Commentary on Sections Termination of lease of allotment or allotment site
428.Section 126 confers a power on a local authority to terminate the lease of whole or part of an allotment or an allotment site.
429.Where a tenant has been complying with allotment site regulations made under section 115, the minimum notice of termination the local authority is required to give is one year (subsection (2)). This applies where the Scottish Ministers have consented to disposal of the site, change of its use, or renunciation of the lease of the site under section 117 or 118. Where there has been a breach of allotment site regulations by a tenant, the notice of the proposed termination that must be given by the local authority to the tenant is one month (subsection (2)).
430.A local authority must write to any tenant to inform them of its intention to give notice to terminate a lease no later than one month in advance of serving such a notice (subsection (5)). The local authority is also required to allow the tenant any opportunity to make representations to the authority in relation to the proposed termination and must take account of such representations. After considering these representations the local authority must write to the tenant to inform them of their intention to no longer proceed or to give notice (subsection (5)(d)). A tenant who is aggrieved by a notice may appeal to the sheriff within 21 days of the date of the notice (subsection (6)). A notice served under this section does not take effect until the appeal period has expired or, where there is an appeal, the appeal has been withdrawn or finally determined (subsection (8)).
431.The written notice must specify the termination date of the lease (subsection (1)) If, however, the local authority has given notice under section 128 where its lease of the site has been terminated by its landlord, it does not require to also give notice under this section (subsection (11)).