Thank you Gay and team for making it a bit less bureaucratic (e.g. the compulsory reading.)

I still thing the "Joining Process for Flatmates or Boarders" could be tweaked a bit.

It seems to set up 2 different classes of non-owner/tenants; those who "would like to become part the community" and those who don't want to.  The process of becoming part of the community is to attend an induction, a meeting, a shared meal and a working bee

I see the intent behind it, to make it less onerous for people who don't necessarily want to be fully a part of the community.  What I don't like about it is setting up 2 classes of residents, and potentially not allowing some residents to use common facilities.  Is it indented as an "all in" or "all out" thing, and you have to be "all in" in order to use the common house or common washing machine, for example?

One potential way around this would be to simply say that anyone using the common facilities agrees to abide by the rules.  There might be a notice in the common house saying this.  The common house/facility rules would be part of the cohousing agreement I expect.  It would apply to everyone using the common facilities; owners, tenants, flatmates, visitors. etc.

One thing we still need to work through IMO is what level of expectation is there for participation in working bees?  e.g. for meetings my understanding is that one person from each household should attend.  What about working bees?  Is every adult in the community expected to contribute, or is there a per-household expectation?  Dependent on the number of people in the household?  (A wider scope than this document but potentially impacts on it.)

What about adult children who live with us?  They would be included under the flatmates and boarders section I assume, so those coming back to live with us would need to commit to common meals, meetings and working bees if they wish to use the common house as it stands.

Thanks,
Alex

Page three (New Owners) amended as per Anne’s suggestion

Gay