Optional open day: 17th October 2026. Tickets are available here
Applicants day (detailed induction): 7th November 2026.
Deadline for applications: 20th November 2026.
Shortlisting will occur over Christmas with the option to visit for a few days in the new year.
About us:
We are a vibrant and friendly community of 34 adults and 10 children and young people. LILAC stands for ‘Low Impact Living Affordable Community’, and we live across 20 straw bale homes, a Common House and shared facilities and gardens. Established in 2013 in Kirkstall (3 miles west of Leeds city centre), we are a cooperative and a ‘Mutual Home Ownership Society’, meaning members own LILAC together. Find out more by looking through the rest of this website.
Current vacancy:
We are advertising a 3/4 bedroom house. The property has 3 first floor bedrooms and 1 ground floor bedroom, with bathrooms on both floors and a large open kitchen and living room. See more info about the property below.
The house would suit a family, a group of adults wishing to share or could work well for co-parents. In order to re-balance our multi-generational community we are particularly looking for younger adults and children, though not exclusively. We invite applications for a household with a minimum of 3 residents (which would include any children or dependents).
All applicants will:
- Want to live in and fully contribute to a community.
- Wholeheartedly support our vision, values and aims.
- Be able to pay the deposit and meet other necessary financial criteria.
- Fully engage with our recruitment process, so that we all get to know each other.
Community participation:
Lilac thrives on the participation, socialising and work of our members. It is important that you have enthusiasm, time and energy for active involvement and see Lilac as place to live in the medium/long term. Our community needs a broad range of people and skills across our task teams which include: finance, secretarial/legal, landscape, maintenance, food, common house, process and learning teams. We do not expect you to be an expert in any of these, but we ask that you are willing to learn and get stuck in! In addition to task-team work, members are expected to commit 4 hours per month to gardening and ‘care and repair’ work and help cook a communal meal 4 x per year.
This aspect of community life is enriching, offers opportunities to learn new skills and helps us build close relationships. We see working and socialising together as important ‘community glue’. We believe that we all bring our own unique contribution, and we recognise that our energy and capacity naturally varies at different stages in our lives.
Finances:
A deposit and set monthly payments, based on a percentage of annual household income, is required. These payments buy members ‘equity units’ and allows the LILAC MHOS Ltd mortgage to be paid.
Our exiting household will be withdrawing a substantial amount of money from the project. We are currently exploring all options for raising finance but depending on the outcome of this we may only be able to accept applicants who can pay in some additional capital. We will share more on this as soon as we can.
It is important for applicants to be aware that in a couple of years we will be replacing various parts of our homes and estate (Planned Asset Maintenance) All households will be required to finance this by either putting more money in or by taking on additional debt. We expect the cost to be around 10% of each property’s existing equity unit allocation.
The table below shows indicative deposit and income requirement figures.
| 10% deposit | Minimum total household net income required | Total monthly payment | |
| 4-bed house | £25,081 | £47,261 | £1,378 |
Application process:
Open Day: Prospective applicants are invited to attend our Open Day on 17th Oct 2026. This will include an introduction to living and working in Lilac and an overview of our financial model and processes. This is an opportunity to visit us, particularly if you haven’t been to Lilac before, and is designed to help you understand enough about the project to decide whether you want to apply. Please book a place here
Applicants Day: There will be a more detailed induction at the Applicants Day on 7th Nov which includes essential information for all applicants. If you already know you want to apply, then this is the most important event to attend. If you wish to apply but cannot attend the applicants day please contact us to discuss.
Shortlisting: Those who decide to apply will be assigned buddies to support them developing their written applications. There will then be a staged shortlisting process where some applicants will be invited to an informal 2-way interview, and finally a chance to spend time in our community in a way that works best for you (for example; day visits or overnight stay with the option of attending communal meals, meetings and workshares). We recognise the challenges and level of commitment demanded by this process and will do our best to support all applicants and their needs as best we can.
Planned Timeframe:
Saturday 17th October 2026 – Open Day (10:00 – 15:30)
Saturday 7th November 2026 – Applicants day
Friday 20th November 2026 – Deadline for applications
January – February 2027 – Interviews and ‘getting to know you’ events
Mid March 2027– final decision
Move-in date to be mutually agreed, but expected to be late spring/early summer 2027.
Next Steps:
To book places for our open day, follow this link to Eventbrite
Email queries to info@lilac.coop
You can email the Hands Team at info@lilac.coop with any questions about the vacancy or your eligibility.
Financial criteria – deposit and income scenarios:
The file below shows different deposit and income scenarios. The minimum deposit is 10%. If you pay more as an initial deposit then the minimum income required begins to decrease. It is also possible to allocate between 90% and 110% of a property’s equity units. This means that if your total household income is not enough for a 100% allocation we could consider a lower allocation and likewise if you have a higher income we might discuss a higher allocation. We will explain the financial model and the different scenarios in more detail at the Open Day.
No 18 Deposit and income scenarios.xlsx
Floor Plans:
Please note that the above diagram is fairly indicative a more detailed plan follows.
