A key group of professionals within the camping, outdoors and accommodation industry got together to work out how to acquire land and establish off grid campgrounds, off road vehicle recreation areas and tiny house parks in suitable localities across Australia. It was decided that the co-operative model was the most appropriate legal model for this enterprise because it was capable of bringing in investment from people and corporations and engaging the same community in its activities through active membership.
The COA Co-operative Ltd is the result and operates through its trading name of Community Owned Assets (COA). COA is a distributing cooperative domiciled in Australia and registered with the NSW Government Office of Fair Trading. COA can issue shares in order to finance the acquisition of land and associated infrastructure for camping and outdoor recreation, residential estates and parks, money making businesses and much more. The more people that invest in COA means the more properties it can buy for members collective use. Imagine being able to plan a trip around Australia and camp at properties where you are a part owner and don't have to pay a single cent to camp at or have somewhere to drive your off road vehicle any time you want or to be part of a community where it is legal to permanently park your tiny house. Learn more about COA through our video, The Cooperative Hack - Being a COA Member and Shareholder.
The Business Council of Cooperatives and Mutuals discusses everything you need to know about co-operatives, plus the "What is a Co-operative" video provides an easy to understand explanation of co-operatives.
What type of Cooperative is COA?
COA is a Land Cooperative, which simply means a group of people who own land together and cooperatively manage its needs and resources. Sharing land, resources, & responsibilities lightens the load for all involved. A land cooperative cultivates diversity and strength through sharing of the group’s collective of experience, skills, knowledge, and insight. More is achieved, more efficiently, when a variety of people, filling different niches, come together to work in common purpose and goal. A Land Cooperative also makes land ownership more affordable, as the cost of shares are much less than purchasing individually titled land. Maintenance and building costs are also much lower, as these costs are shared by all of the members in the cooperative. Skills can be shared, bartered, or paid-for, within the cooperative. In this way, a Land Cooperative becomes more self-reliant, as people follow their own diverse passions.
What does distributing mean?
COA is distributing, which means the cooperative has share capital and members that want to use COA land must hold at least the minimum shareholding specified in the rules of the cooperative. As a distributing cooperative, members may receive a part of the surplus generated in a year by way of:
- a rebate, or
- the issue of bonus shares to members, or
- the issue of a limited dividend.
Is there a Prospectus for COA?
Distributing Cooperatives must by law must produce a Disclosure Statement, which is a bit like a prospectus. This is the main document to determine what sort of investment you’ll be making if you were to become a member and buy shares. The document includes a section on risk, which you should pay particular attention to (although all parts of the document need your attention, so don’t just read the risk section!). View the COA Disclosure Statement.
Must COA follow any rules?
Cooperatives have a constitution just like companies do, but they’re called Rules. The Rules set out the ways in which the Cooperative operates, the obligations of members, the purpose of the organisation and the way in which meetings are run and so forth. View the COA Rules.
What is the aim of COA?
COA aims to provide an avenue where Australians can come together, pool resources and affordably own their own share of this great big, beautiful country of ours. The more people that invest in COA means the more properties it can buy for members collective use. This is the COA vision.
What are the primary activities of COA?
As described in the rules, 'the primary activity of COA, is the acquisition of land for Camping and Outdoor activities, permanent and temporary Accommodation'.
COA does NOT expect members to be a part of any committee, run raffles or do working bees as we understand life is busy enough. The purpose of COA is to provide the land, which is appropriate for you to go camping, or to explore the great outdoors with your off road vehicle, horse riding, hiking, hunting, etc or grow your own food on your tiny house plot and much more. However a stipulation of being an 'active' member as per the rules of COA is that you simply:
- Subscribe to the COA newsletter or electronic copy of communication; and
- Attend at least one General Meeting, member or community event per calendar year; or
- Stay, reside, camp or participate in outdoor activities on a COA property during a calendar year.
How many properties is COA hoping to acquire?
As many as possible! The more people that invest in COA means the more properties it can buy for members collective use.
What types of properties is COA aiming to acquire?
The intent is to have three types of COA property:
- Camping;
- Outdoors; and
- Accommodation.
Camping properties are to be small undeveloped short stay off grid parcels of land, which are to be located all around Australia. Being a shareholder could mean you could travel around Australia and stop at COA properties, which you would partly own and most likely be free to camp or depending on the property you might be required to pay just a few dollars to contribute to maintenance costs.
Outdoors properties are to be large parcels of land, which are to be located within a few hours of Australia's major regional centres and are to be specifically for off-road recreation use by MVs - Motor Vehicles (automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, etc), RVs - Recreational Vehicles (motor homes, camper trailers, caravans, etc) and ROVs - Recreation Off-highway Vehicles (buggy, side by side vehicle, utility terrain vehicle, etc).
Accommodation properties are to be acreage land in regional areas, which are developed as mixed-use residential estates/ parks. These estates/ parks are to accommodate permanent sites for homes, which are trailerable or transportable and temporary sites for visitors in caravans, motorhomes, etc.
Where do I find a list of properties the COA is hoping to acquire?
To view any subject properties, make sure you are logged in to the site then go to Subject Properties.
Can I sell my property to COA?
Definitely! This is the most ideal situation if you already own a property that is suitable for camping and outdoor activities or permanent and temporary accommodation as COA can enter into a lease arrangement with you so members get immediate access to use the property whilst the capital is being raised to purchase your property through the sale of shares.
Who determines if a property is suitable for purchase by COA?
The members do! Being a part of COA is about democratic member control. If you have a property that you think would be suitable for Camping and Outdoor activities, or permanent and temporary Accommodation, all you have to do is tell us about it, send photos and or videos and we'll display it in the 'subject properties' section for all members to view. We'll also have a link where members can vote on whether it should become a COA property or not. Simple!
One of the primary activities of COA, is the acquisition of land for permanent and temporary accommodation. What does that mean?
It means we are planning for the future from the very beginning. COA plans to help ease Australia's land affordability crisis for members. The idea is that members share in the cost of buying land for residential use. Think along the lines of a retirement village or over 50's resort for fixed tiny homes or a caravan park or residential village for mobile tiny homes. COA would own the land, but you own the dwelling that sits on a plot and you pay a small yearly site fee (land rental) that your house sits upon, which collectively covers the cost of maintenance on the property, rates, etc. Such an arrangement would operate under various state acts. In QLD for example COA could develop such properties as a caravan park for mobile tiny homes, which would come under the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 or for fixed tiny homes, the tiny home park would come under the Manufactured Homes (Residential Parks) Act 2003, etc.
Another of the primary activities of COA, is outdoor activities. What does that mean?
There are two meanings when we say Outdoor activities: 1) the social and recreational activities associated with camping, eg. arts and crafts, displays, picnic, camp games, campfire, fishing, swimming, etc. 2) other recreation and sport activities, eg. hiking, mtn biking, 4WD/ SSV driving, motorcycling, hunting, etc.
How do I get involved?
Once you have read, understood and accepted the Rules, Disclosure Statement and any associated documents, you'll first need to become a COA Shareholder Member. Shareholder Membership to COA entitles you to purchase shares in COA and use the properties for their intended purposes. Become a COA Shareholder Member today!
Once your membership has been approved, you can then head to the COA online store and purchase COA Member Shares. The minimum purchase requirement is 10 x $250 shares. You can buy more than the minimum shares and in fact you could own up to 20% of the cooperative. More shares means you could receive substantial returns when and if a shareholder dividend is paid. Once you have been approved as a COA Shareholder Member and logged into the site, you can Learn more and Purchase Shares in COA >>.
To keep up to date with all areas of COA please subscribe to our in-house socials at COA Australia.
"COA: The community-driven evolution of land, built for owners, not for profit."
