In our everyday life, we come across a range of housing entities that take the structural form of buildings, independent bungalows, row houses, and others. These structures are represented by a variety of legal identities such as apartment complexes, condominiums, resident associations, cooperative societies, and so on. Each of these is further governed and managed by a different set of rules according to their distinctive legal identity.
In this article, we will jump into the details of one such legal entity – a Cooperative Housing Society by covering the following –
A Cooperative Housing Society is a membership-based legal entity that rents or owns real estate and consists of one or more residential buildings that are primarily member-managed.
It is often abbreviated as CHS. This distinctive form of home ownership is an efficient model due to its inherent quality of pooling member resources and is hence termed a cooperative. It works to combine and leverage the buying power of all its members. This, in turn, reduces the overall cost per member for all products and services needed to maintain the housing unit.
In essence, a cooperative housing society is a democratic model of home ownership.
While collective ownership and effort are at the core of a cooperative housing society, various forms of it exist that differ by the materialization process of the society. These types may also have certain differences in their operational regulations.
1. Tenant Ownership Cooperative Housing Society
In this, the society either purchases or leases the land for construction of houses
2. Tenant Co-partnership Cooperative Housing Society
In this, the society purchases the constructed structure and sells individual units
3. House Mortgage Cooperative Housing Society
In this, the society loans money to members for construction of their individual units