Re: Minimum standards for Membership | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: evdavwes (evdavwes![]() |
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Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2011 04:43:44 -0800 (PST) |
Philip: Yes, the "unit" of participation in consensus is the adult resident, not the owner. Owners are named in the Bylaws as the actors in certain circumstances (voting for declaration changes, for example). Our membership rule is problematic because it implies that you have to meet all the requirements to be a member. The declaration, on the other hand, makes clear that all owners are members. We could have an owner who has never set foot in the United States, and that person would still be a member. We can't change that reality. We could, however, say that approval of a sale will require the buyer to meet all the requirements. An unapproved buyer will take an extra 30 days to complete the purchase and be subject to our substituting a buyer we prefer. Buyers state to the Sales committee (and I think the Sales committee is supposed to record the answers) that they have met the requirements. This helps to separate those who say "I don't care about your requirements" from those who are willing. The association has discussed whether we would want to actually purchase a unit. It would be possible, but I would think it unwise. In my opinion, the best we are likely to do is to find an alternate buyer to whom to transfer our "right of first refusal." Possibly a current owner who has the ability to buy and find a renter. David Message: 1 Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2011 16:47:08 -0500 From: R Philip Dowds <rpdowds [at] comcast.net> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Minimum standards for Membership To: CoHoL <Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org> Message-ID: <C97C6A0C.1CE8F%rpdowds [at] comcast.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" A few interesting things here: --- It looks like the franchise accrues equally to each and every resident adult, not to the unit or the household. If a household has four adults, then its ?voting? weight is four times that of a household with just one. Yes? --- I?m not convinced that you can exclude a unit owner from exercising rights or participation in the Association because s/he did not attend the right meeting, or forgot to read the memo. And how would one know that the documents have been read (and understood)? Is there an examination as part of the purchase and sale? --- The community?s right of first refusal is usually a valid deed restriction. In practice, however, it will not have much force, effect or consequence until and unless the community creates a reserve fund for that very purpose. It?s somewhere between extremely difficult and impossible for a few dozen households to gin up $400,000 on short notice, just to forestall a sale to a dubious purchaser. Mercifully, however, what we mostly find is that people who buy in here are open to the possibilities of cohousing, and people who are not finish their shopping elsewhere. Philip Dowds Cornerstone Cohousing Cambridge, MA On 2/12/11 7:29 AM, "Fred H Olson" <fholson [at] cohousing.org> wrote: > > > David Clements evdavwes [at] aol.com > is the author of the message below. It was posted by > Fred, the Cohousing-L list manager <fholson [at] cohousing.org> > after deleting quoted digest > -------------------- FORWARDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS -------------------- > > > Fran, > > FYI the below is from the bylaws of Westwood Cohousing. I am not a > lawyer but refer below to what I think are legal realities. Please > correct if I am wrong. > > In my opinion our bylaws could be improved. We have the right of > first refusal if someone wants to sell their house. This is in the > declaration. I think a stronger way to state the membership rules > is that approval of a possible buyer is contingent on their meeting > the requirements. If we fail to approve a potential buyer, they still > can buy unless we find a substitute buyer within 30 days (very hard to > do in this market). This right of first refusal is the only authority > we have to select or screen owners. I have the impression that this > sort of discrimination is legal, although discrimination on the basis > of race, religion, gender, and other criteria mentioned in the Fair > Housing Act is not legal. > > We have not set up our declaration properly to be able to insist that > those who want to rent need to follow certain guidelines, such as > getting approval and following the steps to membership noted above. > Because restricting rentals is a restriction of the owner's rights, > owners need to agree to this by putting it in the declaration. If > they do not, any restrictions are voluntary and perhaps less > effective. In our community some who rent their houses or have > roommates have had the renter meet the "requirements for membership," > but many have not, and we have had a number of renters who did not > participate in the community. > > > David Clements > > > http://www.westwoodcohousing.com/policies.html > > > Section 2. Membership: All adults shall confirm to the Association before > joining that they have: > > a. Attended at least one community supper and one business meeting of > the Association as an observer, > > b. Read the Cohousing Book, current edition, > > c. Read the Member Packet, > > d. Understand that their occupancy and use of a Lot is subject to the > Declaration, Bylaws and these Rules and Regulations (of which they > have been provided a copy), and > > e. Understand that Members of the Association, as defined below, shall > have the right to vote as provided in the Declaration, the Bylaws and > these Rules and Regulations; and that ???Members??? shall be the > residents of the Development eighteen years of age and older, living, > or expecting to live, in the community three months or longer, and > such other persons as are voted thereto by the Association. > > > > -------- Original message ------------------- > > I am a member of a group working to develop a cohousing community. We are > looking for samples of formal requirements for member participation, e.g. > requirements articulated in bylaws. Ideas under consideration include > owner-occupancy, intent and capacity to participate in decision-making. > intent and willingness to commit to a minimum level of hours to participate > per month. I'd appreciate advice and copies of bylaws used. Thank you. > > > Fran Lunney > > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at: > http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/ > >
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Minimum standards for Membership Fran Lunney, February 9 2011
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Re: Minimum standards for Membership Fred H Olson, February 12 2011
- Re: Minimum standards for Membership Sharon Villines, February 12 2011
- Re: Minimum standards for Membership R Philip Dowds, February 12 2011
- Re: Minimum standards for Membership evdavwes, February 14 2011
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Re: Minimum standards for Membership Fred H Olson, February 12 2011
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