Garage/workshop Co-Operative. Is it Possible?

[Alex_G60_Fanatic 0]

Little place near Dundee, a steading with enough room for 15-20 cars, workshop and benches.

 

Would it be reasonable to try and form a co-op to rent this space for all in the group to use? I obviously can't afford the rent for the whole place, but wit 15 ppl we could afford maybe the whole place!

 

So question is (pay attention butterfly... I know your good at these sort of things! :tongue: )

 

 

What would be involved in setting up this co-op? Would it be a good idea, how much work is involved and who/what would I need to run it? (secretary, treasurer etc.)

[Alex_G60_Fanatic 0]

http://www.resourcecentre.org.uk/inform ... t4prof.pdf

is any of this relevant?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

A few issues I can think of:-

 

Insurance. You can imagine the insurance nightmare of accidentally knocking and engine off the bench onto someone's head that just happens to be underneath it.

 

I don't know how much public liability insurance costs but I would imagine it's not cheap.

 

Then there's tools. Are you gonna have 15 tool sets, or one big pooled tool set, and if so, who governs it? What's the policy on lost / stolen tools? Again, could get messy.

 

Then there's access times and who is the key holder etc etc.....

[Alex_G60_Fanatic 0]

A few issues I can think of:-

 

Insurance. You can imagine the insurance nightmare of accidentally knocking and engine off the bench onto someone's head that just happens to be underneath it.

 

I don't know how much public liability insurance costs but I would imagine it's not cheap.

 

Then there's tools. Are you gonna have 15 tool sets, or one big pooled tool set, and if so, who governs it? What's the policy on lost / stolen tools? Again, could get messy.

 

Then there's access times and who is the key holder etc etc.....

 

Liability insurance would be under the co-operative... We would all have to pay towards it monthly... Comes in at about £1000 per 10 people for £500'000 cover over one year (i have a broker being slef employed)

 

tools would have to be kept locked by those who owned them... And the garage key would be for everyone within the Co-Op.

 

This enterprise would though... as you have pointed out Kev require a great amount of trust on everyone's part. We'd have to run it like a non-profit ltd company as far as i can tell, with yearly statements, accounts, tax forms etc... That keeps the liability down. But all this would have to be done as a charity almost... you couldn't make money doing it. I'm not sure its worth the time tbh...

 

The thing that got me thinking is that if we had the space and the capital of say 15 to 20 guys we could buy big equipment! Obviously owned by the Co-Op but hey... A car ramp that you can get a shot of when ever you like would be super!

[Alex_G60_Fanatic 0]

My sister who is a Solicitor just sent me this....

 

Whichever way you swing this shed business you will be in breach of lease terms (I would imagine) by allowing any other individual parties to occupy the space unless;

 

1. Landlord agrees to all 15 of you going on the Lease as Tenants. So 15 people share the space equally and are each jointly and severally liable for the £450 –this I can see being an absolute nightmare if a) any of you fall out b) any of you fail to pay your £30 and then fall out! C) any of you refuse to leave. Its easier to kick out 1 person than 15!

 

Or

2. there is a Company set up as the Tenant... the company then rents the shed but again as a Landlord not sure I would accept this without references for Company etc. You need to do all the necessary filing the Company at companies house, albeit limited for essentially ‘management’ companies but nevertheless would have to file returns annually and so this cost would have to build it.

 

Sounds a night mare. Don’t do it.

 

Well... never mind then hey! I thought it sounded good myself! :lol:

[RW1 0]

It can be done. My friend has two double decker buses and there's about 12 buses all told amongst the members. Big shed! Shared tools, power etc..

 

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