About
Due to the legal complexities of building a cohousing, full membership of The Reef implies participating in several legal vehicles and agreements. This is a new situation, that arose in 2024 as a consequence of purchasing the site and incorporating a société simple for the purpose of commissioning and managing the design and construction of the buildings.
I offer this as a contribution to @reef-recruitment and the buddy pool to help new members navigate the process.
In a nutshell
To become full members of The Reef, associate members must apply for full membership, and be accepted by consensus (unanimity) by the extant full members. Next, the new full members must take the formal steps to be fully included in The Reef’s legal structure. This means:
- Becoming full members of The Reef ASBL.
- Becoming parties to the accord préalable.
- Becoming partners of Coral Reef SoSim.
1. Full members of the ASBL
Why. The ASBL is our recruitment vehicle; in the future, when the construction is complete, it will switch to being a vehicle for cultural and social activities. Full members have decision-making power on consenting to other people joining as full members, and are eligible for sitting on its board of directors.
How. This part requires that the new full members:
- Pay the 2,000 EUR membership fee into the bank account of The Reef ASBL.
- Add themselves (all adults in the household) to the Registry of Members.
2. Parties to the accord préalable
Why. The Brussels legislation on construction does not contemplate the possibility of cohousings, and forces us to do two notarial deeds instead of one. To save on legal costs, our notary advised us for only people in the group who plan to own a second home beyond their unit in The Reef to initially purchase the site. The accord préalable is a contract between these people (the current legal owners of the site) and the rest of the group. Signing it, you acquire the legal right that the legal owners will sell you the part of the site corresponding to your unit. This sale can only happen once the permit has been approved; at that point, the accord préalable will have been fulfilled. Meanwhile, we update it with each new member.
How. This is essentially a digital signature process.
- Digitally sign the new version of the accord préalable. Ask @alberto or @RichardB to generate the new version and initiate the signing process. Note that all full members, not just the new ones, must sign each new version. New full members must supply some personal data (see)
- Pay the initial contribution towards construction into the bank account of Coral Reef (NOT of The Reef ASBL). For new full members, this has been set to 1,000 EUR per m2 (gross) of their unit (early full members paid a bit more); the amount owed by the new full members is reflected in the version of the accord préalable they sign.
3. Partners of Coral Reef
Why. Coral Reef is our vehicle to manage construction, including the design and planning phases. Each member household confers to it the financial resources corresponding to its unit; Coral Reef uses the money to pay the architects, the builders, etc. By becoming a partner, new members gain voting rights in its General Assembly and become eligible to sit on its board of directors.
Coral Reef will continue in existence after the building permit and second notarial deed, and be dissolved once the building is complete and delivered. It is a societé simple (maatschap), which means we all have unlimited liability for its debts. It needs to be managed very closely, with attention from all its partners.
How. The initial contribution foreseen by the accord préalable, and all those that will be done in the future, translate into shares of Coral Reef.
- Each household member receives one share per euro contributed and two votes, no matter the amount of its contribution. Shares ownership and voting rights are recorded in the UBO registry of Coral Reef (more on the UBO registry).
- Ask somebody in @coral-board to add your household to the UBO registry. Before you do this, you must agree on how to allocate shares and voting rights within your household. Some couples allocate to each partner in the couple 1 vote and 50% of the shares, but you can choose any allocation.