Double Room £50 p/w - Communal Home Burngreave S3

Area:

Sheffield

Postcode:

S3

Available:

Now

Min term:

24 months

Max term:

None

Double room:

£50pw

Double room:

£50pw

Double room:

£50pw

This is not your average house share. We are a 9 bedroom housing cooperative looking for 3 new members to make this their home for a minimum of 2 years.

*We do not offer short term accomodation and the process from applying to meeting people, doing a trail week etc and moving in takes a minimum of 6 weeks*

**Please message me about why you want to live in the co-op based on the information provided below, we want to know why you want to live communally*

How to live here:
Read information below message and we’ll send you an application form and access document (we’re sadly our home is not accessible for wheelchair users)
Fill in application form and come to view the house and have a chat with us
Come for a one week taster visit
Move in for a 3 month trial

Only after the 3 month trial can you become a member and receive secure housing. Housing cooperatives do this because most people have never lived in a co-op and it gives people a genuine chance to see if the co-op suits them.

Rooms available:
2x double Bedrooms ready now
1 x Double Bedrooms ready from March 2024

At £220 per month for a large double room, in a large house with guest space, massive community kitchen, activities room and two living rooms and a massive garden we offer genuinely affordable rent, in line with local housing benefit allowances, in Sheffield.
How? We are a housing co-operative - this means we do not have a landlord who profits from our rent and we keep costs low by doing much of the household upkeep ourselves.

Rent & Bills:
The minimum monthly total cost at Brambles is £459 per month. This would cover food costs, rent and bills.
Rent £220-£420 / month. Our rent is on a sliding scale, so if you have more money you pay more. Rent goes up or down based on income, savings and inheritance. The minimum rent available is £50 per week/£220 per month.
Bills £65 per month cover everything from internet to council tax, house insurance and gas & electric
Food £6 per day / £174 per month costs all food is communal and costs a £6 per day contribution. If you're not here, or eat out, you don’t pay.
People can only live at Brambles if they are willing to talk openly about their finances and other privileges they may have.

Commitments/Being a Housing co-op Member:

Being a member of a co-op is not like renting from a private landlord. We decide everything together and nobody makes any money from the rent, no individual owns the house and nobody can sell it.

We're not you're average house share and require a level of commitment from our members.
One night a week we all cook a communal meal for everyone
Fortnightly we have a two hour meeting
once a month we all commit a day to doing maintenance work at Brambles (painting, fixing broken fences etc) and

Everyone who lives at the co-op has a role such as making sure the garden is looked after, managing our bills, responding to emails and admin, community outreach.

The main aim of Brambles is to give its members control over their housing in order to create an affordable, supportive and secure space to live. This enables our members to not simply work for profit but to pursue more creative and socially responsible jobs and activities. Brambles also aims to act as a springboard for social change work - offering space for activists, grass-roots organisations and local community to utilise and come together.

About the people:
We're a 7 people in our twenties, thirties and forties with different needs, backgrounds, sexualities, genders, etc… All of us are active in unpaid community work in some way and have shared values around anti-oppression and thinking communally.

About the house:
Our home is made up of two large houses, on top of a big hill. We have 9 double bedrooms plus a large attic space which is the available guest space for when friends visit. There are 3 bedrooms in one house and 6 in the other - the houses are connected through the back and all of us share one large kitchen and communal space.

We have 3 toilets and two showers/baths - plus we have an outdoor fire bath!

We grow food in the garden and greenhouse and have a large wood processing area, outdoor workshop, bike shed and large composting area.

The houses are old, all bedrooms are well kept and some parts of the communal spaces are sparkly new like our really good triple glazed windows, an activity room that can be used for community meetings and a ‘being built as we write’ brand new kitchen - other parts are in need of work - this is the work of people living here to do!

Commitment **PLEASE READ**
A standard commitment to the co-op looks like 11.5 hours a week. This can sound like a lot, but think about what it would like if you didn’t live communally. Instead of cooking and cleaning for yourself you save time doing it together and create a nicer place to live. Instead of spending time chasing a landlord to fix broken things you spend that time fixing it yourself with help from others.

2 hours - Eating together and cooking for everyone once a week (we have a rota where one person cooks the evening meal each night) This means you know every night you’ll have a hot dinner but in total each person only needs to spend a couple of hours a week cooking.
2 hours - of co-op meetings. Some of this time is informal meetings chats about the boiler and things that need doing, and other chunks of this time are for the fortnightly co-op meeting.
1 hour - on completing general actions from co-op meeting this might be small tasks like sending an email, or rotating the compost
2 hours (minimum) you can give more if you have it but this is the time needed to get specific stuff done. It could be doing the meter readings and paying direct debits if you’re on the bills role, it could be writing emails like this if you are in the secretary role, it could be fixing a shelf if you’re on maintenance, or spending time helping neighbours fix bikes if you’re on outreach, It could me making sure guest bedding is washed and the attic is clean and ready for a guest if you’re on housekeeping.
2 hours general cleaning, making sure the stairs are swept, the shower isn’t grimy, the toilet is clean, the fridge stays looking fresh and old food removed. A reminder if you lived alone you’d have to spend a lot more time on cleaning and cooking!
2.5 hours - on a Brambles work day. This is consolidated and used up in one long day once a month where we all work on a big project together like painting the house, or resealing the bathroom and fixing the greenhouse.

Not one of us owns the property or makes money from the property and we are all responsible for following the secondary rules of the co-op and making this a warm and welcoming home for each other.

Things you should know:

1. The process from applying to living here for a 3 month trial takes at least 6 weeks, usually 8.
2. A 3 month trial is just that - a trial. We cannot guarantee housing beyond that.
3. At the end of the 3 months there are 3 possible outcomes: 1) you will be made a member, 2) you may be given a trial extension to see if there are issues that can be worked through (this isn’t a regular outcome as we find dragging out decisions doesn’t help unless it’s a specific challenge that booths sides have a plan to address) 3) you will NOT be granted membership and will be allowed to remain at the co-op as a guest and will be given for 4-6 weeks to find somewhere new to live.

It’s important to have a back-up plan for if you are not granted membership and asked to leave the co-op. I know this feels hard to think about in a housing crisis but I say this as someone who doesn’t come from money, or have much of my own but I had to hold that the co-op cannot be responsible for my housing beyond here.

Location:
We are lucky to live in Burngreave with good neighbours on a quiet street just 5 mins walk from the amazing local shops and restaurants of Spital Hill. Walk out of the house in different directions and you’re quickly at Burngreave cemetery and Parkwood Springs. Within 25 minutes you can walk to town and within 15 minutes walk to a bus that will get you direct to the Peaks. There is a bus stop 2 minutes walk from our door.

Finally - thanks for reading this but don't worry if you still feel confused by what a co-op is. Drop us an email and we can call you and talk you through what to expect.

Location info

• Sheffield
• S3

Extra costs

Deposit (Room 1)

£0.00

Deposit (Room 2)

£0.00

Deposit (Room 3)

£0.00

Bills included?

No

Amenities

Furnishings

Furnished

Parking

Yes

Garage

No

Garden/terrace

Yes

Balcony/Patio

Yes

Disabled access

No

Living room

shared

Broadband included

No