Evesham Custom

The Evesham Custom is a distinctive form of customary leasehold tenure used in the market gardens of Evesham, Worcestershire. It is the most well-known of a number of former local practises, such as the Ulster Custom and North Lincolnshire Custom. The underlying principle of such customs was that the tenant could be granted compensation for any improvements they made to the land they leased, since the common law did not provide any such protection.

Local customs supplementary to the usual law of leases, such as the Evesham Custom, were seen as having existed over generations in particular areas, being defined as something "to which the memory of man runneth not to the contrary". In the case of Evesham, the custom provided not only a lifetime security of tenure (in a period when market garden leases were generally from year to year, traditionally renewable at Michaelmas) and allowed certain improvements to be made without the landlord's permission, but also ensured that a tenant could be compensated through a system of personal bargaining.

A tenant of a market garden, or other land, under the Evesham Custom has the right to sell their tenancy if the landlord gives their approval, including the right to nominate the new tenant. The payment (known as the "ingoing") made by the incoming tenant includes compensation for any improvements the outgoing tenant has made, such as the planting of fruit trees. The payment also includes a premium for receiving a tenancy offering lifetime security. The entire transaction is made between the outgoing and incoming tenant, with the landlord not involved beyond giving their approval. Furthermore, if the landlord does not accept the new tenant, they are obliged to compensate the outgoing tenant to ensure they did not suffer any financial loss.

This "added value" had the effect of encouraging tenants to further improve their land, by ensuring that they could still realise the full value of the improvements they made if they ended their tenancy. Through this compensation payment and by giving security of tenure, the Custom also gave tenants confidence to invest in crops, like asparagus, that took several years to reach maturity.

From the larger landowner's perspective, the Custom removed from the landlord the trouble and expense of making improvements themselves and the need to negotiate the tenancies of many small garden plots. The Custom helped ensure that Evesham developed a flourishing market gardening industry by the late 19th century, with the price of the tenantright under the Custom often exceeding the freehold value of the land itself.

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