December 2020 - Ucol-shareholders

Moving in before code compliance
by Anthony Doesburg 29 Jan '21

29 Jan '21

Hi Everyone, Further to the question of moving into our units before the project’s been issued with a code-compliance certificate, there seems to be a well-trodden route to that interim step. A friend who was in the same position signed the attached agreement issued under the Building Act. You’ll read in the Information for Purchasers below the document title that it does mention a few things that need to be considered before signing relating to such matters as insurance and finance. I'm presuming that in our case the agreement would be with Ucol as the "commercial on-seller”. I’m not quite sure how we would go about doing this, but Ucol’s lawyer would no doubt have some advice—for a price! Regards, Anthony

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Email nightmare on Manchester St
by Warren Hurley 30 Dec '20

30 Dec '20

Hi everyone, Like a few others I have been thwarted by my ISP's email 'filtering' ! I have, after 3 days, received a reply from Orcon and have been able to download the 38 UCOL emails that were sitting in purgatory since about the 20th December. There may be some from earlier dates, but I'll never know as Orcon in their wisdom delete emails that are seen to be languishing . . . I have clicked the appropriate buttons to release all future UCOL emails. I think. I'll read these 38 emails and catch up with the issues at hand. All the best everyone. Here's to downloading a wonderful New Year. Cheers Warren UPDATE: I first tried to send this about 6pm on 27th. But no such luck. Who knows when this will finally be delivered . . . Anyone recommend a good ISP? Not Spark, or Slingshot. Or Orcon obviously.

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Kiwibank
by Catherine Spencer 24 Dec '20

24 Dec '20

Hi all, I received a request for information from Stephen Edge yesterday, and it included the following: > The 5% capital gain contribution is just one piece of the jigsaw. At present because cohousing is different to the norm the bank (and seemingly all the banks) is just saying a blanket no. I haven’t researched the Earthsong loans yet but I suspect each one may have a different story attached. > > What we may need is a simplification of the documents that preserves the cohousing ethos (and the 5% capital gain contribution) but is acceptable to the bank(s). > > Cheers, Stephen > We may eventually need to remove the 5% CG in order to get enough banks on board to get everyone across the line, but according to our central banker we are not at that point yet. Can we allow Stephen time to find a solution before we irrevocably change the documents? The process of drafting any possible changes can be worked in parallel, so we are ready, should that be the course of action we need to take, but let us firstly let Stephen’s process run. Thanks, Catherine.

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Re: [Ucol-shareholders] Body Corp Rules v9 Dec 2021
by Y Lee 24 Dec '20

24 Dec '20

Hi All I have made changes to the BC rules as agreed in the meeting at Anne's house on 21 Dec 2021. Changes are yellow highlighted. Removed mention of a covenant, and the 5% rule, but retaining all other references to the Commons Development Fund. Minimised references to "cohousing" in the beginning parts of the document by extensively rewriting what used to be the Kaupapa. What remains of the Principles of Occupation, now relate directly to the wording in our resource consent (copy attached, see pg9, General Conditions, #2). I have also included changes made in response to our lawyer, Simon Milne's feedback. Alex has circulated the email, with my responses in red. *Please read it before making any comments about the changes.* In particular, for #25, that the Rules "don't provide for the appointment of the mediation and dispute resolution team". I have retained the parts that are directly related to the Body Corp dispute resolution process, and cut out everything else. I suggest the Mediation Team add this as an appendix to our Cohousing Agreement instead. *Before anybody emails me for any reason other than typos, remember that we are doing this rewrite primarily for the banks, and our future of being able to include unit owners with mortgages.* Think twice, before writing that email, and preferably, don't send anything before the new year. Merry Christmas. Min

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Budget Control Summary - December 2020
by High St Cohousing 23 Dec '20

23 Dec '20

Hi all, The Budget Control Group met yesterday. Here is a summary of our Contingency: *Assuming that we don't get any new large unexpected variation the total remaining at the end of the project (assuming settlement early March) would be around: 186K.* *In addition we would have around 31.4K for the kitchen. * See details below. Here is a list of variations approved for the *PROJECT* over November/December (from contingency) Please note that numbers have been rounded for this email, for more details see Nicola's report / PCG meeting report attached. 4..7K for fire alarm canopy 10.4K for patios (M1 and M2) 6.3K Guest Bathroom tiling, etc. 11.1K Slab (Hot water tank) 1.6K Handrails (site works, in addition to provisional sums) 8.6K Asphalt thickening - 3K For items identified as not needed (from items estimated earlier from contingency) ----- 39.6K Total approved to be spent from contingency Contingency remaining before items approved (list above):* 76.6K* Contingency remaining after paying for items approved (list above): *37K* Assuming +* 80K *(A2 profit) Assuming + *69K* (Heritage fence) *Total Remaining at the end of the project: 186K* ___________________________________________________ In addition, here is a list of variations approved for the *KITCHEN* over November/December 8.1K Floor & paint 3.2K Plumbing and electrical plugs 1.6K Common House Kitchen 15 Amp powerpoint 5.7K Appliances -------- 18.6K Total approved -------- 50K Total budgeted -------- *31.4K Remaining for kitchen - to be discussed in January 2021.* ________________________________________________________ If you have any questions, we can discuss this at our meeting - end of January. Thanks, Maria -- *Maria Callau* *TOIORA* High Street Cohousing UCOL Member and Project Coordinator 0211847490

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development fund
by Jeffrey Robinson 23 Dec '20

23 Dec '20

Hi everyone It’sJeffrey, Catherine’s partner. I’m new to the cohousing project but keen to beinvolved and looking forward to living in Toiora. I’d like toput forward a few thoughts about the development fund and some figures producedby Rainer. There are currentlytwo potential revenue sources for the development fund: monthly fees, similarto the BodyCorp, and the contribution of 5% of capital gains (5%cg) upon saleof units. A fewmeetings ago there was discussion about ‘do we need to change documents formortgages? And if we were to take out the 5%cg clause upon resale, how could werecoup that money for the development fund through annual fees?’ Accordingto Rainer’s table and email, if the capital gain of every unit over the next yearwas 10% then 5% of capital gains (5%cg) is about $65,000. But the only way that we would get $65,000 intothe development fund via the 5%cg next year is if we sell all the units with a10% capital gain. No offence intended Rainer, but I suggest that theunderlying premise of your figures is wrong. This may seem like splitting hairsbut we need to be careful about the big numbers we wave around and where theycome from and what are the underlying assumptions. There seems to be an idea in the group thatwe will have ‘too much money’. I suggestthat a more likely scenario is that once everyone is settled into cohousing theturnover of units will be relatively low (it’s going to a great place to live). Perhaps only one unit sale every few years. If, for example, the capital gains on oneunit is $100,000 after 5 years then, when sold, $5,000 goes to the development fund. In theshort term, taking the 5%cg out of the cohousing documents may only have a smalleffect on the liquidity of the development fund (depending on how much we levyannually). In the long term, if weassume that property prices keep rising (quickly or slowly) 5%cg might become substantial. (The ideathat prices keep going up forever is also questionable. Property bubbles expandand pop for various reasons. World issues of climate change/pestilence/war canmean the collapse of financial systems. These things have happened throughouthistory. The recent large increase in property values in Dunedin of the last 2years is not consistent with the previous 28 years and we cannot assume it willcontinue.) Earthsongsuggested a percentage of capital gains be returned to the Commons because,over the long term, the large rises in property values made those who sold alot of money, due to some extent on the back of the work by everyone in theCommons, but none of that money ever came back to the Commons, as they wouldnever be sold. The pointof the Covenant is to keep Toiora as cohousing in the long term to fulfil theconditions of our Resource Consent. It is simple and enduring, but we may need tolook at other ways in the short term to fulfil those conditions. The point ofthe 5%cg contribution is to fund development in the long term. I suggest that away is found to keep this contribution as a mandatory part of the cohousingset-up. Not so much for the short term but for the long term. As Iunderstand it, the actual amount of yearly fees to go to the development fundhas not been fully discussed, unlike the BodyCorp fees which have been decided.Over the next few years the development fund will mostly come from our own annualcontributions. With mortgages, living expenses and BodyCorp fees to pay theremay not be much left to accumulate in the development fund. I suggest we are veryunlikely to have ‘too much money’. BestJeffrey

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Amended meeting notes 21.12.20
by Sandy Ross 22 Dec '20

22 Dec '20

Thank you to everyone who suggested changes to the notes. I hope I have made things clearer now. Merry Christmas, Frances

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re discussion with moving company
by mariannequinn＠xtra.co.nz 22 Dec '20

22 Dec '20

Hi team: I talked with Crown relocations last week, who Donald and Miriam have recommended. The person I spoke with - Eliese- was pleased to be talking to me about a move in Feb, as they have capacity then. I've talked to them in relation to our settlement date here ( 19th Feb), and our best guess for the shift into Toiora. As we plan to pack the smaller stuff ( glasses, crockery etc) into boxes, she suggested we would be best on an hourly rate, using three men ( because of our access) to pack the truck at $240/ hr ( GST inc). From what I described, she thought it sounded like 3-4 hours work. The minimum is $590.00 inc GST. Storage is $90/ cu m / wk with a minimum of $30/ cu m for one day. Had we wanted them to pack everything, they need to come to 'survey' the property first. That package is charged differently. Hopefully, this information is useful for someone else. Fingers crossed - Marianne Marianne Quinn Level 3, 115 Stuart Street, Dunedin P.O. Box 20, Dunedin 9054 ph +6434773115 or 0211612050

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re response to Jeffrey's email
by mariannequinn＠xtra.co.nz 22 Dec '20

22 Dec '20

Hi team: for some reason, I can't reply all to this email, and this is one of the rare occasions when I think this is warranted - !! So bear with me: Jeffrey will already have received this. Hi Jeffrey: I'm no financial expert either but I'm coming to understand that the 5% levy is offputting for banks for several reasons. >From my recollection, the figure of 5% was plucked out of the air at the last meeting of the year in 2017. That meeting understood that Earthsong had been hampered by a lack of a fund to develop their commons and we hoped to avoid that. Ie We had not thought through the implications of this being seen as a liability by banks in the future. Last night, Min agreed with Rainer that banks will calculate that on an annual basis against any house that they support through a mortgage, and that it 'would look alarming', especially as regards the risk if there was a mortgagee sale. Looking at it another way, in keeping with our Kaupapa, it makes more sense to plan our developments annually and calculate how to fund these as we go, including how much of our own labour we could contribute, potentially building that into the Body Corp fee, along with our existing 'maintenance levy', rather than end up with periodic 'bonanzas' if several units sell. Right now, it seems from several sources that the 5% levy, effectively a 'capital gains tax', is an impediment to our project succeeding. From views expressed last night, that needs to be our first focus. We can then work out how we do the other bits. !! we're all learning here. Regards, Marianne Marianne Quinn Level 3, 115 Stuart Street, Dunedin P.O. Box 20, Dunedin 9054 ph +6434773115 or 0211612050

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Notes from our informal meeting, Monday, 21 December
by Sandy Ross 22 Dec '20

22 Dec '20

To those who were at this meeting please let me know if I have left out anything important or if anything does not make sense. Frances

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Ucol-shareholders December 2020