Dacha-Building Cooperative

Dacha-Building Cooperative

 

an organization in the USSR set up for building and operating dachas on a self-supporting basis, without state subsidy (that is, the members of the cooperative bear all the expenses of administration and operation of the dachas in an amount determined by a general meeting of the members).

A dacha-building cooperative is organized by resolution of the executive committee of the local soviet of working people’s deputies upon petition by enterprises (organizations, institutions), if no fewer than ten industrial and office workers in this enterprise wish to form a dacha-building cooperative. Citizens of the USSR can be members of the cooperative if they have reached the age of 18, have a permanent place of residence in a city or settlement, do not own dachas on the basis of rights of private ownership, and are not members of another dacha-building cooperative. Dachas and service and operational facilities are usually built on the basis of standardized projects on land set aside for the cooperative for an indefinite period after deposit of funds in a bank in an amount equal to the full value of the construction.

The size of a share for cooperative members is defined by the size of a single dacha or separate dacha facility. A cooperative member may, with the consent of the general meeting, transfer his share and right to use the dacha to parents, spouse, or children if they have previously used the dacha jointly with him. In the event that he leaves the cooperative, the monetary value of his share is returned to him. The share of a deceased member of the cooperative is transferred to his heirs with overriding right to further use of the dacha if they have used it during the lifetime of the cooperative member. The activity of the cooperative is regulated by bylaws worked out in accordance with a decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR dated Mar. 20, 1958, entitled On Housing Construction and Dacha-Building Cooperatives (Collection of Decrees of the USSR, 1958, no. 5, art. 47). In the RSFSR, the Model Dacha-Building Cooperative Statute was approved by a decree of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR dated Sept. 24, 1958.

R. R. KATS