Features of a Housing Co-operative Society

A housing co-operative society shares the general features of all co-operatives but also has some characteristics of its own that flow from its special purpose of providing homes. The main features are set out below.

• Voluntary association — Membership is open and voluntary. Any competent person of small or moderate means who needs a home and accepts the society's rules may join, and there is no discrimination on grounds of caste, creed, religion or politics. A member is free to leave after following the proper procedure.
• Separate legal status — Once registered under the co-operative law, the society becomes a distinct legal body (a body corporate). It can hold land and property, open bank accounts, borrow, enter into contracts, sue and be sued in its own name, quite separately from its members.
• Purpose of housing — Unlike most other co-operatives, its object is not to trade or lend money but to solve the housing problem of its members — to obtain land and to build, allot or maintain houses and flats for them.
• Capital from members and loans — The working capital is raised from members' shares, entrance fees and contributions, and is supplemented on a large scale by long-term loans from co-operative housing finance bodies, banks and government housing schemes, because building is costly.
• Service, not profit, is the motive — The primary aim is to serve members by providing homes at a fair cost, not to earn maximum profit. Any surplus is used for the members' benefit, for maintenance and for reserves.
• Democratic management — The society is managed by a managing committee elected by the members on the principle of 'one member, one vote', irrespective of the number of shares a member holds, keeping control with the members themselves.
• Ownership and maintenance of common property — In most housing societies the land, the building structure, the staircases, lifts, water tanks, gardens and roads are common property of the society, while the individual flat is used and enjoyed by the member. The society looks after the upkeep of these common parts. …