A scalable model that grows with every home.
Using only democratic and not-for-profit vehicles, we separate day-to-day control of the home from asset managment to give residents real autonomy while building strong economic power and expanding our collective influence on the housing system.
Three building blocks
Investors
Provide capital
Individuals, organisations, residents have flexible investment options
Acquires property
Professional Board with residents, experts & partners
Residents
Control thier homes
Organised as housing co-operatives, and surplus is re-circulated
The financial and legal scaffold
Walkthrough
Collective Ownership raises capital
Investment from individuals, organisations and residents - flexible terms, high social impact.
It acquires properties in bulk
New build or existing stock. Often identified by member co-op groups. Over time our scale unlocks better leverage and bank finance.
Properties are leased to a co-op
Residents organised as a housing co-operatives. Each has their unique character and values.
Residents control the day-to-day
Maintenance, new residents, how rent is apportioned - are all democratically decided by resident communities.
Lease rent funds more homes
Not-for-profit. Surplus is recycled to grow the portfolio of secure, democratically-controlled homes.
Works with new build and existing stock
Caters for a broad range of households seeking security, stability, and belonging
Small block /
Villa
- self contained dwellings in the same building
- general meeting governed
- self-managed
- organically formed group (could include TA residents)
- development purchase
Large Block /
Cohousing
- self contained dwellings in the same scheme
- committee governed
- outsourced management
- organic seed with recruitment
- development agreement
Shared House
- resident controlled House in Multiple Occupation
- general meeting governed
- self-managed
- organically formed group
- market purchase
Scattered /
Local Area
- self contained dwellings in the same part of town
- committee governed
- outsourced management
- assembled residents (including TA residents)
- gradual market purchase or donation/asset transfer
FAQ
On how it works
How is The Collective Ownership Society incorporated?
The Collective Ownership Society (COS) is an FCA-registered Co-operative society. It is a high impact and efficient investment vehicle which operates as a secondary housing co-operative, where lessee-members are corporate bodies. In other words, COS is “a co-op of co-ops”, not-for-profit and democratically controlled by its Member Co-ops.
How does Collective Ownership work in more details?
The Collective Onwership model hinges on separating the functions of:
- Day-to-day housing management and the lived experience, which is kept in the hands of residents organised as small housing co-operatives (Member Co-ops), and
- Growth and replication through raising and managing funds, property acquisition and asset management. This is the role of the Collective Ownership Society.
The Collective Ownership Society (COS) is a professionally run, not-for-profit, investment and freeholder vehicle that focuses on expanding the number of homes in Collective Ownership. It operates like a property fund, raising finance to purchase properties using investments, grants and donations. Properties are held long term and leased on a rental basis to groups of residents incorporated as housing co-operatives (Member Co-ops) who control the day-to-day management of their homes. COS receives a steady income stream (the lease rent) from its members and, over time, builds an assets portfolio of properties which can be utilised for further growth and affordability. This mutual, nested arrangement ensures that control of the things that matter most to the lived experience sit close to residents, while allowing for replication and scale at the collective level.
Member co-ops are the corporate members and lessees of COS. They manage COS’ properties as housing co-operatives and issue tenancies to their own resident-members. Residents democratically control and manage their homes day-to-day, pay rent to their co-op to cover day-to-day maintenance, administrative costs and the lease rent to COS. Member co-ops also have a role in COS governance, stewarding its objects and mission.
Lease rents paid by Members Co-ops are set on the basis of real costs and not in relation to market rent. Lease rents cover the cost of capital to repay investors, the cost of major works to maintain asset value, running costs and to grow a property acquisition fund. Favourable investment terms, discounted property purchases, grants and donations all help to keep the lease rent low and make resident rents more affordable. This “cost-rent” approach brings long-term stability, predictability and affordability for residents and provides a transparent framework for the COS approach.
What is a Housing Co-operative?
A housing co-operative is a group of residents who collectively manage their housing through their own democratically run and not-for-profit housing association (incorporated as a Co-operative Society).
Every resident is both a tenant and a member of the association which allows them to effectively manage their homes as their own landlord. They democratically make decisions about repairs, maintenance, who moves in, and how the co-operative is run.
Because all members are tenants, and all tenants are members, there is never an incentive to charge more rent than necessary and enter a logic of rent extraction (as residents charge rent to themselves). Surpluses are put aside to go back into maintaining and improving the homes and the community rather than to profit an external landlord.
What are the advantages of Collective Ownership?
Collective Ownership mutualises property assets across projects, creating a financially robust, scalable and impactful model that permanently removes properties from the private speculative market.
Our corporate structure is designed to embed and protect the not-for-profit and social purpose of the Collective Ownership tenure.
Collective Ownership demonstrates residents and professionals working together to build a different kind of housing infrastructure: not-for-profit, commonly-owned and democratically controlled.
Collective Ownership delivers permanent impact where assets and income streams are repeatedly recycled into buying more homes transforming the market year on year.
Why can’t co-ops own the property directly?
Collective Ownership is designed to faciliate growth and replication. It does it through mutualising property assets to build economic power.
Where individual co-ops own their properties, the potential benefits of assets owenrship is locked within the individual co-op rather than expanding affordable housing and resident-control to others. Even if a new co-op has plans for expanding as the mortgage is paid down, this is typically decades away, when the membership, capacity and ambition may have changed.
Mutualising ownership in the Collective Ownership way means that each project contributes to changing the market as a whole, and not just their own housing situation.
What are the lease terms? Is it secured?
Collective Ownership issues 5-year lease means to retain the property interest (value of a capital asset), allowing it to leverage better borrowing terms and build economic power.
There is no incentive not to renew a lease, unless there is major or consistent breaches of the lease, or governance issues in your co-op which are not addressed.
Collectively, Member co-ops keep mutual checks on any Board decisions regarding lease renewales and if necessary can overturn a decision not to renew a lease at a Special General Meeting.
This oversight represents the ultimate collective control of members and residents.