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Frequently
Asked Questions
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Cohousing Get involved Properties and facilities Buying a home Norwich Media and information
Cohousing
Angel Yard’s residents will own their own home just like in any street. Shared facilities such as the common house, outside space, corridors and lift will be owned and managed by Sussex Street Cohousing Community Interest Company, which will be governed by our residents.
We believe that everyone's opinion is important, so decisions are made, whenever possible, by group consensus, during regular meetings. This does take time, but also enables us to act in the interests of the community.
Put simply, we are a group of people building our own houses and building our community. If you join us, your involvement will start now, before the scheme is even built, and you will be encouraged to join in.
We expect all future residents to take part in the meetings, decision-making and the compromises that are needed to guide the project towards completion. Along the way we'll get to know one another and learn a great deal about how cohousing is created, which will be helpful when we are managing everything after we move in.
Whilst there’s no expectation that residents commit to every group meal or attend all community meetings, each household should be willing to play an active role in the community, perhaps by helping to cook some shared meals or washing up afterwards, or by tending to the allotment or helping with admin. Inevitably there will be meetings to take part in to help run the community.
If you’re considering taking the leap to this alternative way of living, it may be useful to ask yourself some key questions:
Can you afford to own your own home or pay a mortgage?
Can you compromise with people who may have different views from yours?
Can you live with people of different ages and from different backgrounds?
Do you have any additional needs to discuss?
Would you be comfortable to share some facilities and possessions?
Can you commit the time required to living in a cohousing group?
Cohousing
Get involved
Our cohousing community is for anyone, of any age, from any background, who wants to live as part of a sustainable neighbourhood. We don't have a vetting system or choose our members, if you've read our information and want to join and buy one of our properties, then you're very welcome.
Angel Yard’s community is a growing, intergenerational mix of working and retired people from Norwich, Cambridge and further afield. We are seeking to build a diverse community of families, partners and individuals, who are socially and environmentally-minded.
The earlier you get involved, the more you'll feel a part of your future neighbourhood. A cohousing community starts way before the buildings are constructed - we need to get used to working together, making decisions and negotiating as a group. Once we move in we'll be in charge! It's also a great time to socialise and find out a little about each other's history and interests.
Definitely! Families are a key part of a cohousing community and there’s lots of evidence to suggest that children and teenagers of all ages can thrive in a close-knit neighbourhood. We are planning to have a central shared, car-free garden at the heart of Angel Yard, and multipurpose indoor shared spaces, where children can play together safely.
You may find this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwhMIjEqbjk)from LILAC Cohousing informative.
Our residents are likely to be fully participating members of the local community, working or volunteering in Norwich, attending events and making use of the city on our doorstep.
The local area of St Augustine's already has a lively local residents' association for members to get involved in, and Norwich is full of groups, clubs, campaigns and schools that would welcome more members.
We certainly do! We host welcome events for people interested in becoming members and, once Angel Yard opens, we hope to host community events in our common house.
We list upcoming events here. (https://www.angelyard.org.uk/membership)If there are no events listed and you’d like to meet our group, please do get in touch.
Get Involved
Properties, facilities, finance and sustainability
Properties and facilities
We are planning to build 34 homes. There will be a mix of houses and apartments, and they will be fully self-contained with kitchens and bathrooms which means that they will be mortgageable. The apartments will be one, two and three bed, and a generous 55 to 90 square metres; the three bed houses will be just over 100 square metres.
All homes will be dual aspect, so that there is plenty of light and ventilation.
Although we are categorised as a 'self-build' scheme, we are not expecting residents to get involved in construction*. Our group will be commissioning a building contractor to carry out the construction work.
*There may be an opportunity to fit your own kitchen, rather than have the standard one that will be on offer, if you choose that option.
Not private ones, no. We have nine car parking spaces and are planning to reserve five of them for 'pool cars' that can be shared by residents, with the rest for visitors and deliveries. Because of our city centre location, space is tight and adding more parking spaces would mean losing our shared garden.
There are some alternative options: renting in private car parks or renting a garage or parking space from the City Council. We also have a public Car Club in Norwich with a variety of vehicles available.
Yes, all residents will be the private owners of their own home. The flats will be leasehold, and the houses will be freehold. The shared facilities and outside spaces will be owned and managed by a community interest company, of which all resident householders will be members.
In general no. The members living at Angel Yard will own or be buying their homes. Under some circumstances owners may rent out their homes in the future, but not in the short term.
It is hard to give an exact timescale. Once we have obtained planning permission we will seek a contractor for the construction, at that point prices become fixed and we can start to take formal reservations 'off-plan'. The build itself is likely to take around 18 months.
The major design decisions have now been taken, but there will be further opportunities to decide on fixtures and fittings. Internal decorations will always be up to the homeowner, of course, and the common house arrangement and landscape planting will decided by the future residents.
All of the flats and houses have door widths and bathroom dimensions to make them wheelchair accessible, and there are toilets on the ground floor of the houses. There is a lift that serves all of the flats in the apartment buildings, and the common house and garden will be wheelchair accessible. We can discuss the possibility of installing a wet room or specific fittings in the bathroom of your home.
One of the parking spaces has extra space all round for ease of access, and we will be able to store adapted bikes / trikes and mobility scooters in our cycle parking store.
We’d love to welcome pets as part of our neighbourhood, however we respect that they’re not for everyone and therefore will most likely need to be kept out of the common house. In most cases you'll be welcome to bring your pet with you when you join us but there may be limits on where they are free to go. Indoor pets will be entirely up to the homeowner.
Our Pets Policy has been agreed by members and is posted on our Our Project page.
Buying a home
To summarise, the steps are:
- pay the £1500 community payment to informally reserve one of the available homes;
- sign a 'Promise to Purchase' agreement two months before construction starts, with a payment of between 2.6% and 2.9% of the purchase price;
- exchange contracts via your solicitor, paying the balance (7.4% to 7.1%) that brings your payments up to ten percent of purchase price;
- complete on the day you move in.
Our group members are happy to talk you through this process in more detail.
Yes we are ensuring that the homes will be mortgageable. As we draft the lease we are mindful to make sure that it is written in such a way that they will be acceptable to mortgage lenders.
The flats will be leasehold and we are aiming to create 999 year leases. The houses will be freehold, with a covenant that sets out terms regarding e.g. a service charge to contribute towards the running costs of the common facilities.
If you are in a position to do so, we are encouraging buyers to exchange contracts early by offering a discount on the purchase price - current estimate is around 2% discount. The reason is that a proportion of 'early exchangers' is helpful for our costs going forward.
Early exchange will probably not be available to any buyers who need a mortgage, since mortgage offers only last for three to six months.
Yes, like any new home there will be a ten year warranty.
The property needs to be your main residence for the first three years. After that it is likely to be a matter for approval by the board of Directors, following community policies. We want to be as flexible as possible to residents' needs, while being aware that buy-to-let and AirBnB could have a negative impact on the community.
The property needs to be your main residence for three years after construction, so you need to plan to live in your home for three years as a minimum.
If or when you eventually decide to sell your home and move on, you may first want to give prospective buyers on our waiting list an opportunity to purchase. The price the house is sold at would be entirely at your discretion. If you didn't find a buyer from our waiting list then you could simply put your house or flat on the open market with an estate agent like any other home.
Buying a home
Norwich
Norwich
Our home is in Norwich, a medieval city in the East of England, UK.
There’s a reason that Norwich is known as a ‘Fine City’. It’s regularly listed as one of the ‘happiest places to live’ in the UK. Its unique history, thriving culture, excellent university and enviable location make its residents fiercely independent. Norwich has always been a creative city and is a UNESCO city of literature.
Find out more about Norwich(javascript:void(0))
Yes! Norwich is regularly listed as one of the safest cities to live in the UK.
There are primary and secondary schools very close to Angel Yard. To find out more about schools go to the Norfolk County Council website at:
https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/education-and-learning (https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/education-and-learning)
Norwich is establishing a reputation as a major digital hub, with a vibrant, fast-growing community of tech businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs.
It’s also home to a huge number of independent makers, creators, business owners and freelancers, who bring a uniquely creative vibe to the city.
Some of the city’s largest employers include the University of East Anglia (UEA), Norfolk County Council, Aviva, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and the Norwich Research Park.
Media and information
Media and information
We’ve shared some information on our Cohousing page (https://www.angelyard.org.uk/cohousing)For further details, we recommend visiting UK Cohousing,(https://cohousing.org.uk/) or taking a look at the websites of some established cohousing communities in the UK, such as:
Marmalade Lane, Cambridge(https://marmaladelane.co.uk/#home)
LILAC, Leeds(https://www.lilac.coop/)
Lancaster Cohousing.(https://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/)
Take a look at our Contact Us page and get in touch if you have any questions.
Because we are at such a busy stage just now, unfortunately we are unlikely to have the time to respond to research enquiries. Once we are more settled we'll be delighted to answer emails from students and researchers.
Yes, we’d love to promote Angel Yard and raise awareness of cohousing more generally. Please drop us a line (https://www.angelyard.org.uk/contact)and we’ll be in touch to arrange a chat.
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