Guides / Chasing unpaid rent
Chasing unpaid allotment rent
Every site has them: the plot holder who has not paid since March, tends a beautiful plot, and waves cheerfully at the treasurer. Chasing rent is the least loved job in allotment volunteering. Here is a process that is fair, keeps the committee out of arguments, and includes the letters so you do not have to write them.
First, the mindset
Most unpaid rent is forgetfulness, a lost email, or a hard patch in someone's life. It is almost never defiance. A good arrears process assumes the best at every step while still moving steadily towards a resolution, because the plot belongs to the association and there is a waiting list of people who want it. Fairness to the waiting list matters as much as kindness to the late payer.
The four-step process
- Friendly reminder, 2 to 3 weeks after the due date. Assume they missed it. Most arrears end here.
- Second reminder, 4 to 6 weeks after the due date. Still warm, but with a clear date and a nudge to get in touch if paying is difficult right now.
- Final notice, 8 to 10 weeks after. Formal, referencing the tenancy agreement, sent by the secretary or chair rather than the treasurer, with a firm deadline (14 or 28 days is typical).
- Notice to quit, only after the final notice expires. Follow your own tenancy agreement's termination clause to the letter, minute the decision at committee, and put it in writing.
Two rules make the whole thing defensible: every step is in writing, and the same process applies to everyone, including committee members' friends. The moment exceptions appear, so do the arguments.
Letter templates
Adapt freely. Swap in your association's name, dates and amounts.
1. The friendly reminder
Subject: Plot [12] rent reminder
Dear [name],
Just a gentle reminder that the rent for plot [12] ([£45]) was due on [1 October] and our records show it as unpaid. It is easy to miss, so apologies if this has crossed with your payment.
You can pay by [payment details or link]. If anything looks wrong on our side, do let me know.
Best wishes,
[Treasurer name], Treasurer, [Association name]
2. The second reminder
Subject: Plot [12] rent, second reminder
Dear [name],
I wrote a few weeks ago about the rent for plot [12] ([£45]), due on [1 October], which is still showing as unpaid.
Could you arrange payment by [date, two weeks out]? You can pay by [payment details or link].
If paying is difficult at the moment, please get in touch, in confidence, and we will work something out. The committee would much rather know than not.
Best wishes,
[Treasurer name], Treasurer, [Association name]
3. The final notice
Subject: Plot [12], final notice of unpaid rent
Dear [name],
Despite reminders on [date] and [date], the rent of [£45] for plot [12], due on [1 October], remains unpaid.
Under clause [X] of the tenancy agreement you signed, the committee may terminate a tenancy where rent remains unpaid. We do not want to do this, but the plot cannot be held indefinitely while others wait.
Please pay by [date, 14 or 28 days out] or contact us before then. If we have heard nothing by that date, the committee will consider the tenancy at its next meeting and may issue notice to quit.
Yours sincerely,
[Secretary or Chair name], on behalf of the committee, [Association name]
A note on the legal side
If your members hold their plots under a tenancy agreement with your association, that agreement is what governs termination: follow its notice clause exactly, in writing, and keep copies. If your plot holders rent directly from a council, statutory rules under the Allotments Acts apply to the council's notices instead. When in doubt, or if a tenant disputes a termination, pause and take advice before acting; a month's delay is cheaper than a legal argument. The National Allotment Society offers guidance to member associations on exactly this.
Or stop the arrears happening at all
Sites that move to online payment with automatic reminders find arrears mostly evaporate. Not because members changed, but because the two real causes, "I forgot" and "paying is a faff", both disappear when a reminder email arrives by itself with a pay-by-card link in it. Our guide to collecting rent online covers the options.
Automatic reminders, without the awkwardness
AllotMe Plots sends the friendly reminder and the overdue notice for you, on a schedule your committee sets, with a payment link in every email. The treasurer stops being the site's debt collector. Free for sites up to 30 plots.
Try it free