This page answers the questions people usually ask before investing in Ty Brethyn’s loan stock. It’s written to sit alongside our full Investors’ Information Pack, which covers everything here in more detail and is the document to read properly before applying. If your question isn’t answered below, Gwen Sanderson (Secretary) or Roscoe Boyes (Treasurer) are happy to talk it through directly.
Ty Brethyn is a fully mutual housing co-operative, founded in 2007, based in a converted Grade II listed Victorian watermill near Llangollen in North Wales. The co-op owns the property outright: five acres of woodland, fields and garden, with a stream running along the southern boundary. Five households currently live there and manage the site and the co-operative together.
Loan stock is a fixed-term loan you make directly to the co-op. In exchange, you receive a certificate setting out the amount, the interest rate and the term, and the co-op pays you interest annually until the end of that term, when your capital is repaid in full.
Investments run from £2,000 to £50,000, in units of £1,000. You can choose a fixed rate of 4.5% over three years, 4.75% over six years, or 5% over nine years, or offer your own rate and term for the co-op to consider. There’s also a Supporter’s Rate, letting you choose a lower rate if you’d like more of your investment to directly support the co-op.
No. Ty Brethyn isn’t authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for this activity, so there’s no right of complaint to the Financial Ombudsman and no Financial Services Compensation Scheme protection. This is genuinely at-risk capital, and anyone considering it should take independent financial advice first.
Behind secured loans, but ahead of everything else, including the previous loan stock structure and the contingent discount arranged when the co-op was founded. The property was valued at £795,000 in December 2024, against total liabilities of around £486,000 once this refinancing is complete.
The co-op has never missed a payment to any lender since it was founded in 2007, and has repaid all previous loan stock in full and on time. Its accounts are reviewed monthly by North West Housing Services, an external financial oversight body, and its latest accounts are published with the FCA.
The co-op can choose to repay your loan stock early at any time, at its discretion. If you need your money back before the end of the term, you can ask, and the co-op will consider it if funds allow or a replacement investor can be found, but it isn’t guaranteed.
Your capital is repaid in full, unless you choose to reinvest it. The co-op will contact you nine months before your closing date to ask whether you’d like to reinvest on new terms.
No. Loan stock doesn’t carry voting rights or any control over the co-operative, and it doesn’t affect membership of the co-op.
Interest is paid without tax deducted, so it’s your responsibility to declare it. If you receive more than £250 in interest in a year, the co-op is legally required to report it to HMRC.
Fill in the application form in the Investors’ Information Pack and return it by email or post, along with payment by bank transfer or cheque. If you have questions, Gwen Sanderson (Secretary) or Roscoe Boyes (Treasurer) are happy to talk it through.