Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Common Costs

[Joani Blank (jeblank]

In response to the last part of Heather's query--

At Doyle Street we have a structure of condo dues that is partially
determined by the State of California's laws for condos. It has to be
related to the square footage of the household's unit. So if we wanted to
equalize it or give someone lower dues, we'd have to do that unofficially by
paying parts of each others' dues. We have an annual budget for expenditures
of these monies. We raised everyone's monthly condo dues fairly near the
beginning to cover the cost of earthquake insurance which we consensed on). 

We have had a few small voluntary assessments (for materials for the sand
box and the  play structure in the kid's room),and one large one. (That was
to hire a lawyer to file a lawsuit against the City and a biotech company
who are going to build a "campus" incuding two high rises and bringing in
3500 new employees with parking spaces to match. We recently settled with
them for some cash, other concessions and lawyer's fees, so those of us who
contributed will get our money back). 

We've had no mandatory special assessments as yet. The kinds of things we
might need the latter for would most likely be covered by our long-term
reserves--again a legal requiirement.

Joani Blank
Doyle Street CoHousing, Emeryville, CA