What is Carriage House
Carriage House is a non profit corporation which combines the quality of owning your own home without the hassle of maintaining it. It is a group of 138 townhouse units located in the City of Utica, east of Van Dyke, between M 59 and 21 Mile Road. Each family who resides in one of the townhouses owns a share (membership) in the Cooperative. A membership entitles you to an equal ownership in the Cooperative, and a vote in the operation of the Cooperative.
What is a Cooperative
A cooperative is a group of people working together in a joint economic activity that is owned and operated by its members for their mutual benefit. In a housing cooperative (or co-op), a housing development is jointly operated by its members. They own membership certificates in the corporation, giving them the right to occupy a dwelling unit and participate in the operations of the corporation. The cooperative housing corporation owns the total property. A not-for-profit corporation.
Ownership
Each resident or resident household has membership in the co-operative association. Members have occupancy rights to a specific suite within the housing co-operative as outlined in their “occupancy agreement”, or “proprietary lease” which is essentially a lease.
In some cases, the co-op follows Rochdale Principles where each shareholder has only one vote. Most cooperatives are incorporated as limited stock companies where the number of votes an owner has is tied to the number of shares owned by the person. Whichever form of voting is employed it is necessary to conduct an election among shareholders to determine who will represent them on the board of directors (if one exists), the governing body of the co-operative. The board of directors is generally responsible for the business decisions including the financial requirements and sustainability of the co-operative. Although politics vary from co-op to co-op and depend largely on the wishes of its members, it is a general rule that a majority vote of the board is necessary to make business decisions .
Come see all of the advantages that Carriage House Cooperative has to offer.