Legal Aspects
Table of Contents
Cohabitas and Ecovillages
The legal aspects will be determined according to the specificities of each country.
In Quebec, there are very few cohabitas, but they have paved the way for the following. In general, cohabitas and ecovillages have set up a decision-making system based On sociocracy. We will be strongly inspired by the mode of governance adopted by CQ.
On the other hand, the laws in force in each country must be respected. Thus Cohabitat Québec (Canada) clearly indicates in its documentation that
The mode of decision-making by consent (sociocracy) does not eliminate any other mode of decision-making provided for under the law.
Documents
The original documents produced by CQ in PDF format are in French and are accessible further down this page.
We have translated these documents into English with Google Translate. The automatic translation being already approximate added to the additional difficulty underlying a legal document, makes the translation very approximate. These English documents are therefore provided for information purposes only.
These documents must be adapted to the legislative specificity of each country as well as the unique specificity of each NBC.
On the other hand, you will find a fairly faithful idea of the issues relating to cohousing.
To meet Quebec requirements:
Cooperatives Act, Declaration Of Divided Co-Ownership: 2021-DCL.pdf
And the original version in French: 2021-DCL_fr.pdf
To satisfy the internal regulations of the co-housing:
Rules of Internal Management: RIM.pdf
And the original version in French: RRI.pdf
For the internal management mode concerning membership:
Cooperative Membership Policy: 2022_CQ_MembershipPolicy_v2.2_adopted.pdf
And the original version in French: 2022_CQ_PolitiqueAdhesion_v2.2_adoptee.pdf
Notes on Translation by Google Translate
All ▸ symbols have been replaced by ÿ
The acronyms defined in the French documents and have been preserved almost as is in English by Google Translate. Here is the lexicon in French as well as the translation.
CQ: Cohabitas Québec — Québec Cohousing
CA: Conseil d’Administration — Board of Directors
CAG: Conseil d’Administration Général — General Board of Directors
Google use GAC sometimes:
AG: Assemblée Générale — General Assembly
AGA: Assemblée Générale Annuelle — Annual general meeting
AGE: Assemblée Générale Extraordinaire — Extraordinary General Meeting
Google use sometimes AGM instead of AG et EGM instead of AGE.
MPE: Membre à Part Entière — Full members
MAR: membres auxiliaires résidents — resident auxiliary members
MART: membres auxiliaires résidents temporaires — temporary resident auxiliary members
MAUX: membres auxiliaires non-résidents — non-resident auxiliary members
Google use MALS sometimes.
RRI: Règlement de Régie Interne — Rules of Internal Management
REQ: Registre des Entreprises du Québec — Quebec Business Register
CNV: Communication Non-Violente — Non Violent Communication