Member Services

We offer a range of services to our members. As well as our regular members’ newsletter and training sessions and events, we also offer tailored services for CLTs.

At present these are:

• Help to incorporate your CLT and change your CLT’s rules
• Access to discounted insurance and a regulatory advice service
• Legal support and advice
• Bespoke support on a variety of issues via our deep-dive service

Find out more about each below.

Incorporation Service & changing your CLT’s rules

CLTs must be an incorporated body and one of the most popular forms is a Community Benefit Society (CBS).

The Community Land Trust Network offers a straightforward and low-cost route to incorporation as a Community Benefit Society. 

We save you time, money and stress by using template constitutions, filling out applications on your behalf and acting as your liaison with the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). We have developed two sets of model rules (non-charitable and exempt charitable CBS) that have been pre-approved by the FCA. We can also support you in the long life of your CLT and help you amend your rules if at any point you need to.

For our Incorporation Service, we charge: 

• £325 for members
• £550 for non-members
• Plus an administration fee to the FCA depending on the number of changes you make to the model constitution – 0 changes is £40

For our support to change your CLT’s rules, we charge:

• £150 for members
• £350 for non-members

Enhanced Service

Choosing the right legal form can be daunting because getting it wrong can lead to problems down the line. To help demystify the process we offer an enhanced service to guide you through the options. The enhanced service takes the form of one or two guidance sessions, costing £250 each. If you opt for a pre-incorporation guidance session, we’ll include the basic incorporation service for an additional £225, discounted from £325.

Pre-incorporation session

A 90-minute bespoke guidance session before incorporation helps you avoid common pitfalls like choosing the wrong legal form, or misunderstanding what counts as charitable or non-charitacle activities. We’ll help you understand the options open to you in terms of legal form, and explain the various need-to-knows around charitable activities and tax.

Post-incorporation session

A session after incorporation will cover your priority next steps, such as electing your first Board, setting up your essential operations and registering with HMRC (if charitable) so that you don’t waste any time in becoming a fully operational CLT or get confused by the various steps ahead.

Once you have considered the above, you can contact our team to start the process. Don’t forget that as well as the CLT Network, your local enabling hub is on hand and if legal advice is needed you can make use of the legal advice line for members (detailed below).

Insurance coverage and legal helpline included in membership

One Broker has partnered with the Community Land Trust Network to provide our members with a discount Management Liability package. This package can be added to your membership at any point in the year, costs £210, and includes:

• Directors & Officers Liability – £1,000,000 for any one claim (including legal defence costs and expenses)
• Company Legal Liability – £1,000,000 for any one claim (including legal defence costs and expenses)
• Access to a free and unlimited legal and regulatory advice service with the law firm rradar, helping you nip issues in the bud before they reach the courts.

Directors & Officers Liability Insurance is designed to cover the cost of legal defence for claims made against you. You don’t need the title of ‘director’ or ‘officer’ to be covered under this policy, as it covers those making decisions for the organisation, which can include volunteers. See the full details on our broker’s website.

Company Legal Liability Insurance is designed to cover claims made directly against the company (CLT) for alleged wrongful acts.

Specialist legal advice line included in membership

Our community organisation memberships include 15 minutes of specialist legal advice from our corporate partners Wrigleys Solicitors and Anthony Collins. After those first 15 minutes of advice, both partners offer our members a discount on further services.

This allows you to call experts on charity law with a background in community led housing and get advice on a range of legal matters that may be affecting your CLT.

Wrigleys Solicitors LLP have been advising on community led housing projects since the mid-1980s and are nationally regarded in the sector. They also offer our members a 10% discount on their hourly rate and incorporation packages from £495.

Anthony Collins has supported community led housing development for over 30 years including national award winning clients such as Witton Lodge Community Association, Granby 4 Streets and the National Community Land Trust Network. They offer a number of legal incorporation packages, a free 15 minute legal advice telephone helpline, and legal advice at discounted rates for community organisation members.

To take advantage of the 15-minutes of specialist legal advice that’s included in your community organisation membership, get in touch with our partners directly.

Anthony Collins  – Sarah Patrice (0121 214 3655): [email protected]
Wrigleys Solicitors – Sophie Henson (0113 204 1147): [email protected]

Deep-dive service

We offer 90-minute bespoke guidance sessions for you and your steering group/Board to help you run a ship-shape CLT. Topics covered by the session are set by you depending on what you need help with, but the main areas we can support with are:

• Good governance
• Strong financial management
• Understanding tax, data protection and insurance requirements
• Engaging your community

We can also offer a Health Audit, to help you understand your strengths, weaknesses and current priorities. The price for each session depends on the help needed – contact our team to get a quote or learn more.