 Tenants must immediately inform both the Council and any relevant Association in writing of changes of address.
16.2 Notices to be served by the council on the tenant may be:
a) Left on the Allotment’, or
b) Sent to the Tenant’s address in the Tenancy agreement (or notified to the Council under these rules) by first or second class post, registered letter, recorded delivery or hand delivered’, or
c) Served on the Tenant personally.
16.3 Notices served under sub-paragraph 2 above will be treated as properly served even if not received.
16.4 Notices to be given to the Council should be sent to the Director of Leisure and Community Services, PO Box 2122, Baskerville House, Broad Street, Birmingham B1 ZNE or such other address as the Council notifies in writing to the Tenant.

17. Interpretation and Repeal
17.1 In these rules, the following words are to have the following meanings:
Allotment any allotment or leisure garden let by or an behalf of the Council by any Association.
Association any society, trust, company, committee or association which manages a Site on behalf of the Council.
The Council Birmingham City Council.
Site an Allotment site provided by the Council
Rent the annual rent payable for the Tenancy of an Allotment and all amenities provided with it.
Tenant a person who holds a tenancy of an Allotment.
Tenancy the letting of an Allotment to a Tenant.
17.2 The headings of these rules are not to affect their interpretation.
17.3 The Allotment Rules made on 12 February 1926 are repealed.

The Common Seal of BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL was fixed to these Allotment Rules in 1994.

BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL ALLOTMENT RULES (AMENDMENTS 2003)

Rule 4.1 (Rent)

Additional clause:

“Commencing 1 October 2004, the due date for payment of annual rent will be 1 October.”

Rule 6.2 (Bonfires)

Replacement clause:

“Bonfires are only permitted between 1 October and 31 March and are solely for the disposal of diseased plant material.

Fires should not be allowed to cause a nuisance to neighbouring residents and under no circumstances should be left unattended.”

Rule 16.4 (Notices)

Replacement clause:

“Notices to be given to the Council should be sent to
Assistant Director
Parks, Sports & Events
PO Box 2122
Alpha Tower
Suffolk Street
Queensway
Birmingham B1 1TZ

Or such other address as the Council notifies in writing to the Tenant”