1. Production cooperative: definition, basic principles.
A production cooperative is a voluntary association of citizens (membership) to carry out joint economic activities. The production cooperative acts on the basis of the Charter, which fully regulates its activities. As a rule, all members of this organization to one degree or another participate in its activities (personal work, financing, providing transport or material resources). Periodically, a general meeting of shareholders is held, in which all its members participate. Each member of such an association has one vote in making a decision.
In addition, all members of the organization regularly make mutual contributions, which form a mutual cooperative fund. If, for some reason, the property of the cooperative organization is not enough to compensate for its debts, its members must reimburse the missing cash from their own funds. In a word, all members of this association bear subsidiary liability for debts, which is mandatory in its charter.
2. Production cooperative: pros and cons.
Like all business enterprises, a production cooperative has its own advantages and disadvantages. Compare a production cooperative and a bank that provides loans for the purchase of housing. The most important advantage of a cooperative association is the principle of “one for all and all for one”. Unscrupulous shareholders do not stay in it for a long time, and for the remaining members of the organization a minimum set of documents will be sufficient.
As a rule, you need a copy of the work book and the main document of a citizen of the Russian Federation: passport. When receiving a housing loan, the bank will ask for a much larger package of documents. But: for the bank, 15-20% of the total cost of the purchased housing is enough, for a cooperative association the percentage will be much higher - at least half the cost.
In addition, each shareholder pays a certain amount when joining a cooperative organization, which is 2-5% of the estimated cost of housing, which will not be returned if the shareholder for some reason leaves it. The term of accumulation of this down payment of 2 years, that is, not the fact that, having paid it, you will immediately notice a housewarming party in a new apartment.
A definite plus is the fact that each member of a cooperative association is well aware of the real state of things and is involved in decision-making. A cooperative may have a certain number of shareholders who are not directly involved in the activities of a cooperative enterprise. Management, of course, is only democratic.
When concluding a contract with a bank for the purchase of housing on a mortgage, you register the housing as a property with slight restrictions, but upon joining a cooperative, the housing will be in its ownership until you pay the full price of the apartment. But when leaving the cooperative, its full member may demand its share or property corresponding to it, since all cooperative property must be divided into units (this decision must have state registration).
It is very difficult, if not impossible, to transfer the business if necessary, since it will be necessary to withdraw the old members and introduce new participants. And each transition will require mandatory state registration.
A production cooperative, as one of the forms of non-profit organizations, has several undoubted advantages and several significant disadvantages. Each person must decide for himself individually the issue of membership in such an organization.