Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Rentals and power

[Trey Wedge (trey]

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> We have several people in our group who could afford to buy more than
> one unit, renting the other out.  This has some obvious advantages - we
> sell more units, and people who we'd really like to have in the group
> but can't scrape together a down payment could live there.  On the other
> hand, I am very concerned about the effect on the community of having
> the power imbalance of a landlord-tennant relationship within the
> community.  I know that there are some communities that mix
> owners and renters, but are any of the rental units owned by other
> residents?  Have any other groups encountered this issue?

        There is always the approach that a friend took, when renting
        out an extra room in his house. Instead of the typical 
        land-lord tennant relationship, he put the rent money into 
        equity, and his renter ended owning a small percentage of 
        the house, on which she could take loans, and sell at her
        convenience. I always hear the landlord side of how inconvenient
        that can be, but doesn't it seem fair? The landlord gets 
        a place to live and gets help making his payments. The tennant
        gets a place to live and for the help (s)he provides, (s)he 
        gets a piece of the equity that the rent goes to pay for. 
         
                  
                           Trey Wedge trey [at] cup.hp.com
        
> 
> Steve Gaarder                                     Ecovillage at Ithaca
> gaarder [at] anarres.ithaca.ny.us
> ..!cornell!batcomputer!anarres!gaarder
> 
> 
>