Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Control over admission of new members

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On 12 May 2011, at 4:59 PM, David Entin wrote:

> I have been asked if there are ways that home owner associations can control 
> who buys into their community.  They want to ensure that new entrants will be 
> committed to their community and not just buying in because it's a nice home 
> in a good neighborhood.

Most people say you can't do this because it is discrimination. That is not 
true. People who do not care about cohousing are not a protected class under 
the discrimination laws. As long as you are fair and open in your practices, 
and apply them equally to everyone, there is, as I understand it, no reason 
that you can't require things like attending meetings and orientation sessions, 
etc.

People say a tenured professor can't be fired and that's not true either. It's 
just that administrators don't want to go to the bother. There are reasons they 
can be fired.

I'm not a lawyer but have discussed this with people who are and with people 
who deal with protected classes. If you design an orientation program, you can 
run it by your lawyer or another civil rights person.

One problem is that owners want to be able to sell without impediments — and to 
sell fast before a buyer changes their mind. I've asked owners if I can add 
buyers to our internal email list after they have a contract and begin 
participating in the community at least minimally. They always say no because 
they are afraid a contentious issue will arise and the buyers will be scared 
off. I have to wait until after the actual closing.

One way to deal with this is to keep a list of people who have been oriented 
who are interested in purchasing a unit. But this is a problem because it gives 
some hope that a unit will become available when it is unlikely. Although we 
have _never_ been able to predict when a unit will become available. It's 
always a surprise. One person moving out just now had been interviewing for a 
job in another state for 2-3 months and making plane trips for interviews. I 
don't think anyone knew. It's the right move for him, definitely, but it was a 
surprise.

Another Option:  have a 45 day waiting period in our bylaws before a unit can 
be listed publicly for sale. This allows other residents to let their friends 
know the unit is available. We keep a list of people who have attended an 
orientation and they are notified first also. 

We have had some problems with people not really understanding what cohousing 
is really about, but not much, and we wouldn't have predicted it of those 
people. You can't protect yourself from everything.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
"Nothing exists without order. Nothing comes into existence without chaos." 
Albert Einstein