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In This Volume

1 (1) If a religious society or congregation of Christians in British Columbia desires to take a conveyance of land for one or more of the following purposes, the society or congregation may appoint trustees to whom the land may be conveyed:

  • (a) the site of a church, chapel, meeting house, school, belfry, burial ground or residence for the minister;
  • (b) the support of public worship and the propagation of Christian knowledge;
  • (c) the general purposes of the congregation;
  • (d) to acquire other property under this Act.
  • (2) The successors of trustees appointed under subsection (1) must be appointed in the manner specified in the conveyance under subsection (1), if applicable.
  • (3) If a conveyance under subsection (1) does not specify the manner in which successors may be appointed, the society or congregation may appoint or elect successors to the trustees at a regular annual congregational meeting of the society or congregation, or at any special meeting called by written notice read to the congregation at the close of public worship on each of the last 2 preceding Sabbaths by the officiating minister or other person appointed to read the notice.
  • (4) A notice for the purposes of subsection (3) may be given at the request of the officiating minister, the remaining trustees or any 5 members of the society or congregation.
  • (5) A minute of any appointment or election signed by the chair and secretary of the meeting at which the appointment or election took place is for all purposes sufficient evidence of the fact that the persons named in it were appointed or elected at the meeting.
  • (6) The persons appointed or elected and their successors have the same powers, rights, duties and are subject to the same trusts as the parties named as the original trustees.
  • (7) The trustees and their successors in perpetual succession, by the name expressed in the conveyance, may take, hold and possess the land and other property conveyed.

1979-415-1.

PRACTICE

Registration of Indefeasible Title

Where there is a conveyance to a religious society or congregation, the registrar registers the indefeasible title in the name of the “Trustees of the Congregation of (Name of Church)” or, where the applicant requests it, in the names of the trustees with the addition of “Trustees of the Congregation of (Name of Church)”. The registrar also includes the address of the religious society or congregation. The title will be set out as follows:

TRUSTEES OF THE CONGREGATION (NAME OF CHURCH) PURSUANT TO THE TRUSTEE (CHURCH PROPERTY) ACT, 1278 FAIRVIEW ROAD, VICTORIA, B.C. V8X 3X3

DEALINGS WITH LAND

Mortgages

Power to Mortgage: Section 3 of the Act authorizes trustees to secure a debt by way of a mortgage on land held by the trustees in circumstances involving the building, repairing, extending, or improving of a church, meeting house, chapel, school, or belfry on the land or the purchase of land on which any such structure has been or is intended to be erected.

Completion of Form B, Mortgage Form: If a religious society or congregation is the borrower or mortgagor, show its name in Item 3 of Part 1 of the Form B, Mortgage Form, in the same manner as provided below in the example for a transferee.

Leases

Power to Lease: Section 4 of the Act provides that trustees may let, for any term not longer than 21 years, land held by them for the use of a congregation or religious body, at the rent and on the terms the trustees or a majority of them think reasonable. Section 5 of the Act limits this power by providing that trustees may not let property without the consent of the congregation or religious body for whose use they hold the land in trust or where the land is necessary for certain purposes at the time of making the lease.

Transfer to or from a Religious Society or Congregation

Power to Acquire and Deal with Land: Section 6 of the Act provides trustees with a general power to acquire and deal with land, including the powers to hold, mortgage, lease, sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of any land.

Completion of Freehold Transfer where religious society or congregation is a transferee: Show the transferee on the Form A, Freehold Transfer, as follows:

6. Transferee(S): (Including Occupation(S), Postal Address(Es) And Postal Codes(S))*

TRUSTEES OF THE CONGREGATION OF (NAME OF CHURCH) Pursuant to the

Trustee (Church Property) Act, 1278 Fairview Road, Victoria, B.C., V8X 3X3

Alternatively, set out the names of the individual trustees as follows:

6. Transferee(S): (including occupation(s), postal address(es) and postal codes(s))*

JOHN PAUL SMITH, Merchant, 925 Eden Street, Victoria, B.C. V9A 6P4, MARY LEE

JONES, Manager, 529 Near Street, Victoria, B.C. V9A 6P5, and JACK MAX JONES,

Dentist, 7749 Blanshard Street, Victoria, B.C. V8L 3R9, Trustees of the Congregation

of (Name of Church) Pursuant to the Trustee (Church Property) Act.

Completion of Freehold Transfer where religious society or congregation is a transferor: Show the transferor on the Form A, Freehold Transfer, as follows:

5. Transferor(s):*

TRUSTEES OF THE CONGREGATION OF (NAME OF CHURCH) Pursuant to the

Trustee (Church Property) Act.

Alternatively, set out the names of the individual trustees as follows:

5. Transferor(s):*

JOHN PAUL SMITH, MARY LEE JONES and JACK MAX JONES, Trustees of the

Congregation of (Name of Church) Pursuant to the Trustee (Church Property) Act.

CASE LAW

Registration of Indefeasible Title

In Ontario, based on similar legislation, it was held that trustees could hold property either in their individual names as Trustees or in their quasi-corporate name alone as “Trustees of the Congregation of the Reformed Presbyterian Church” (Humphreys v. Hunter (1870), 20 U.C.C.P. 456).