Ethical investment opportunity: help us buy our new house!

For years we have talked about how one day we would expand the co-op so we can provide more people with secure affordable housing - but until recently it had remained a pipe dream. Then a few weeks ago we discovered that a friend of a friend who has a house across the road from ours was selling up, and on investigation discovered that it would be the perfect place for us to expand to! 

So now we are buying it - and need to raise some money! 

What do we need the money for?

In a nutshell, to buy the house. We have applied to an ethical building society for a mortgage to cover 80% of the purchase price, but need to raise the other 20% (plus money to pay the solicitors, land transaction tax, survey etc) ourselves. As many of our members are on low incomes, we are looking for investors to lend us this money as loanstock - money lent to the organisation by individuals or other co-ops (usually) for a fixed term.

Why should you invest in Golem housing co-op?

You’ll be helping to provide good quality secure and affordable housing in Swansea - now and in future. We are also able to offer interest on the money you lend, so this is an ethical investment opportunity.

How does it work?

We would welcome any investment of £1,000 or over. The investment is for a fixed term between 5 and 20 years, although we can sometimes consider early repayment on request. If you can lend us money at 0% interest, this helps to keep our costs down - but we are also prepared to offer interest paid at any rate up to 2%. We are in the process of buying our new house so we are looking for offers of investment over the coming month (up until Friday 6 December). When we receive your investment, we will provide you with a loanstock certificate as evidence of your investment and its repayment terms. 

Please note that loanstock is an unsecured investment and you may decide to get independent financial advice before making any investment. However, housing co-ops very rarely go bust, and in the event that they do, any money recouped by the sale of the property can be used to pay back the loanstock investors once the mortgage was paid back.

How can I invest?

Drop us an email at golem.coop@gmail.com with details of how much you would be interested in investing and for how long, and we can send you our full terms of investment. We are also happy to answer any further questions you may have.


You may also be wondering:

What is Golem housing co-operative?
We are a housing co-op based in Mount Pleasant in Swansea. We were
formed in 2010 by a group of friends who were sick of renting poor quality
and insecure housing from (often) exploitative landlords and wanted to
work together to create a better alternative to house ourselves. In 2012 we
bought an eight-bedroom house which we have prevented from falling
down (literally) and made into a lovely and affordable home for seven
adults and a small person. Now we are expanding so we can house more
people and are very excited to have had an offer accepted on a second
house just across the road.

What is a housing co-op?
A housing co-op is registered not-for-profit organisation that exists to house
its members. All its residents are members (and so have a say in running
of the co-op) and all its members must be residents. The organisation is
run according to co-operative principles which give all members an equal
say (and equal responsibility) in managing their housing. If it should ever
cease to exist, its assets (such as any property it owns) must stay within
the co-operative movement - so members cannot profit from them.