Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Legal underpinning of Cohousing

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On May 11, 2014, at 6:17 PM, Fred H Olson <fholson [at] cohousing.org> wrote:

>> we sought legal advice from a well known HOA law firm
>> in the area. After reading our CC & Rs and all of our cohousing agreements,
>> this firm stated definitively that Cohousing is illegal and we need to just
>> hire a management firm to serve our property.

Read the condo law yourself. Ours allows the owners to designate management to 
a management company and assumes people want to do that. But in every statute 
(almost) it also begin with "unless the bylaws stipulate otherwise." The condo 
laws establish a default in case it is not specified in the bylaws. There are 
very few things required.

If you were properly organized legally, how can you be illegal? 

The person who moved in after the bylaws were written is legally bound by them. 
Signing the ownership papers committed him to that.

Contact the local CAI chapter to discuss this with them. They may not be 
familiar with cohousing but they will be familiar with the condo law. 100+ 
communities can't be "illegal."

Highline is in Colorado, right? Have you contacted the other cohousing 
communities there? Or Jim Leach?


Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org