FINANCING
A COHOUSING PROJECT
1 There’s no such thing as a typical finance model and each cohousing project will devise its own. John Kinsley says the trickiest part of his project was establishing a suitable financial set-up for everyone involved. ‘This was new territory for the lawyers and accountants,’ he explains. ‘We spent a lot of time working out how to constitute ourselves as a singular entity in order to obtain funding. We talked to potential backers, lawyers and accountants to find out what set-up they’d prefer.’
2 They found that the best model was to form a limited company, so Bath Street Collective Custom Build (BCCB) was born, with four shares and four directors (one for each flat).
3 To finance the build, BCCB borrowed money from Ecology Building Society, which specialises in lending to self-builders. This allowed them to pay the contractors and then employ John as an architect.
FIND OUT MORE
• The UK Cohousing Network brings together UK cohousing groups and has a handy locator tool (cohousing.org.uk).
• Diggers and Dreamers is an online resource with information, advice and blogs about cohousing schemes in England, Scotland and Wales (diggersanddreamers.org.uk).
• The National CLT Network is the central body for the 250-plus community land trusts in England and Wales (communitylandtrusts.org.uk.).
Duncan Hayes, spokesman of the National Custom and Self Build Association (NaCSBA), advises that if you’re considering a group build in England, you should sign up to your local Self Build register at righttobuildportal.org. Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales don’t have comparable schemes, but in Scotland, see scotlandsselfandcustombuildportal.co.uk