Coliving Counsel is attorney Jay Cumberland’s law practice. It provides legal services in California.

Jay graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. He received an Equal Justice Works Fellowship sponsored by the eBay Foundation. This allowed him to focus on housing co-op conversions during his first two years of practice. The Sustainable Economies Law Center hosted his fellowship. Jay continues to practice communal housing law at the Law Center. 

Jay has developed broad expertise in communal housing. Jay has provided advice to housing clients at over sixty Resilient Communities Legal Cafes. These short term advice sessions have allowed Jay to understand the breadth of decisions facing communal housing clients .

Jay has gained deep expertise in a few areas of communal housing law. He has provided outside counsel services to the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative for several years. It is the first cooperative of its type. Is unique financial model blends rental and ownership.

Coliving Counsel represents communal housing clients. It’s all we do.

We’re experts in the law of shared real estate ownership, also known as real estate co-ownership. We’re fluent in standard ownership options and complex variations. We understand the intricacies of the Subdivision Map Act and Subdivided Lands Act. These laws can make or break your project. Unique landlord-tenant, financing, and taxation issues arise in the shared ownership context. We know them well.

We’re experts in the law of communal kitchens, bathrooms, and living spaces. Zoning law makes non-family groups jump through hoops to live in most places.  We study the nuances of different municipal definitions. Definitions like dwelling unit, family, and single housekeeping unit vary. We're up to date on California case law about functional family zoning. We'll help you understand that how you live influences where you can live. 

I serve two different types of clients in California. First, I serve groups creating DIY coliving arrangements. Second, I serve organizations creating communal housing arrangements. I am licensed to provide these services in California.

Do-it-yourself coliving clients help themselves live together. They are building coliving communities for themselves and their friends. DIY coliving groups are friends living near each other. They are tenants buying their building. They are two families buying a home together or an unmarried couple buying a unit together. They are forming an intentional community, ecovillage, or commune. 

Organizational clients help others live together. They are community land trusts forming limited equity housing cooperatives. They are commercial coliving operators. They are farms or labor unions forming workforce housing cooperative trusts. They are housing organizations trying to choose between the variety of options available. They are government agencies seeking help understanding new territory.

We help you speed up your choice of development method and your choice of rental and/or ownership arrangement. We conduct an intensive intake process. This helps us understand your needs, preferences, and constraints. We then suggest two to three options for you. We provide a detailed memo listing pros and cons. We also note our primary recommendation. This prevents decision fatigue.

We help you focus on what matters to finish an ownership agreement. An ownership agreement does not say what you have to do. It says what you’ll do if you can’t agree to do anything else. We help you negotiate a two pager of non-negotiables. We incorporate these non-negotiables into the ten to fifty page ownership agreement. You make sure we've included the non-negotiables to your liking. 

We create well-formatted, easy-to-read legal documents. Our documents do not make your eyes glaze over. THEY DO NOT HAVE CHUNKS OF ALL CAPS TEXT. They contain no unnecessary legalese. They include white space and visuals. We revise our agreements to ensure they read at a high school reading level. We focus on shaping the presentation of text and content to support your user experience. 

I generally charge a flat fee for my core Development Support, Arrangement Choice, and Agreement Drafting services.

A flat fee encourages me to get my work done for you promptly. The flat fee varies depending on the memo or agreement. I will quote you a price after an intake session allows me to understand the scope of your needs.

For other work you propose, I may charge an hourly rate of $225 or propose a flat fee. Other work might include permitting communal kitchens. It might involve obtaining a zoning determination letter related to communal housing. It might involve challenging a group housing code enforcement action.