Trustee Act 1936

Where land is held by trustees in trust for any church or the congregation of any church or any purpose thereof then, notwithstanding that the deed or other instrument creating the trust does not contain any power to sell, mortgage, or lease the land, or forbids any such transaction, it shall nevertheless be lawful for the trustees from time to time to sell, mortgage, or lease the land upon such terms and conditions as the trustees think fit, subject, however, to the observance of the following conditions:

the consent of the congregation of the church in question shall be obtained to every such transaction;

the consent shall be obtained by a vote of the members of the congregation at a meeting of the congregation called and held pursuant to notice in that behalf duly given from the pulpit of the church on at least two consecutive Sundays immediately preceding the holding of the meeting and also duly given in each of two successive issues of two newspapers circulating in the locality in which the church is situated and published at least one week before the holding of the meeting;

the consent of the congregation shall not be deemed to have been given unless two-thirds of the members present and voting at a meeting held as aforesaid consent to the transaction.

At every meeting held under this section the person who by the constitution or rules of the church ordinarily presides at any business meeting of or in connection with the church shall preside. In the absence of that person, or if it is not provided in the constitution or rules who is to preside at any such meeting, the members present shall elect one of their number to preside at the meeting. The person so elected shall be either the minister or priest in charge of the church or a person who holds some office of or in connection with the church.

The decision of the person presiding at any meeting held under this section as to the right of any person to vote at the meeting shall be final.

A certificate in writing under the hand of the person presiding at any meeting held under this section shall be conclusive evidence that the meeting was duly called and the consent of the congregation to the transaction in question was duly obtained.

No person shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be a member of a congregation of a church or to be entitled to vote at any meeting held under this section unless he is such a person as is by or under the constitution or rules of the church entitled to vote at any business meeting of or in connection with the church.