<P> As a legal entity, a co-op can contract with other companies or hire individuals to provide it with services, such as a maintenance contractor or a building manager . It can also hire employees, such as a manager or a caretaker, to deal with specific things that volunteers may prefer not to do or may not be good at doing, such as electrical maintenance . However, as many housing cooperatives strive to run self - sufficiently, as much work as possible is completed by its members . </P> <P> In non-equity cooperatives and in limited equity cooperatives, a shareholder in a co-op does not own real estate, but a share of the legal entity that does own real estate . Co-operative ownership is quite distinct from condominiums where people own individual units and have little say in who moves into the other units . Because of this, most jurisdictions have developed separate legislation, similar to laws that regulate companies, to regulate how co-ops are operated and the rights and obligations of shareholders . </P> <P> Each resident or resident household has membership in the co-operative association . In non-equity cooperatives, members have occupancy rights to a specific suite within the housing co-operative as outlined in their "occupancy agreement", or "proprietary lease", which is essentially a lease . In ownership cooperatives, occupancy rights are transferred to the purchaser by way of the title transfer . </P> <P> Since the housing cooperative holds title to all the property and housing structures, it bears the cost of maintaining, repairing and replacing them . This relieves the member from the cost and burden of such work . In that sense, the housing cooperative is like the landlord in a rental setting . However, another hallmark of cooperative living is that it is nonprofit, so that the work is done at cost, with no profit motive involved . </P>

Who owns the real estate in a cooperative building
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