We had concerns about our ageing Park Ecovillage community and whether their commitment to our shared values would remain as strong as ever, so we thought: 

• It would be good if more young families are able to buy a house
• It would be good if more young people are able to live here at a rate that is affordable for them
• It might be too easy for well-off pensioners to buy a house and in this way push up the average age of our ecovillage, or if it is a large house, also take away a house that could have been for a young family
• A number of people own a house in the Park Ecovillage as a second home and most of the year live abroad
• People with little or no connection to our values might be able to buy a house here, which could then have some sort of “diluting” effect on our shared and lived values

We wondered whether the current Land & House Sales Procedure works sufficient to make sure the right people buy houses in the Park Ecovillage. So we made enquiries with Cally Fulton and Eveline Rodenburg of the Title Holders Association. We also had contact with a small random selection of people living here to hear their thoughts. And we reflected on our own experience of living here.

As a result of this enquiry, we concluded the Land & House Sales Procedure works well for its purpose.

1. The questionnaire of Land Sales Group works well
   1. Asks the right questions
   2. In the past some house buys didn’t proceed because the buyers got a good understanding what living here entails and accordingly withdrew 
2. House buyers who hadn’t done FX etc. in most cases have proved to be valuable members of our community who are willing to commit
3. Second-home owners nearly always rent out their homes while they are away, thus fulfilling a great and ongoing demand for rental of homes – actually the DoCC 14 obliges house owners to have their houses occupied for at least nine months per year
4. For really undesirable sales the DoCC 11 provides a safeguard
5. People who don’t really fit in the ecovillage often sell their house a short time (6  to 12 months) after they have bought it

We also concluded the Land & House Sales Procedure can only be one instrument in a policy to stimulate more young people and families to live in the Park Ecovillage and must be supplemented with other measures to be a successful policy. 

These measures are actually worked on by other groups and are amongst others:

• Build houses to rent out at an affordable rate (the renting organisation can select who is living there and young people can afford it)
• Ross Jenkins’ proposal of self-build small living units (especially for young people with little money)

We suggest the following:

1. The Land & House Sales Procedure doesn’t need to change, however we advise the questionnaire to be supplemented with the request that if the house owner wants to rent out their home for longer than six month, they give precedence to young people and families.
2. A similar procedure like the Land & House Sales Procedure could be set up especially for renters who rent for longer than six months and have their rental house as their primary home.

We don’t see any value in introducing limiting rules (like putting a cap on the amount of buyers above a certain age or limiting second-home ownership), because we consider these incompatible with our shared Park Ecovillage values. We also doubt whether there could exist a legal basis for such limiting rules at all.