Re: Rental policies?
From: Kay Wilson Fisk (caseyjacketsgmail.com)
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2011 10:45:34 -0800 (PST)
Good question. But not to worry. Our Board doesn't want that kind of
power either.

The Board took the first two requests for rental exception to the
community for consensus. When the third one came in, with virtually
identical hardships (the economy), rather than take up scarce time at
our monthly community meeting, the Board decided to adopt a policy to
approve this kind of request, with a provision for appeal to the
community. The policy was brought before the community for approval,
and there were no objections to this process. So now, when the Board
approves an exception, it sets an appeal period to allow anyone who
disagrees to take it to the community for consensus. No one has done
so.

A little background: When we first wrote our Declaration, our attorney
advised us to give the Board the power to make necessary decisions in
the event we couldn't get a quorum at our community meetings. He has
worked with hundreds of condos, and said this is a common problem. He
said that, even though he felt this was not as likely to happen with
cohousing, he wouldn't want us to have to deal with it in the event
that it did happen. (So far, in 6 years, we have failed to get a
quorum only once.) So, per his advice, we have a standard condo
Declaration with only a vague reference to cohousing, and our
consensus rules and guidelines are in our Bylaws.

Kay

-----Original Message-----
From: Diana Carroll [mailto:dianaecarroll [at] gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2011 1:11 PM
To: Cohousing-L
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Rental policies?


> This would allow a family to rent a unit while on a sabbatical or
for
other similar non-emergency temporary absences IF they made a
convincing case to the Board.

Does the board actually make that decision, or bring it to the group
for consensus?

I've served as a trustee on our board since inception, and I'd hate it
to fall to me to say yes or no to someone asking about this.  I know
every person in our community (as I imagine all cohousers do)...I know
their life circumstances, their families, and often I have an idea of
their financial situations.  I'd be hard pressed to look one of my
community members in the eye and say "No, sorry, your case isn't
convincing enough, you may not rent."

Has this actually come up for your community yet?  Have you had people
ask for an exception and be denied?

What would you do if someone rented without permission?  (To be
honest, if I went to the board to ask for permission and was denied
because my case was unconvincing, my reaction would likely be "f----
you" and I'd do it anyway.  I'm not a big one for rules!)

- Diana (Mosaic Commons in Berlin, MA)

On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 3:51 PM, Kay Wilson Fisk
<caseyjackets [at] gmail.com>wrote:

> This would allow a family to rent a unit while on a sabbatical or
for 
> other similar non-emergency temporary absences IF they made a 
> convincing case to the Board.
>
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