What do I get when I buy into a housing co-op in BC?

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A membership share and the right to live in one home under the co-op's occupancy agreement, not a title: the co-op's rules decide who may join, and its directors can end membership. A housing co-op is an association under BC's Cooperative Association Act that provides homes to its members. You don't buy the home: you buy a share that makes you a member, and the membership carries the right to live in one unit. The co-op's own rules, and the Act, decide how you join, what you pay each month and how you can lose the home. Look up the address or PID on PlaceDossier to see the record for that lot. What a housing co-op is: The Act defines a housing cooperative as an association providing accommodation for people most of whom are members and ordinarily live there (s. 1 (1)). The Co-operative Housing Federation of BC says most housing co-ops in BC are non-profit co-ops, with a few equity co-ops, and that members have no landlord and pay a monthly "housing charge". What you hold: To join you subscribe for the minimum number of membership shares the rules set (s. 30), and the members are those admitted under the co-op's rules (s. 29). A share is personal property (s. 48 (4)), and your right to the unit comes from an occupancy agreement with the co-op about your possession of the home and use of the property (s. 35.1 (1)). The co-op, or whoever leases it the land, holds the title, so a land title search shows the co-op, not you (our reading). The memorandum and rules bind every member as if each had signed them (s. 18). Getting in: The Act lets a co-op's rules provide for withdrawing members and transferring their shares (s. 33 (1) (b)), so whether a share can pass to a buyer, and who must approve the new member, is in the rules. CHF BC says each co-op runs its own application process and chooses its members, that waiting lists can run from months to years, and that some co-ops set income ceilings from government or city land agreements. A joint membership holds one share between you, and joint members are each liable for all charges on it (ss. 13 (3), 42 (4)). Non-profit and equity co-ops: In a co-op whose memorandum keeps its property from being shared among the members, nothing is paid out to members during its life or on winding up (s. 173 (1) to (3)), it may issue only par value membership shares (s. 173 (7)), and a leaving member gets back no more than was paid up on the shares (s. 38 (4)). CHF BC says shares in non-profit co-ops usually run from $1,000 to $7,000 and come back without interest when you leave, less any damage or money owed. In an equity co-op the share carries the home's value, so its rules can let a share sell at a market price (our reading); the Home Owner Grant Act describes such a building as owned for shareholders whose shares are worth the share of the building their apartment is (s. 1, "eligible apartment"). Monthly charges and the mortgage: CHF BC says housing charges are usually set to break even after operating costs and saving for capital repairs, are most often changed by the members at a general meeting, and that government subsidies for lower-income members have time limits. The co-op, not you, carries any mortgage on the property: unless the rules say otherwise, it may charge the whole of its undertaking only with the members' special resolution (s. 71 (1)), and copies of its mortgages are open to directors (s. 129 (c)). The co-op has a lien on your shares for any debt you owe it (s. 56). Losing the home: A co-op can end a membership only by a resolution of 3/4 of all its directors, for unpaid charges or a material breach of the occupancy agreement left unfixed after written notice, if its rules adopt those grounds, or for conduct detrimental to the co-op (s. 35). You get 7 days' notice of the meeting and may speak at it (s. 36 (1)), and can appeal to the members and then to the Supreme Court within 30 days (s. 37). Your right to the home ends with the membership (s. 171), and the co-op must go to court for an order of possession (s. 172). You can't be put out without the membership first ending (s. 35.1 (3)), and your share refund waits until you move out (s. 38 (3)). Who settles disputes: The Residential Tenancy Act doesn't apply to a home a not-for-profit housing co-op rents to a member (RTA s. 4 (a)); whether it reaches a member of an equity co-op is unclear, as the section names only not-for-profit co-ops. The Civil Resolution Tribunal hears disputes about the Act, the regulations or a co-op's memorandum and rules, records requests, and a co-op's or its directors' actions and decisions about a member (Civil Resolution Tribunal Act s. 125 (1); Cooperative Association Act s. 159.5). It can't hear ending a membership or the right to the home, orders of possession or winding up (CRTA s. 126), and its page says the same of membership termination. Papers you can see: Anyone may inspect a co-op's memorandum, rules and register of members at its registered office (ss. 128 (1), 130 (4)). The minutes of general meetings and the financial statements are open to members (ss. 128 (2), 130 (2)), who can get copies for a set charge (s. 132), so ask the seller to get them for you. A member is entitled to one copy of the memorandum and rules a year without charge (s. 142 (1)). Tax, grants and new co-ops: Property transfer tax is charged when a taxable transaction is registered at a land title office (Property Transfer Tax Act s. 2 (1)); a share changing hands isn't registered there, so the tax doesn't apply to it alone (our reading; ask your lawyer). The home owner grant for a co-op home goes to the co-op as owner of the building, for each member living there as a principal residence, and the co-op must pass its benefit on to you (Home Owner Grant Act ss. 1, 3, 7). A share bought from the co-op in a new building can qualify for a GST rebate, applied for within two years (Excise Tax Act s. 255 (2), (2.1), (3)). A developer marketing 2 or more cooperative interests, a share with a right to occupy part of the land, files a disclosure statement under the Real Estate Development Marketing Act (s. 1) and needs a building permit first (s. 6). What it means for a buyer: Read the rules before you pay: they say who may join, what happens to your share when you leave, and what the co-op allows on renting your home out, pets and changes to the unit. Read the minutes and statements for coming repairs, charge increases and the mortgage, and ask whether a lender will take your share as security before you count on financing.

What do I get when I buy into a housing co-op in BC?

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