When your allotment tenancy has ended (whether you have given up your plot or because the council has terminated your tenancy) you have certain rights as well as responsibilities in relation to the plot you are vacating.
Your termination letter gives you formal notice of the end your tenancy and your time on your plot comes to an end 28 days after the tenancy is surrendered. For this 28 day period you are effectively still a tenant, however this time should be used to clear your plot in readiness for the plot to be relet as your tenancy will legally end when the 28 day period finishes.
There are three reasons you are given this period of time:
- To remove your belongings: All the plants, produce, tools and materials that you wish to keep must be removed, as after the month ends you legally loose any claim to anything left on the plot.
- To clear the plot in readiness for the next tenant: Any waste materials must be cleared from the plot, including carpet, metal, wood waste and unusable and unsafe structures. If waste is left on the plot, the council may clear this and send you a bill for the cost of removal.
- To deal with waste responsibly: As outlined in the point above, waste must be removed and this must be done in the right way. You may only burn dry organic waste such as untreated timber, twigs, branches, etc during the period of 1 October to 31 March. Inorganic waste materials must not be burned.
The council will consider legal action against anyone who burns inorganic waste on an allotment or who returns to the plot to store waste on it.
After your tenancy has formally ended, the plot will be relet to a new tenant and you will no longer be allowed to access it. However there is no reason why you should not enter the site if you are helping or visiting a tenant on another plot. You may decide that you are better suited to helping a fellow tenant on their allotment, with their agreement, than holding your own tenancy.
Rules relating to allotment termination
As found in the 2015 Allotments rule booklet.
18.1 At the end of your tenancy, you must hand your allotment back to us in reasonable condition in compliance with these rules.
18.2 Allotment keys – tenants as of 1 March 2014 are not required to return their key to the council as the key has been purchased by the tenant when taking on the tenancy.
18.3 You may remove any structures that you have installed. Any that remain once the tenancy has ended will be removed.
18.4 Anything else (including livestock) that remains once the tenancy has ended may be removed by us.
18.5 We may recharge you our costs of putting right anything arising from your failure to comply with paragraph 14.1.
