Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Rental Policies

[Bonnie Fergusson (fergyb2]

At Swans Market Cohousing in Oakland, CA we have a rule that no more than 5 of 
our units can be rented at any one time because if you have too high a 
proportion of rentals the banks are less likely to approve loans making it hard 
for owners to sell or refinance.  All owners have agreed to try to find 
residents who are interested in participating in cohousing if they sell or rent 
their unit although this is not legally enforcable. Usually we have only had 
one or two of our units rented, mostly long term rentals and several renters 
have ended up buying a unit when one became available after renting here for a 
while.  Our renters can participate in everything except decisions involving 
money.  With few exceptions most of our renters have been good community 
members.  We don’t have any restrictions on. Longterm rental length but we do 
prohibit very short term airbnb type rentals.  We have no restrictions on 
roommate rentals.
Bonnie FergussonSwans Market CohousingOakland, CA
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad


On Wednesday, November 10, 2021, 5:01 PM, Jennifer T <jennifer.taub [at] 
gmail.com> wrote:

Hi –



I am a resident of JP Cohousing in Boston.


I am interested in gathering information about the rental policies in other
cohousing communities.


Do you allow any privately owned unit rentals? Long term? Limit the number
of renter occupied units?


Our rental policy was established prior to move in (16 years ago) and was
designed to discourage rentals and encourage owner occupied units. It
allows an owner to rent their unit for up to one year.  After that it
requires community approval, but is considered a special circumstance and
has never been granted for more than 2 years. (We have no restrictions on
renting a part of an owner occupied unit - e.g. renting a bedroom to a
roommate).


I do not believe we stipulate what role renters should play in the
community.
r, airbnb mAll of the renters we have had have brought energy and excitement to 
our
community.
 Te
I am seeking information about how other cohousing communities have
structured their rental policies, and any other information about how
renters (vs owners) are expected to participate in the life of the
community. I am NOT seeking info about rental units that are owned
collectively by the cohousing community.



Thank you! Jennifer Taub 857-205-6778
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