RE: Common HOuse fees
From: Carpenter, Cindy (BOS) (CCarpenterixl.com)
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 14:28:51 -0600 (MDT)
At Cambridge Cohousing:

> 1.  Do members pay for use of guest rooms for their own 
> personal guests?
> 
> 2.  Are guest rooms available for non-member guests?  If so, 
> at what cost?

We charge ourselves $25/night per room (we have two of them, with a shared
bathroom), plus $15 for cleaning (done by another member).  Originally, we
thought we'd move to allowing non-member guests (at $50/night) after just a
few months of member guests only.  In reality, though, we've found that
member guests are complicated enough for us.  We do occasionally have
cohousing guests who don't know anyone here individually, and then we find a
"sponsor" for them who can help them get settled and find their way around.
 
The idea behind the fee was that these rooms would be used unevenly, and
that people who spent more on larger homes shouldn't have to subsidize the
people who bought smaller homes and use the guest rooms a lot.  My opinion
is that this is kind of a regressive tax and that use of the guest rooms
should be free or almost free, like our other common spaces.  On the other
hand, requiring a non-refundable fee to hold reservations makes people think
carefully before signing up and discourages people from reserving the rooms
"just in case."  The guest room fees have turned out to be a significant
source of funding for our community events/enhancements.

We also started out with a maximum number of days per member for a given
time period, but when the trial period for this rule ran out, it quietly
dropped away.  There aren't a lot of conflicts, and when there are, the
general rule has been first come, first serve.  Occasionally, the guest room
"manager" (a volunteer role) has had to intercede.

 
> 3.  Do you allow outside groups to rent space ( e.g., dining 
> room, kitchen,
> meeting room)?  If so, how do you charge?
>     
> 4.  Is there a charge when members reserve common house space 
> for a private
> purpose?  If so, do you make a distinction between a member hosting a
> private party, for example, and a member teaching a course 
> for which a fee
> is paid?

In general, we don't allow outside groups to rent our space, though we have
allowed other cohousing groups to use it.  Outside use raises fears of
liability issues for too many of our members.  We have had things like a
contradance, poetry readings, musical performances, etc. that were sponsored
by a member and open to the general public.  Mostly these are free;
occasionally the event organizers have asked for some donations and shared
some amount of that with us to cover cleaning and wear and tear.

We don't charge ourselves for using common spaces and we do permit private
parties in some of our common spaces (dining room, kitchen) which are easily
closed off.  Members can use other common areas (living room, playroom,
patio) when they're having a private party, but they can't tell members to
leave those areas if they wander in.  It's a fine distinction, but it seems
to work.  We have 41 households here, so most events don't include, or
appeal to, all of us, so the issue of exclusion and hurt feelings doesn't
seem to come up a lot.  Most of the families with children invite all of the
community children in the appropriate age range to "private" parties held in
the common spaces.  We have had a few events or classes with fees or
donations requested, but so far they've been events offered primarily to our
community.

A few things help the logistics:
We keep a calendar in the mail room that shows all the things happening in
our common spaces.  There's a request form that goes to a couple of people
who check for conflicts and bring complicated situations (involving the
public or money, usually) to the general meeting.  When your event is
okay'd, it comes on a clean-up checklist :-).  We also ask anyone who uses
the common areas to provide a copy of their condo insurance showing
liability coverage.  We have some pre-made signs that say "Private Party" or
"Quiet, please - Meeting in Progress," to let us know not to disturb, and
others that we use when we have public events to close off our residential
areas of the common house, such as "Residents Only Please." 


I agree with Patty of Tierra Nueva - don't worry about every contingency.
Start with fewer rules and add more if you need them.  We're still figuring
out what works and doesn't work, two years into it, and I expect we'll be
adjusting and tweaking them forever, as our members and needs change.  I
encourage iterative cycles.  Try out your rules or processes for a trial
period of say, 3 or 6 months, and then adjust them once you see how they
worked out.

- Cindy
(in Cambridge Cohousing)

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