Procedure for Leaving Coventry LETS

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This document interprets the Coventry LETS Membership Agreement. It isn't part of the Membership Agreement, and in the event of any conflict the Membeship Agreement wins. Richard Kay, last update: 16 Nov 2011 .

Put simply

Make sure your account balance is zero and then put your resignation in writing (either email or postal mail) to an officer (current officers are Richard and Amanda Kay, Cath Henzell and Anita Rollins ). If we receive a valid resignation we will remove your records from the system. Verbal instructions to leave are not enough, because in the past some members who were thinking of leaving changed their minds later and properly maintained accounts require these represent settled intentions.

What if I don't renew my membership ?

If you don't balance your account and don't renew it, then your account will be marked inactive and remains visible on the system, until a decision is made (typically 5 years after the last activity on it) to write it off. Writing off may require increasing the Covs charges for all members.

What if my account is in credit ?

You are likely to want to spend an account down to zero if possible by checking the trading directory and finding active members able to supply goods and services which you want. If you want to help with the running costs of Coventry LETS you can also do this by transferring your balance to the admin account: 1 . As a third option, Elaine Drybrough also operates an account: 376 which receives Covs donations for charitable purposes.

What if my account is in commitment ?

The membership agreement leads to a minor difficulty, but hopefully this should not make leaving us as difficult as the Hotel California in the Eagles song: "You can check out any time you like but you can never leave !".

Our agreement states: 12. If a membership is not renewed, the balance of that account will be retained separate from the active accounts. Members with commitments outstanding are obliged to settle their account before leaving. All previous versions of the members agreement have included this requirement.

This is because the money used for buying and spending within Coventry LETS is as good as members' commitments to each other, so the Members' Agreement which you accepted obliges you to make good the commitments you have entered into to the other members. As your balance in commitment is very much your commitment and not ours, this does not go away if you forget about it. So it is kept visible for active members when they look at the system report for all accounts.

So, the best way for you to leave is to earn some Covs until your account balances. If you are too busy to do this then Coventry LETS will, if you offer this, accept payment in cash in lieu of your Covs in commitment at a rate of 1 pound to 1 Cov, based upon the Members' Agreement: 2. The unit of currency is the Cov, which is nominally equivalent to £1 sterling.

What happens if I've become completely unable to make good my commitment ?

Some of our disabled members bravely continue to earn Covs. But we do recognise that some severe and unexpected changes in fortune could make this impossible in a (thankfully very) few cases. So if unexpected or worsening disability has made it impossible for you to keep a commitment which you entered into previously in good faith, then please put your reasons for our removing your commitment in writing to a commitee member. Then we (the committee) will try to identify a source of charitable funding to enable us to balance your account, so that your records can be removed from the system.

What should I do if I don't know my account balance ?

All members account balances are kept online. Members without Internet access are periodically shown printed copies of active account balances at AGM meetings and through newsletters. If you are unsure of your balance please ask a committee member, or any other member who is able to look up your balance on the system accounts.