co-ops

[notaslave]

Brief background, I have run my own limited company successfully in the past. I have set up a fully mutual par value co-op in UK in name only, when push came to shove people who were involved didnt want to take the leap from council housing to rural co-op. But I have been there got the funding to set it up and did set it up. Its basically not much different to running a limited company.

I currently work unpaid for a small charity, I have just got them grant funding. I know my way around a funding application, its only admin, and I have a background in that.

I am looking for single adults who may be interested in forming a rural co-op in Scotland. Not with any specific focus, ie not dietary controlled, not politically motivated, if you are a vegetarian road protestor thats your business, the group does not nec have to share a belief idea, only the willingness to make a go of it.

Initially, it will be communal housing rural. With a view to getting planning permission for earthships, not because of enviro beliefs, just cos they look cool. lol

Interested? pm me

[the festival spirit]

Brief background, I have run my own limited company successfully in the past. I have set up a fully mutual par value co-op in UK in name only, when push came to shove people who were involved didnt want to take the leap from council housing to rural co-op. But I have been there got the funding to set it up and did set it up. Its basically not much different to running a limited company.

I currently work unpaid for a small charity, I have just got them grant funding. I know my way around a funding application, its only admin, and I have a background in that.

I am looking for single adults who may be interested in forming a rural co-op in Scotland. Not with any specific focus, ie not dietary controlled, not politically motivated, if you are a vegetarian road protestor thats your business, the group does not nec have to share a belief idea, only the willingness to make a go of it.

Initially, it will be communal housing rural. With a view to getting planning permission for earthships, not because of enviro beliefs, just cos they look cool. lol

Interested? pm me

I think it would be good if you were to make a thread of how to do this and maybe people not in scotland can get involved too.

I have also done the charity/funding thing, there is shitloadsa money out there if you canuse your imagination, and read.

[ho1ogram]

I think it would be good if you were to make a thread of how to do this and maybe people not in scotland can get involved too.

I second that. :) I'm interested in more info, particularly from people living in Australia but hearing about people's experiences from anywhere would be cool.
BTW notaslave - what are earth ships?

[notaslave]

http://www.lowcarbon.co.uk/earthships.html

That will tell you about earthships, they are pretty cool actually lol

[the festival spirit]

ho1ogram, do you have the equivalant of our council for voluntary services ?

just go to anyone that can help you volunteer and ask if they have a funder finder program, we have funderfinder and you typein the kind of thing you want funding for, eg credit alliance or whatever, and teh program tells you who will fund you and how to get it :)

let us know if you do.

come on notaslave educate us ?
;)

[notaslave]

Ok, Fest. In my opinion the best type of housing co-operative to set up is a fully mutual par value, unless you have pots of money.
A fully mutual par value co-op is pretty much like a limited company, your personal liability is limited to £1, which isnt going to break the piggy-bank lol. The benefits of a fully mutual par value co-op are that say 6 people get together and decide they want to buy a 6 bedroomed property and after buying it one says lets do things my way or I am leaving. If you had a co-op of other type then you have to find pretty damn quickly the 6th person's share of the property which could be a lot of £££££'s or you go along with the most mercenary of your housemates. ie do their bidding or buy them out.
With a fully mutual par value housing co-op, you hand him his quid and look for a new tenant. lol So the property is not held to ransom by one housemate.
Another beneficial aspect of this type of co-op is you can claim housing benefit, so if you were made unemployed your rent to the co-op still gets paid. With many other types of co-op you do not have this option. Therefore losing your job doesnt mean losing your roof.
Banks such as Triodos and the Co-op bank and another which I cant recall off the top of my head loan to co-ops.
Co-ops as a legal registered body can also issue loanstock. A group called Radical Routes (google to find) will also help with cash to buy. Triodos etc do not usually offer a 100% mortgage so there will be a shortfall. Radical Routes and their member co-ops have a revolving loan, which they will use to help new member co-ops start up.
The rent in a co-op usually is slightly higher then traditional social housing. But all profits cant be spent anywhere other than back into the housing, so you could end up with a pretty good working community set-up.
Other benefits are that you wont need 6 televisions, 6 washing machines, 6 whatever and so basically your standard of living can be higher than it might be living in traditional social housing.
You own the co-op as you have a £1 share in it and so you and fellow tenants have more say in where that rent you pay to the co-op is spent. Unlike in traditional social housing.
The land and property remain forever in the name of the co-op, no-one can sell it, should you all decide to move off and do the more traditional thing it is usually written into the co-op set up that you will pass it on to a similar type group, therefore also ensuring that once the land and property is bought it remains in common ownership.
In my opinions no-one should own the land, we simply borrow it, so yeah I think it is the most socially acceptable form of housing.

[notaslave]

The info I have given is only UK specific, I am not aware of how it works in other countries. However google Intentional Communities and find a co-op local to your region of the world and email them and ask for more info.
The only reason I am not in a co-op at the moment is because many of the UK ones with vacancies are vegan/vegetarian and I eat whatever is edible and simply could not change what I eat - I would last a week and then be sneaking up in the middle of the night to make a bacon sarnie lol I want to stay in Scotland, I have (in the past) lived in England for many years.
If there is anything I have missed out post a question and I will attempt to answer it.
Many people seem to struggle with how can they can afford to initially buy. But the fact is the individuals dont own the property, they run the co-op. So in effect the loan belongs to the co-op as a company not the individuals. So heres the maths..

6 peoples rent @ £60 per week is £360
£360 x 5 weeks (one month) £1800

so you can afford a mortgage at a repayment rate of £1,800 per mth, well less as you need buildings insurance. You set your rent though.

Co-ops do not need to meet the Housing Multiple Occupancy Bill, they are exempt thanks to a co-op called Talamh in Scotland and a few others who campaigned to get the exemption.

[the festival spirit]

Oh Superb.

Thank you so much not a slave.

Fantastic.

A mighty fine teacher you are.

Love Peace and Respect.

s

[notaslave]

One final point, or maybe two. You do not need a good credit rating as you are not applying for a mortgage, the co-op as a separate body is applying for the mortgage. To help you to understand you must see yourself and the co-op as totally separate.

At the moment you may be claiming Housing Benefit, for reasons of illness, unemployment or low income. If you are in social housing your Housing Benefit is paid to your landlord, council or housing association. It indeed does not really Benefit you. In a co-op Housing Benefit then works as it supposed to, to Benefit you.

Currently, if you are claiming Housing Benefit, it benefits your landlord, your council or your Housing Association. If you are claiming HB the council gets the amount awarded to you from central government. In a Housing Association same thing, central government coughs up and the bosses of the Housing Association drive around in phat cars on phat salaries you provide for them, either directly in rent or indirectly through HB.

Think of a housing co-op as setting up your own Housing Association.

[the festival spirit]

One final point, or maybe two. You do not need a good credit rating as you are not applying for a mortgage, the co-op as a separate body is applying for the mortgage. To help you to understand you must see yourself and the co-op as totally separate.

At the moment you may be claiming Housing Benefit, for reasons of illness, unemployment or low income. If you are in social housing your Housing Benefit is paid to your landlord, council or housing association. It indeed does not really Benefit you. In a co-op Housing Benefit then works as it supposed to, to Benefit you.

Currently, if you are claiming Housing Benefit, it benefits your landlord, your council or your Housing Association. If you are claiming HB the council gets the amount awarded to you from central government. In a Housing Association same thing, central government coughs up and the bosses of the Housing Association drive around in phat cars on phat salaries you provide for them, either directly in rent or indirectly through HB.

Think of a housing co-op as setting up your own Housing Association.


Ok I quoted it all, thats cos it fantastic advice. Woohooo. who wants to join a housing association, that you are part/none owner of with a liability of around £1,00

Please correct me if I am wrong anyone?

Superb!

now where shall we live .... :)

[whitenight639]

excuse me for the stupid questions but...
am i right in thinking this only really benifits people on low incomes or claiming benifit, as if you were working and paying into this co-op then if you decieded to do your own thing then you would get no return, ie you cant sell your share of the co-op?
I am very much interrested in the concept especially earthships iv always wondered why people live in there own little boxes (houses) and no1 makes an effore to be totally self surficient.

On a seperate thing anyone know the ins and outs of a social enterpirse as i am building a website that will help young people find work/ training but i want/ need to make money out of it, i dont know how much it differs from a charity and what the rules are.

[the festival spirit]

excuse me for the stupid questions but...
am i right in thinking this only really benifits people on low incomes or claiming benifit, as if you were working and paying into this co-op then if you decieded to do your own thing then you would get no return, ie you cant sell your share of the co-op?

Well, If you are looking for profit and making something other than what is right (depending on what you think is right) then its probably not for you, it benefits ANYONE that takes part, you can sell your share of the co-op but if its done right there will be like a minimum amount you have to stick to, eg, £1.00 which stops bread heads taking over and manipulating large profits for themselves, but if you do the research you will see that the co-op can make a living from the land.

If you want to stick one up the ass of the 'powers that be' GO FOR IT!


On a seperate thing anyone know the ins and outs of a social enterpirse as i am building a website that will help young people find work/ training but i want/ need to make money out of it, i dont know how much it differs from a charity and what the rules are.

Question, for what does the money being made get used for?

There are Billions of pounds out there for 'good' causes, there is way more than enough hints and tips in this thread for you to start searching and finding out what you need to know, however, I have a friend who set up something very similar to what you suggest, she had a period of 'ill health' due to being messed around by certain 'bodies' and they eventually took over, claiming millions in funding and helping no-one, now all the unemployed in that area have even less chance to get chances, as the powers that be are just lining their own pockets. Beware, get the best advice you can all the time.

[notaslave]

excuse me for the stupid questions but...
am i right in thinking this only really benifits people on low incomes or claiming benifit, as if you were working and paying into this co-op then if you decieded to do your own thing then you would get no return, ie you cant sell your share of the co-op?
I am very much interrested in the concept especially earthships iv always wondered why people live in there own little boxes (houses) and no1 makes an effore to be totally self surficient.

On a seperate thing anyone know the ins and outs of a social enterpirse as i am building a website that will help young people find work/ training but i want/ need to make money out of it, i dont know how much it differs from a charity and what the rules are.

It certainly does benefit low income people but should ANYONE own land?

[whitenight639]

I dont see anything wrong with people owning land, aslong as its not too much for them everyone should be allowed enought land to be able to eat off comfortably and no more.


It certainly does benefit low income people but should ANYONE own land?

[notaslave]

They arent my cup of tea cos' they are based in England but the idea may appeal to someone....

Land Roots exists to make land affordable. If 1,000 people each put £250 towards a piece of land they would then have a total of £250,000 in order to buy a sizable plot which could be used sustainably (ensuring the land can be enjoyed by future generations), communally (a housing co-op can be set-up), as a showcase (displaying the benefits of ecological design and good stewardship) and for gatherings (the 28-day rule means that each year for 28 days land can be used for camping and festival activities, which could be enjoyed by everyone who has donated). Land Roots is the model that makes all of this possible!
Art for Lands Sake works alongside Land Roots by helping to raise funds and by creating a mass network of creative-minded people and artists willing to share their art and entertain others. [At the moment we are mostly centred on music but we hope to expand on this in the future!] Musicians are asked to donate songs which we will feature on our Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/artforlandssake), sell at All 4 Artists (http://http//www.all4artists.com/artforlandssake) and also on our compilation CD (details are on the myspace or you can e-mail (art-for-lands-sake@hotmail.com) us for details. In return the artist gets extra publicity and becomes part of the community! We will be holding many fundraising events and the contributing artists will be the first people we call!
This mailing list will keep you up-to-date with everything related to Art for Lands Sake as well as the progress of Land Roots as it looks towards buying its first piece of land!
Yours truly,
Freida, Russ & Keith / The Art for Lands Sake team


Myspace account

http://www.myspace.com/artforlandssake
(http://www.myspace.com/artforlandssake)

[hagbard_celine]

A good thing to do is organize a provisional workers cooperative with your colleagues. Then if the chance ever comes to start your business for real you'll be ready to go for it! Such occurances could be your employer's bankrupcy and closure. If you work in public serives, like me, you could get a provisional coop ready in case the govt put your service out to tender for private contractors, which they're doing a lot these days.