Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014

47 Application of sections 43 and 45 to charitable societies

(1) Sections 43 and 45 (capacity of society not limited by its rules and power of committee to bind society) apply to an act of a charitable registered society only in favour of—

(a) a person who—

(i) gives full consideration in money or money’s worth in relation to the act, and

(ii) does not know that the act is not permitted by the society’s registered rules or is beyond the powers of the committee (as the case may be), or

(b) a person who does not know at the time the act is done that the society is a charity.

(2) However, where a charitable registered society purports to transfer or grant an interest in property, the fact that—

(a) the act was not permitted by the society’s registered rules, or (as the case may be)

(b) the committee in connection with the act exceeded any limitation on its powers under those rules,

does not affect the title of a person who subsequently acquires the property (or any interest in it) for full consideration without actual notice of any such circumstances affecting the validity of the society’s act.

(3) In any proceedings arising out of subsection (1) a person who alleges—

(a) that a person knew that an act was not permitted by the society’s registered rules or was beyond the powers of the committee, or

(b) that a person knew that the society was a charity,

has the burden of proving the allegation.