Hi Alberto,
I was picturing/ visualising the general idea of how it will work, once the contractors have sent their invoices. The next question I ask you to have a “general understanding” of how the payment will go.
For example the surveyor sends 1 invoice to the société simple. The société simple makes partial invoices. This partial invoice, all the full members receive. Partical invoice 1 I will send to my banc. Others to the ECORENO credit. Some invoices will fit the requirements of ecological energetic works. For example the invoice of the “roof isoloation” or the “heat boiler”. This partial invoice I will send to the Brussels woningfonds. They will offer me a ECORENO-credit. I will read the requiremens very well to avoid “double financing” and be correct.
I don’t need an specific answer in detail. I would like to know if I understood the general idea correct.
Here is my understanding: Coral Reef will never bill its partners (Reeflings). Instead:
Before construction starts, we will only incur common expenses, not attributable to individual units – for example, the architect’s design. Suppliers (the architects in my example) bill Coral Reef. Coral Reef pays out of its capital stock, that is called in from partners.
Once the construction starts, we are informed, our general contractor will automatically generate each bills already divided across the different units. We will provide them with a division key (which is basically the price of the unit). This means that each household will receive their own invoice. We are not entirely sure how the payments will work: ideally we would like to be as centralized as possible (I can explain better the why if needed, but it is to protect the entire group from the consequences of delays in payments from one of its members), but we do not think banks will allow much of that. It also depends whether we can secure a deal with a bank to provide a loan to many of the households, in this sense treating us as “a cohousing” rather than “21 separate households”. We will organize a meeting with VDK in September.
A different matter is the management of subsidies.
I am not familiar with these things you describe. In general, though, some of the sustainability-related equipment (solar panels for sure, possibly heat pumps if we go with the Litobox solution) will be attributed not to individual units, but to the copropriété forcée. This is a legal vehicle that Belgian law mandates when you own an apartment in a complex with any common parts. We still need to figure out how to deal with these. I mean, in the end all subsidies will be claimed, and the savings redistributed to us according to the division key. But maybe it will be the copropriété claiming them, just as the energy community (and not us individually) will claim the green certificates.
In general, I am discovering that a cohousing is a set of specialized legal vehicles owned by the same people. Each vehicle does something better than individuals could separately. For now our legal vehicles are three:
The Reef ASBL for recruitment, onboarding, public affairs and, in the future, social and cultural activities.
Coral Reef Maatschap for contracting construction services.
The accord préalable for guaranteeing to all full members legal rights over the terrain (this will be dissolved after the second notarial deed).
In the future, we will have at least two more: the copropropriété forcée to manage the common spaces (legal obligation) and the energy community to produce and sell electricity.
Hope that’s a little clearer… I know it’s complex stuff.
Thanks for the clear explanation. It is interesting to learn/know about all the legal vehicles and especially about the copropriété and the energy community and Torpedo.
First question: once the construction starts: what topic will be on the bills generated by the general contractor divided across the different units (based on the division key)?
As I understand it, the ECORENO mortgage from the Brussels Housing Fund can finance energy-efficiency improvements and has to be repaid. The RENOLUTION grant, on the other hand, is a subsidy that does not have to be repaid.
I expressed myself poorly before, or the translation was inaccurate. The ECORENO loan is a mortgage.
I asked because I’m researching which organisation or bank would be best for taking out a mortgage. I’m therefore not talking about subsidies.
At the same time, it think I need to figure for which exact invoices the ECORENO mortgage counts. Do I understand it correct that the energy community would be responsible of building the solar panels in The Reef?
For sure the sollar panels don’t count for the ECORENO mortgage.
The Brussels Region’s Facilitateurs d’Energie are part of the RENOLUTION project. So to have a correct answer on my question, it could be useful to contact the Bxl woningfonds and/ or The Brussels Region’s Facilitateurs d’Energie to ask for which of the next of the works the mortgage is valid:
Energy
Insulation and Ventilation Work
Efficient Heating System
Roof Isolation
Efficient Gas Boiler
Isolation of Exterior Walls
Thermal regulation
Renewable energy projects
Floor isolation
High-performance glazing
Photovoltaic system
Controlled mechanical ventilation
Heat pump
Solar water heaters
If there is not any other of this list that will also be claimed by the energy community, and if I receive a go of yours, I’ll contact them.
the way I understand it, neither ECORENO nor RENOLUTION are aimed at renovation, not at new construction. Therefore, they are not applicable to The Reef. For Renolution I am sure:
Uniquement pour les bâtiments âgés de plus de 10 ans. L’extrait de la matrice cadastrale faisant foi. – source.
Anyway, even this information was 2024: today, the website tells us, the new government has not made a formal decision to continue with the programme yet.
For ECORENO, I suspect it’s the same. Reason: the purpose of these policies is to improve the energy efficiency of the housing stock in Belgium. Now, if you build new in Brussels you are obliged to build to high PEB (passive). So, there is no need to offer people money to do what they have to do anyway.
That said, why don’t you contact them and confirm my impression? If I am wrong, then we all can benefit from ECORENO! In that case we will then figure out together the best way to do so.
Friday I called and they’ve said: “both new and old buildings can rent, if you send us the invoice.” → Exactly, it would be good for all of us. I will call and/e-mail to clarify and have it 100% sure.
You do that! Suggestion: explain we are a cohousing in autopromotion (a group of households acting as the real estate promoter for their own project), and ask if that changes anything. It might, because, unlike with a commercial real estate promoter, property and construction projects are legally separated. The property sits with the households; but the construction is coordinated by Coral Reef.
They may not have a firm answer, but if there is some opening we can look into it more scientifically. The main problem I see is that the model becomes more complicated: you need a loan from a regular bank “for the unit” and a different loan from Ecoreno or whatever “for some parts of the building”. Complication has also monetary costs, so we will see what the economics of it all are.
Would you be comfortable with moving this thread into the public forum? It is information that concerns the group, rather than a private exchange between the two of us, and I can do it in a click.
