Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Seeking sample condominium docs (Declaration, Bylaws, Rules and Regs)

[drmaryann49 (drmaryann49]

I second what Sue said. We revised our CC&R and By Laws a couple year ago. 
(FWIW We’re an HOA not a condo.) We worked with a lawyer who was very familiar 
with HOA law in our state (AZ) then educated him about the differences between 
us and a typical HOA. We ended up with three documents: pretty traditional 
CC&Rs and By Laws and a Policy Manual we call the Villagers Guide. They are 
equally legal but most of the cohousing exceptions are in the Manual. Revising 
the CC&Rs and By Laws requires a vote of the homeowners while the Manual is 
kept up-to-date through our consensus decision-making process.

When we have to act like an HOA (which we’ve had to do a couple times) we can 
in complete compliance with state statues but day-to-day we are a cohousing 
community. It’s important that you work with a lawyer familiar with your 
structure (condo?) in your state as state laws vary widely.

My .02,

Mary Ann
Manzanita Village, AZ where winter kissed us with several inches of snow on 
Monday then deferred back to early spring by Tuesday.

> On Mar 6, 2015, at 5:42 AM, Sue STIGLEMAN <sstigleman [at] bellsouth.net> 
> wrote:
> 
> 
> A suggestion -- start with whatever the standard is in your state for condo 
> or townhouse or PUD, whatever your actual legal structure will be.  Cohousing 
> is rarely (if ever) a legal structure, and the declaration and other 
> documents are legal documents.  You will save time, money, and aggravation if 
> you have your documents line up wherever possible with the legal standard in 
> your state, instead of starting from scratch or from starting from a set of 
> cohousing examples.  
> 
> --sue (speaking from hard experience)
> 
> 
> Sue Stigleman 
> sstigleman [at] bellsouth.net 
> 828-989-9373
> 
> 
>> ________________________________
>> From: Melissa Klein <malkahbinah [at] gmail.com>
>> To: cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org 
>> Sent: Thursday, March 5, 2015 3:15 PM
>> Subject: [C-L]_ Seeking sample condominium docs (Declaration, Bylaws,        
>> Rules and Regs)
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> I'm a member of WVC (Wissahickon Village Cohousing,
>> wissahickonvillagecoho.com), a forming cohousing community in Northwest
>> Philadelphia.  We are hoping to create a 20-unit cohousing community (which
>> will be a condominium) in a building that was formerly a church school.
>> This will be the first urban cohousing in our area.
>> 
>> We're at the stage of preparing to create condominium docs and would
>> appreciate seeing what other cohousing condominiums have created, as well
>> as any commentary about how the particular provisions in your documents
>> have served/not served your community.
>> 
>> Thanks!
>> Melissa Klein
>> _________________________________________________________________
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>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
> _________________________________________________________________
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> 

—
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so 
certain of themselves, but wiser people are full of doubts. -- Bertrand Russell

Mary Ann Clark                                                  drmaryann49 
[at] mac.com
Check out DrMaryAnn's Academy at http://drmaryann.wordpress.com/