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Money Box

Money Box Live: Communal Living

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2825 Ratings

🗓️ 18 December 2019

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

From a housing cooperative near the city, to an organic farm in the sticks, communal living can vary enormously. So what are the financial pros and cons of a shared lifestyle? Adam Shaw visits a co-housing scheme in Leeds where residents enjoy the privacy of their own home, whilst sharing meals, cars and mortgage costs. How much can they save on their monthly bills and what are the downsides of living together with your neighbours?

If you have experience of communal living - whether a hippy commune, a co-housing scheme or even a student housing cooperative - do get in touch and share your stories. You can email moneybox@bbc.co.uk any time, or tweet @moneybox. Or call 03700 100 444. Lines open from 1pm on Wednesday 18 December.

Guests: Chris Coates, an editor at Diggers and Dreamers, a website offering information about communal living Angela Vincent, from the UK Cohousing Network

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

In Northern Ireland, from the late 70s to the early 90s, the IRA killed over 40 alleged informers.

0:08.0

But the man who often found, tortured and sometimes killed these people on behalf of the IRA

0:12.0

was himself an informer, a secret British army agent with the codename Stakeknife.

0:18.0

Who gets to play God? And why me? Why my family? When lies are still being told to this day,

0:24.0

who do you believe? I wouldn't even know where to start and I'm with the IRA.

0:28.5

Steakknife. Listen first on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

0:36.9

As housing becomes more expensive and out of reach,

0:40.8

increasing numbers of people are turning to something called communal living.

0:44.9

It's not a commune, and it doesn't necessarily mean sharing a flat

0:48.2

and arguing over whose milk it is in the fridge or who drank it.

0:52.1

And it's not the same as the options provided by

0:54.5

housing associations. It's a different kind of financial path to your own front door.

1:01.2

If you've questions or indeed, if you've experiences about communal living, do get in touch

1:05.9

with us right now. You can call us on 0-3700-100-4444 you can email us at moneybox at bbc.com.

1:14.6

Or if you're amongst the Twitter-arty, you can tweet us at Moneybox.

1:17.8

But that number again is 0-3-700-100-444.

1:24.0

Now, yesterday I went to a co-housing scheme where 20 homes all effectively share in one mortgage.

1:31.3

The original residents helped design their eco-minded properties, and although they live separately, they do have communal areas.

1:39.3

Well, here I am in West Leeds, and I've come to Lilac Grove. It's a new development and here it is.

1:48.2

I'm moving into their garden. It all looks quite Nordic. It's built around a big pond.

1:54.5

There's lots of wood around and there's a funny old sign, the good old days this way.

1:59.3

And standing almost in front of the good old day sign is Liz.

...

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