Trusted advice for community-led housing projects

Solicitors at Wrigleys have been at the forefront of the community-led housing movement for over thirty years and understand the way these unique projects work. Our lawyers are empathetic and many are involved in community-led projects themselves, so have first hand experience of the practical issues that may arise.

*New blog series* Follow Laura Moss through setting up a cohousing community for her future home, the series is found here.

If you are interested in setting up a cohousing group: we can help you via this page.

If you exploring a community land trust: we have more information on this page.

If you are part of a housing co-operative: please click through to this page.

If you are interested in the Mutual Home Ownership Society (MHOS) model of home ownership, visit our Mutual Home Ownership Societies (MHOS) webpage.

We recognise that you don't just want to build houses, but want to build communities. Our experience, empathy and understanding will help you achieve your aims.

How can Wrigleys help?

Legal structure: Setting up a legal entity to own and manage your community-led project and advising on the best way to structure your project to achieve your aims.
Finance: Financing your community-led housing project. This might include seed funding from members to get your project off the ground in the early days, community shares to raise funds from those in the local area and bank loans to acquire and develop your homes. We have good relationships with the main commercial lenders on community-led housing and are happy to put you in touch at the appropriate stage.
Property: Acquiring and developing your site, negotiating the terms of the deal with developers or other project partners, and granting leases to those who live on the development.

Why use us?

Experience: we have supported community-led housing groups for many years and over that time, have developed a deep understanding of the sector.

Most of the lawyers at Wrigleys are themselves trustees or volunteers of community-led or charitable organisations, giving us first hand practical experience of many issues that they might be advising on. One of our team is also a board member of the UK Cohousing Network.
Networks: this sector is built on sharing knowledge and flourishes through us learning from each other. We are always happy to connect community-led clients with each other (with consent, of course), and maintain good relationships with a variety of project managers, lenders, architects, representative bodies and others who support this sector.

We also organise socials for community-led housing groups, helping people to get together informally and share experiences.
Values: the way we aim to treat our clients and colleagues matter greatly to us. We have recently worked with our suppliers to become a Living Wage Employer, for example, and we have been fortunate in attracting nationally recognised specialists, who have chosen to leave more commercially-oriented larger firms for the more flexible and less profit-driven collegiate environment which Wrigleys seeks to provide.

We offer all new community-led housing groups a free 20 minute initial meeting or telephone call, to help get you started. Please get in touch with our community-led housing team to arrange this.

To stay updated with the latest CLH news, sign up to our CLH mailing list and receive a free copy of our Guide to Legal Structures for Community-Led Housing.

‘The team have always gone the extra mile to assist our trusts and trustees. We have felt to be in the hands of experts.’

Legal 500 (2024)

'Wrigleys’ assistance has been invaluable in helping us achieve a legal structure and to set up the purchase of our intended property…from the outset this has been done with a high degree of professionalism.'

The Open House Project.

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