Frequently Asked Questions.
Q: What is Cohousing? How is it different from a
friendly housing estate or cul de sac?
Q: How can I buy a cohouse when I haven’t sold my
existing house yet?
Q: My dream is to have a pet pig, will this be possible?
Q: Who are the members so far?
Q: How do we choose who joins and what if we don’t get
on with them?
Q: I am worried that the communal house will be hired
out to the wider community and I won’t fit in
Q: What about communal vegetable plots?
Q: I want to live in an Eco-House
– are these Eco-houses?
Q: What is Cohousing? How is it
different from a friendly housing estate or cul de sac?
A:. The communal house is essential to cohousing and is the hub of the
community. It is sited so that people regularly walk near it when arriving and
leaving or visiting other cohousers. Meals are regularly eaten together in the
communal house, which is where other communal activities and general socialising
happens. Communal gardens and land are people friendly and therefore car
free. Cars are left in the carpark near
the entrance. Shopping and large items can be brought by trolleys from the
carpark to where we live. People join cohousing communities because they want
to be part of a small group who know each other well. In many ways it is
reverting to basic human needs to be part of a group. The group offers safety
and companionship which is balanced against our needs to be separate and
private behind our own front door - cohousing offers both. It started in
Denmark in the 80’s and is now popular in the USA.
A: You will need to be able to buy £5,000 of shares in the Cohousing
Company to join at this stage i.e. before February 2001. However you must also
be able to pay for your new house. If your existing house is not fully
mortgaged you can arrange to release some of the equity (money tide up in the
house). Bank of Scotland Tel 0800 810810 will lend up to £50,000 non-status
that means you don’t have to prove your
income. Accelerator Mortgages can lend 100% of the equity in your existing
house as well as lending on your new Cohouse, including 95% of the plot cost,
non-status included Tel 01506 417130.
Alternatively, it may be simpler to sell your house and rent locally whilst the
Cohousing Community is being built. Mortgage Brokers eg John Charcol Tel 0800
718191 or financial advisers will help with all aspects of the financing.
Contact info@cohouses.net for a list
of 28 lenders who will finance
self-build. You may try the Ecology Building Society Tel 0845 6745566 – they
have expressed an interest in funding cohousing – the manager is Paul Ellis.
Q: My dream is to have a pet
pig, will this be possible?
A: These sort of decisions will be made when we are living in the
community. We will probably have a rule whereby you must check out with others
before having a pet. Some members are already concerned not to have any dog shit
around the site – so owning dogs may be difficult. Decision Making will be by
consensus or failing that 75% majority. The downside of Cohousing is that you
may not always get what you want. The shareholders agreement and the Lease will
have some very basic rules, including a requirement to respect your neighbours
and follow the rules made from time to time by the Community.
Q: Who
are the members so far?
A: At
the beginning of October 2000 there were 11 families as members. Seven of them
live in or near to Stroud. Two families live in London and one in Kent. Six of
the families have children under 18.
Members jobs include engineering, social work, various therapies, architecture,
consultancy, teaching, home-schooling, designing and property developing. David
is the project coordinator and managing director. His job is to get the group
of members together, buy the site, arrange finance and work with group to
design and build the community. David founded the first retrofit Cohousing Community
in the UK, Frankleigh House in Bradford on Avon. He will live in the new
community with his family. If there is money left after shareholders are
repaid, David will be paid a fee. Decisions are made by consensus or if
deadlocked by 75% majority.
A: Often groups who spend a lot of time getting to know each other, do not
end up living together. This is certainly the case in the UK as well as in
Denmark (Cohousing book) and the USA. The design stage as well as the building
stage will be periods of sometimes intense meetings where we will get to know
each other very well. Cohousing is not as intimate as a commune, the intention
is to be good caring neighbours, close friendships are a bonus.
A: During the development stage, people will be
accepted who agree with the principles and therefore want to be good neighbours
and can afford to buy in. The shareholders may decide not to accept somebody
despite the financial pressure. By and large, new members will be self selected. When the community is
complete, people join by buying a house from someone leaving. Ideally
prospective members will spend time getting to know the whole community, this
will enable their buying in to proceed smoothly. In practice, we will probably
have a waiting list of “approved” people. Ultimately, the sale to people you
don’t want can only be blocked by the community or someone in it buying the
house. If you don’t get on with someone, the community may develop a mediation
system to help. If the person is breaking the community rules, you can insist the
community enforces them.
A: The communal house is essentially the living
room of the cohousing community. It is not a village hall for general use. The
idea is that we will feel it to be an extension of our own houses. We can have
a cup of tea in the afternoon and see who’s there for a chat. We can have
birthday parties, weddings and batmitzvahs etc. If we as a community decide to
hire it out then you will be part of that decision. We will not use the
communal house in a way that excludes cohousers from generally hanging out
there.
A: The site is just over 2 acres in a very urban location. There is not
enough space for communal vegetable allotments to provide for all the
community. Of course, private gardens can be used as vegetable plots. The
communal land will be gardens, lawns, orchards, play structures, trees and
treehouses, possibly workshop sheds, the communal house, patio space,
benches,bicycle racks and parking.
Q:
I want to live in an Eco-House – are these Eco-houses?
A: There are many definitions of what are
eco-houses. However we do get a number of eco-brownie points for the following:
Rainwater harvesting – used for flushing toilets and washing machines; Solar
panels on the roofs; turf roof on communal house; SUDS low run off sustainable drainage
system; Super insulation of walls and roof 300mm thick and with re-cycled
newspaper insulation; timber framed buildings from renewable and sustainable
sources (as far as possible); car sharing schemes; Town Centre Brownfield site –
close to good transport and easy for cycling; Communal eating, communal recycling
and composting; decision making by consensus.