Frequently Asked Questions
For Community Growing Groups
Part Three: Costs
Introduction
The aim of this pack of FAQs is to provide general advice to community growing groups on
frequently raised issues relating to finding, securing and sustaining land for formal and informal
amenity open space, gardening and food growing. For ease of reference, the term ‘community
garden’ will be used as a generic terms for these activities. This is the third in a series of five FAQs
for new community groups – see the end of this document for further details.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do you give information on sources of funding for community gardening?
A: The primary focus of CLAS is to provide advice and technical support on means of finding and
securing land for community gardening, rather than funding. There are already a number of
organisations providing funding information and CLAS will signpost to these via its website.
Examples include Funding Central for the whole of the UK, or DTAS funding pages in Scotland.
Q: What is an appropriate rent for the landowner to charge?
A: It depends upon what the landowner wants to achieve – some landowners let communities
use their land for free (for example disused or neglected land in urban areas) or for a nominal/at
cost sum (such as the National Trust). Others rent it out at a market rate (for example normal
farm-land rental charge). Some farmers will also consider taking surplus produce as part
payment, perhaps to sell on in a farm shop. Many local authorities have policies which restrict
rental rates for community land uses.
Q: Should we try to negotiate to reduce the proposed rent?
A: You could try negotiating, particularly if you feel that the proposed rent is too high, but you
should be prepared to have good grounds and evidence to back up your proposal. You may find
that the proposed rent is a small percentage of the overall turnover of your community garden
and maintaining a good relationship with the landlord and paying the proposed rent may be
more worthwhile in the longer term. Some tips and hints on negotiation techniques can be found
in the CLAS Overview document on Negotiating.
Try using examples of rents charged to other, similar community gardens. Contact similar groups
and ask if they are prepared to give you this information. To find community gardening groups
near you, use the map search on the FCFCG website. In Scotland you can also check the
Assessor’s Roll which will give you an idea of the assessed annual rental value for similar sites.
You may access this at your local library.
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If your group has little cash but has other resources to offer, discuss how else you might reward
the landlord. For example, you can clear the site of rubbish, offer volunteer labour, bring custom
to their farm business, etc.
Q: The landowner wants us to pay his legal fees. Is this appropriate?
A: Yes, the landowner is completely within his rights to require you to pay for all his legal costs in
drawing up the lease etc. Try to negotiate, however, particularly if the community garden will
meet the aims and objectives of the land owner or will provide significant other benefit to the
landowner.
Q: Legal advice will cost us valuable money. Should we engage a solicitor?
A: Taking on land for a community garden can raise a number of legal issues, for example:
 There may be restrictions imposed on the land in the past which may restrict its use, for
example rights of way over the land may have been granted to certain groups of people
or specific uses may be allowed or disallowed;
 Contracts and partnership agreements with other stakeholders, professional advisors and
contractors may be required;
 The landowner is likely to require a lease, which will contain certain requirements and
may require registration with the Registers of Scotland.
We strongly advise you to contact a solicitor for advice on any legal matter. A directory of
solicitors in the UK is available from the Law Society website. In Scotland you can also use the
Law Society of Scotland website.
Q: What other professional costs may be required?
A: This will depend on the nature of your community garden and the specific characteristics of
your site. You can contact local professionals through their professional body, which usually have
online directories. Examples include:
 Town planners (planning permissions etc.)
 Architects (designing buildings etc.)
 Building surveyors (for project management, building conditions, building costs etc)
 Landscape architect/gardener (garden design, layout, plants)
 Transport engineer (access, parking issues)
 Soil experts (contaminated land etc).
Q: How can we keep our legal and other professional costs to a minimum?
A: A common problem with consulting experts is that you may not always know what advice is
needed or the full implications of your proposal at the start of a project. As a result, it may be
difficult for the expert to fully advise you of likely costs. Start by asking for advice in stages,
initially to explore the implications of the project and then for more specific advice, for example
on formal documents and plans that need to be drafted.
Don’t forget to search for skills within your group or local community. Find out what skills are
available and can be used for your project. You may not be able to engage the services of a
community group member personall, but that person may be able to give you tips on how to
approach the project or contact other professionals. Do not expect group members to give their
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professional time for free just because they have a particular skill set you need. They may be
bound by their own professional duties/contracts to not provide such advice.
Good practice can often help to reduce fees or unexpected charges. Always:
 make sure that you give clear instructions to the professional
 reach agreement in writing, and
 make sure that you have a full set of all relevant records (correspondence, information,
plans etc) to give to your professional.
You could use the CLAS lease requirements template – Heads of Terms as a starting point in the
preparation of a lease, which will allow you to consider issues prior to contacting your solicitor
about a lease.
Q: Are other costs possible?
A: You may encounter other costs, including fees, for:
 Planning applications.
 building control warrants
 In Scotland, registering leases at Registers of Scotland
There will, of course, be costs associated with setting up your site – for example raised beds,
toilets, hard standings, play equipment etc.
Q: Do we need insurance?
A: YesIt is essential to secure public liability insurance - it is likely that the landowner will insist on
this in the lease. You should also check with the landowner that his or her own insurance is
adequate to cover potential liabilities such as access or damages to services if the land is rented
to a third party.
Further information on insurance is available on the insurance information page of the FCFCG
website.
Still need more information on Costs?
If you need more information on potential costs associated with securing land for your
community garden, please contact us at CLAS.
To allow us to consider your situation and give you the most appropriate and quickest advice, it
would really help us if you could give us as much information on the current status of the land.
An email with a short written summary of your actions, plans and photos of the site, file notes of
talks with landowners / their representatives or your local authority, copies of correspondence
etc. would be good. The more background information we have, the better our response to you.
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Further Information
Other FAQs for Community Growing Groups
This document is the third in a series of five FAQs for community growing groups, which are split
as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Introduction, Context and Benefits
Hints and Tips on Finding Land
Costs
Permissions & controls
Leases
To read other FAQs, and find other information on community land issues, please visit
www.communitylandadvice.org.uk
www.communitylandadvice.org.uk
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