Allotment conditions

[oldherbaceous]

I'll be the first to pass comment,

Well said, Barney.......

[John]

I think that if you take on an allotment and your agreement says that produce cannot be sold then you ought to abide by the rule or try to get things changed.
Where would we be without rules?
Signing up to something then doing exactly as you please is the French way of doing things!

John

[Cider Boys]

Let's be practical, there is such a thing as (custom and practice) and if people have traditionally sold excess allotment produce, who exactly are they hurting? These old archaic rules were written when indeed a working man would help feed his family with children on the produce from his allotment. That's not the case now, it's now a lifestyle choice, enjoyed as a hobby - not the original intention at all. If some have produce left over from their efforts, do they give it away (undermining professional growers) or just compost it?

If you have excess fresh vegetables there will always be people needing them and happy to pay for them, isn't there some rule about us all practising archery each Sunday?

Live and let live and tell the busybodies and jobsworths to go forth elsewhere, (or something like that) that's my motto.

Barney

[Marigold]

Oh Barney. you leave me speachless, I will leave others to comment.

Beryl.

Not sure in what way you are rendered speechless?

I don;t see the sense in barring sales; unless there is a huge unmet demand for allotments? Is that it?

NB not an allotmenteer by the way..

Times are hard. And good produce is valued. We have a great number of farmers' markets here with excellent produce in good demand.

We sell surplus to help work with the homeless.

Maybe some rules are as one said to me, made to be broken. It is for example in our rental lease here that we wash the windows four times a year... a standard lease form! I doubt many actually do that. Our lease also forbids running a business from the house, but, again, as we trade for the work we do, that is allowed to pass. Technically it is??

It harms no one surely?

[Beryl]

Nothing anyone has said has convinced me it is right to sell produce from an allotment for personal gain or profit.
As John said if you sign an agreement you should stick by it or seek to change it through the proper channels.
The reasons these days why people take up allotments is varied and as I said before the sale to friends and family to cover expenses I have no objection to but when it comes to growing for the intention to make profit I take exception. If you want to do that the there are other ways.
I indeed have a large surplus easch year of which I either give away or use to make chutney and jams for charity. Nothing is wasted, however, I grow it and it's mine to do with as I choose even if I choose to compost. I can honestly say in all my years of gardening I have never ever sold anything for my own personal gain.
When does growing and selling for profit from an allotment become a business? and I wonder what would the tax man think about it.

Beryl.

[peter]

If people want to run a business off an allotment or allotments then they should pay a commercial rent.
It costs a fair bit to set up, maintain and run allotments. As I've noted elsewhere on here it cost my town around £13,000.00 to reinstate a site with 45 plots of five rod each, rented out at £2.50 per rod.
That's an income of £562.50 per year, which will, without taking interest into account, take just over twenty-one years to recoup the capital costs.
Then there's the mowing, hedge cutting, water rates (troughs only) fence & gates maintenance, etc.

Any site not in greenbelt or open country can be worth millions as housing if a council were to sell it.

People running a business are taking a subsidy from ratepayers and handing ammunition to those who want to cut allotments for being a drain on scarce local government cash.

Want to run a business, rent a field.

[Beryl]

Thank you Peter.

Beryl.

[Parsons Jack]

Well said Beryl and Peter

I have no problem with surplus produce being sold to raise money for charity. I can't see any council complaining about that, but where do you draw the line between what is surplus and what is being grown for profit?

Some parts of the UK have massively long waiting lists for plots, so how would you feel if you were on a 7 year waiting list and knew that loads of plot holders on the site in question are using it as a business?

[glallotments]

When does growing and selling for profit from an allotment become a business? and I wonder what would the tax man think about it.

Beryl.

I think legally you would have to declare any income on your tax form. I have some links on my website which provide a little commission and I have to declare any income from this source.

[Cider Boys]

This is a general observation and not aimed at any forum individual.

What a lot of pedantic nonsence regarding running a business from an allotment, do you seriously think you can make a profit from selling surplus produce from a little allotment? Get real, I've got 6 tractors and every implement going (mainly used for contract work) and hardly break even on my rented 35 acres. This pedantic nonsense has become too prevalent in recent years, you will be wanting to tax and fine 'bob a job scouts' soon. People that sell surplus produce, the odd jar of honey etc etc are just carrying on a country(and town) tradition that benefits everyone. Again what harm does it do?

Barney

[Parsons Jack]

Where do you draw the line though Barney?

There is a world of difference between the odd jar of honey, and 60% of plotholders on one site growing produce to sell.

[glallotments]

I guess the guys on our site who just use the land for rearing chickens and cart about tray loads of eggs must be making a profit of sorts as I know they don't do it as a hobby.

[peter]

Exactly why I phrased my reply carefully, as the odd thing here & there, a donation to the church fete, or dealing with a glut or surpluses is not the issue in question here.

My surpluses, I either give to fellow plotholders, in the knowledge they'll do likewise to me with something else, or I take stuff to work & any money I get there goes to the Hearing Dogs charity.

A signed agreement is enforceable and signing it and then ignoring its terms is just plain stupid, as it leaves one not a leg to stand on.

[FelixLeiter]

...do you seriously think you can make a profit from selling surplus produce from a little allotment?

Turns out that you can:

I for one started out renting unwanted allotments (in those days no one wanted them)) and I expect technically I should not have used them for a business, but I did and did rather well from them

[Cider Boys]

Perhaps rather than trying to snipe at me you reread what I said, I referred to little profit from a little allotment. I rented a block of over 50 many years ago that were in a total neglected state, as I had the machinery I was able to put them into production, they now are used as individual allotments. What harm did that do?

Again I respectfully ask what harm does it do to sell surplus produce to willing purchasers?

Live and let live, we all do things that are technically wrong don't we?

Barney