Co op sinking fund

Dnod

Hello all

Right ok here goes, I live on a co op housing estate with about a hundred properties on it, I’ve just joint the committee to try and help out on the estate. So anyway we have a sinking fund with a extortionate amount of money in it which gets bigger every year and are being told we can’t use hardly any of it ?? Windows on flats need doing, the communal doors need doing, fences need fixing but we are being told we can’t use any of this fund, as it money in kind or something like that and raises value of property. So if anyone has any experience in this or anything similar then help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks D

daveyjp

If you are being told you can't spend it someone must have the details as to why. If you are on the Committee you need to get all the paperwork and read it to understand what it can and can't be used for.

While it may be a lot of money, without details what it may have to pay for in future it may not be.

G_M

If you are on the committee you need to understand your role, your responsibilities and the structure of the co op.

Do you?

It's a sure-fire certainty that we don't!

Get hold of the relevant paperwork and read it!

How is the co op constituted?
How is this money collected - I don't mean cheques/bank transfers, I mean on what authority?

Where is it specified what the money is for? And who has control of it?

being told we can’t use hardly any of it

Who is 'we' and who is doing the telling? On what authority?


No one here can possibly help you unless or until you quote, in full, the relevant documentation.

xylophone

http://www.ash.coop/about/housing-coops/

Is it something like this?

Dnod

Yes, it is like this and just seems weird that we can buy and rent properties on the estate with this money, but things like replacing windows and fixing roofs on the estate can’t be taken out of the fund and comes down to the lease holder. This money is growing and growing and seems a complete waste to me, I understand the coop need a curtain amount to cover cost of rent overdue and the occasional property buys and stuff like that but the money doing nothing just seems mad.
Thanks all for your help I’m new to both this and the committee.
Cheers D

eddddy

Dnod wrote: »

Yes, it is like this and just seems weird that we can buy and rent properties on the estate with this money, but things like replacing windows and fixing roofs on the estate can’t be taken out of the fund and comes down to the lease holder.

From what you say, I suspect it's not a "sinking fund" - it's simply funds belonging to the co op.

• A "sinking fund" would be money paid by leaseholders to fund future repairs (e.g. window replacements) - i.e. the money doesn't really 'belong' to the co op, it 'belongs' to the leaseholders.

• The money you're talking about sounds like it belongs to the co op (maybe it's profits from selling and/or renting out properties etc).

• The cost of replacing the windows is the leaseholders' responsibility, not the co op's. So that has to be paid out of the leaseholders' funds, not the co op's funds.

William96

As eddddy has said, are you sure this is a sinking fund? As a sinking fund would be part of the service charge and therefore used for fixings such things as the windows or roofs etc. Do you know if you are on IR or FRI terms?

Dnod

Thanks again you two I believed it was a sinking fund from excess payed on maintenance from everyone plus rent and property in one account but I will find out and get back to you.

G_M

We can all keep guessing till the cows come home.


But if both the cows and the cow-herd are blind, they'll never get home....