Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: How to assess HOA fees?

[Melanie Mindlin (sassetta]

At Ashland Cohousing, we have some fees we share equally and some that 
dependent on the number of people in the household. We are townhouses, not 
condominiums.  This means that everyone is responsible for the maintenance of 
their own part of the building including the exterior.  We also have some 
private yards that we maintain separately.

Since our fees are only used for the common property, we decided that our use 
was not dependent on the size of our individual homes.  If anything, smaller 
units tended to use the common facilities somewhat more since they had less 
ability to house guests, do laundry or host gatherings in their own space.  We 
also have two official “affordable homes” that were required under our local 
housing laws, and these homes do not pay the HOA fees which cover the 
maintenance of our common property. We decided that the cost of maintaining our 
common buildings, landscaping, parking and paths  would be shared equally by 
all, except the affordable homes. Utilities also go in this category.

However our community also incurs expenses for a lot of other things. These 
seemed to be outside our agreement concerning the affordable homes, and also 
more associated with the number of people in a household.  So we have fees we 
call “community dues” which are calculated primarily based on the number of 
adults with a smaller amount for number of children.  Community dues includes 
the costs for the community garden, childcare for meetings and work days, 
parties and social events, trainings, advertising and other items of community 
life.

It’s worked out pretty well for the 15 years we have been here so far.

Melanie