Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Right of first refusal

[Julie Gallagher (jgall63]

At Cantine's Island Cohousing, we have a 45-day Right of First Refusal in
our by-laws. We also developed a written process for how it's applied,
specifying when it's triggered (when the HOA is notified that the owner has
a contract to sell). The ROFR is the only restriction in the by-laws on the
sale of a home, so in practice it's used as our "screening" of a
prospective member. The Membership Committee interviews the buyer and
reviews his or her answers on our questionnaire, and makes a recommendation
to the HOA on whether to exercise or waive the ROFR. There's a difference
of opinion in the community on whether the ROFR has any "teeth," since the
community does not have the funds to purchase a home and we usually do not
have a waiting list of other interested buyers. Theoretically the community
could obtain a bank loan to buy a home, but we've been told this would
require some individual homeowners to co-sign the loan. Nevertheless, we
take the ROFR process seriously when a home is sold. In some cases the
buyer and/or lender may require a written notification that the ROFR was
waived, so we always provide a written letter to that effect.

Julie Gallagher

Canine's Island Cohousing
Saugerties, NY

On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 11:44 AM, <marcia.carlson [at] gmail.com> wrote:

>
> At Columbia Ecovillage, an HOA Right of First Refusal is written into our
> Bylaws, along with the ability of the Board to assign that right to an
> existing owner.  We have exercised it once in our 8 year history. On that
> occasion, the Board assigned the RoFR to an existing owner, with an
> agreement that the purchasing owner cover the legal costs incurred by the
> HOA Board in exercising the Right.
>
> We do not (yet) have a "right of first purchase" written into either our
> community agreements or our Bylaws, even though such a policy could have
> avoided the challenges we faced in exercising the Right and would likely
> have been beneficial to all concerned. It's worth noting that in Oregon,
> and perhaps other states, such a condominium "right of first purchase" is
> legally moot or may be prohibited by state law. It could risk constituting
> a "restrain on alienation" (legalize for interference with an owner's right
> to sell their property). Legal advice would be wise before going that
> route.
>
> Marcia Carlson
> Columbia Ecovillage
> Portland, OR  97218
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