Flat for sale

​There is currently a home for sale or rent here at On the Brink:

Flat 6
Flat 6 is a two-bedroom apartment (115 sq.m.) situated on the first and second floors of Brincliffe House, with an internal front door, on sale for £350,000 o.n.o. or for rent. The deadline for expressions of interest in a purchase to the seller is Wednesday 27 September. Take a look at the Flat 6 listing.

​
​
​Viewings
To arrange a viewing of the property, please contact us below.

On the Brink membership
Please be aware that in order to buy a unit at On The Brink, the buyer will need to be accepted as a member by the community through the process described below.

Visit us
If you might be interested in this property, are curious about cohousing or would like to know more about On The Brink, come for a visit!

You are very welcome to:

• Join us for Friday tea at 6pm on the first or third Friday of each month. Everyone brings something vegetarian to share in our common house kitchen for this weekly meal. It’s a great way to chat with people round the table and find out about life at On The Brink.
• Take part in our monthly grounds and garden work day on the first Sunday of the month, 10am-12.30pm, with a coffee break and sometimes a shared lunch too. Talk with members as you help with tasks like sweeping leaves, gathering kindling for the common room stove or tending the veg patch.

You’ll have the chance to meet community members, talk to us about our experiences of cohousing, take a look around and get a feel for the place.

Arranging viewings and visits
To arrange a viewing of flat 6 or to request a visit to our community, please contact us below. Requests for viewings will be forwarded to the seller who will arrange your viewing with you directly.  If you would like to combine a viewing with a community visit, please note that viewings may not be available on every On the Brink visit date.

Membership process
After viewings and an initial visit:

• You confirm to the person selling the flat that you are able to pay the price. The deadline for this initial expression of interest in Flat 6 is Wednesday 27 September.
• We’ll ask you to fill in a questionnaire. 
• You will be invited to spend more time with us over several weeks:
  • We will ask you to arrange at least three visits including your initial one, so that you can experience both a Friday tea and grounds day, and sit in on one of our meetings (meeting dates available on request). 
  • ​​It’s a good idea to try to talk to as many members as possible during your visits, as the membership decision is taken by the full community.  We’ll give you a list of members so that you can keep track of who you have spoken to. If there’s anyone you haven’t been able to meet during your visits, we can arrange for you to have a conversation with them.
  • If there are several expressions of interest in the unit, we will set a deadline for completing all your viewings and visits. The deadline for this second stage for Flat 6 is Wednesday 8 November. Prospective members are welcome to arrange to come along to any Friday tea throughout October.
• The community will then meet privately to select the new member(s).
• We will inform you of the outcome.

​Cohousing communities have this sort of process so that we can get to know each other to find out if we’re a good fit.
Please note that at any time during these steps, if the community feels we would not be a good match for you, we will let you know.
​
About cohousing
You can find out more about cohousing on the UK Cohousing Network website.

Membership commitments
It is important to understand what being a member of On The Brink involves before making a decision to join the community.
  
Being a Director
Everyone who lives at OTB is a member and a Director of On The Brink Cohousing Community Ltd, the company that owns the freehold of the buildings and land. 

As Directors, we are all jointly responsible for:

• the financial wellbeing of the company
• acting in the company’s and members’ best interests
• applying due diligence in all our activities. 

Find out more about being a company director. 

Responsibilities
There are many jobs involved in keeping On The Brink going. We expect all members to contribute in some way to these tasks, which include:

• the monthly grounds and gardens days described above
• ongoing gardening and fruit and veg growing for those with green fingers
• looking after the chickens and bees
• cleaning the communal spaces
• small-scale repairs and maintenance such as clearing gutters, testing the fire alarm, meter readings and dealing with the wifi 
• planning and running musical and other events open to the wider local community
• organising our own social activities such as film nights in the common room, our monthly Common Threads sewing and repair workshops, circle dancing, yoga, Halloween, Bonfire Night and New Year’s Eve parties, a Burns Night feast and even May Day rites in the garden.

​
These activities are not compulsory, but done in the spirit of sharing the workload. There’s also always an opportunity to share a cuppa in the garden, on one of the terraces or by the common room fire. 

Governance
We have a range of meetings:

• a Full Group meeting every other month for all members, which is the decision making body at OTB - the roles of chair, vice-chair, secretary and treasurer are rotated among members
• Several sub-committees meet regularly between Full Group to progress areas and issues:
  • Outside
  • Buildings
  • People
  • Legal
  • Finance.

All members are asked to join one of the sub-groups and share the work involved.

We aim to make decisions by consensus but our Articles of Association allow us to vote on issues if necessary, to get a resolution.

Policies
We have a range of policies which are all currently under review:

• Pets
• Transport
• Communal room hire.

​

---