Concepts for the Cooperative Sector

Registered cooperatives (eingetragene Genossenschaften) are a particularly suitable legal form, especially in the context of services of public interest (e.g. the provision of affordable housing), to make an effective contribution to overcoming the immense challenges in this area. DSC Legal is therefore particularly committed to strengthening the cooperative business model, true to the basic idea of the cooperatives and their founding father Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen: "What one person cannot achieve is achieved by many”. We create cooperative concepts for our clients and assist them in their implementation.

A current example is the concept "Job & Housing", in which we provided comprehensive legal advice to the founding members of Erste Mitarbeiterwohnungsbaugenossenschaft "Job & Wohnen" Berlin eG, the first employee housing cooperative established in Germany, from the concept to the draft of its founding statutes, the formation audit by the auditing association to the formation and entry in the register of cooperatives. This particularly concerned the establishment of the cooperative and its representation in negotiations of

• the leasehold agreement and several addenda thereto with the State of Berlin (represented by Berliner Immobilienmanagement GmbH),
• the loan and security agreements with the financing banks and public funding institutions (IBB, KfW),
• the general contractor agreement and addenda thereto, and
• a heat supply and roof-use agreement for the contracting of heat generation and photovoltaic systems.

In addition to a legal due diligence review of the leasehold property, the legal advice provided to the cooperative covered all relevant cooperative law issues, including support in the preparation and conducting of a large number of general meetings.

DSC Legal also advises various initiators of additionally planned “Job & Living” projects, for example in Munich, several municipalities on the Baltic Sea (e.g. Timmendorfer Strand, Scharbeutz, etc.) as well as in Berlin, Teltow, Cottbus and other locations in the Lusatia region.