Re: Do you wish you had a rental policy?
From: R Philip Dowds (rpdowdscomcast.net)
Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:14:48 -0800 (PST)
At Cornerstone in Cambridge, MA, our expectation of course is that the units 
will be occupied by resident owners.  By and large, this is the case for all 
but a few units.  Nonetheless, the community has more than a few tenants, 
because some resident owners take in renters, and some owners rent out their 
units while they are away on an extended leave of absence.  Occasionally, a 
family may have an au pair.  All told, I'd say about 15% of our adult residents 
are tenants, not owners.  None of this is guided by any deed restrictions or 
intentional policy.

The vast majority of the tenants are good folk — so I can't say that we are 
"having trouble" with rentals or tenants.  What we have trouble with is 
understanding where non-owners fit into the community culture.  One view is 
that adult tenants should have the same rights and duties as adult owners, and 
be integrated into community life as fully as possible.  An alternative view is 
that it's very hard for an owner to find a good tenant — and would much harder 
if the landlord imposed cohousing expectations on the pool of candidates.  At 
the moment, the latter view prevails, not because we've formally adopted it as 
a policy, but because we've been unable to organize a good discussion about it.

RPD

On Jan 23, 2012, at 12:17 AM, Lisa Lackey wrote:

> Well, Brian, some of us are trying to change it, but there are people in our
> community who feel it is very important to have and don't want it to change.
> That is why I am asking if any community who doesn't have a rental policy
> has troubles so that they wish they did, so I can get a real world sense of
> the troubles communities are actually experiencing not having a rental
> policy.
> 
> So, far I am not really hearing back that people are having problems, except
> in your community where there is a real problem with cohousing units
> becoming rental investment property.
> 
> Thanks for replying,
> Lisa


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