2023 New York Laws › RCO - Religious Corporations › Article 2 - General Provisions › 12 - Sale, Mortgage and Lease of Real Property of Religious Corporations.

§  12.  Sale,  mortgage  and  lease  of  real  property  of  religious
  corporations. 1. A religious corporation shall  not  sell,  mortgage  or
  lease  for  a term exceeding five years any of its real property without
  applying for and obtaining leave of the court or  the  attorney  general
  therefor  pursuant  to section five hundred eleven of the not-for-profit
  corporation law as that  section  is  modified  by  paragraph  (d-1)  of
  subdivision one of section two-b of this chapter or section five hundred
  eleven-a  of the not-for-profit corporation law, except that a religious
  corporation may execute a purchase money mortgage or  a  purchase  money
  security  agreement  creating  a  security interest in personal property
  purchased by it without obtaining leave of the court therefor.
2. The trustees of an incorporated Protestant Episcopal  church  shall
  not  vote  upon  any resolution or proposition for the sale, mortgage or
  lease of its real property, unless the rector of such church, if it then
  has a rector, shall be present, and shall not make  application  to  the
  court for leave to sell or mortgage any of its real property without the
  consent  of  the  bishop  and standing committee of the diocese to which
  such church belongs, or execute and deliver a lease of any of  its  real
  property  for a term exceeding five years without similar consent of the
  bishop and standing committee  of  the  diocese  to  which  such  church
  belongs;  but  in  case  the  see  be vacant, or the bishop be absent or
  unable to  act,  the  consent  of  the  standing  committee  with  their
  certificate of the vacancy of the see or of the absence or disability of
  the bishop shall suffice.
3.  The  trustees  of  an incorporated Roman Catholic church shall not
  make application to the court for leave to mortgage, lease or  sell  any
  of  its real property without the consent of the archbishop or bishop of
  the diocese to which such church belongs or in case of their absence  or
  inability   to   act,  without  the  consent  of  the  vicar-general  or
  administrator of such diocese.
4. The trustees of an incorporated Ruthenian Catholic  church  of  the
  Greek  rite  shall  not  make  application  to  the  court  for leave to
  mortgage, lease or sell any of its real property without the consent  in
  writing  of  the Ruthenian Greek Catholic bishop of the diocese to which
  such church belongs, or, in case of his absence  or  inability  to  act,
  without  the  consent  of  the  vicar-general  of  such bishop or of the
  administrator of such diocese.
5. The trustees of an incorporated African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion
  church  shall  not  make application to the court for leave to mortgage,
  lease or sell any of its real property without the consent of the bishop
  of the diocese to which said church belongs, or in case of  his  absence
  or inability to act, without the consent of the annual conference having
  jurisdiction over such church.
5-a. The trustees of an incorporated Presbyterian church in connection
  with  the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) shall not
  make application to the court for leave to mortgage, lease or  sell  any
  of  its  real  property without the consent in writing of the particular
  Presbytery with which said church is connected.
5-b. The trustees of an incorporated United Methodist church shall not
  make application to the court for leave to mortgage, lease, or sell  any
  of  its  real  property  without  the  written  consents of the district
  superintendent and the preacher in charge and the authorization  of  the
  charge conference by a majority of those present and voting at a meeting
  of  the  charge conference, provided that not less than ten days' notice
  of such meeting and proposed action  shall  have  been  given  from  the
  pulpit  of  the  charge, or, if no regular services are held, by mail to
  the members of the charge conference.
5-c. The trustees of an incorporated  Reformed  Church  in  connection
  with the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, shall not make
  application to the court for leave to mortgage, lease or sell any of its
  real  property  without  the  consent  in writing of the trustees of the
  Classis with which said church is connected.
6.  The  petition  of  the  trustees  of  an  incorporated  Protestant
  Episcopal church or Roman Catholic church  shall,  in  addition  to  the
  matters  required  by article five of the not-for-profit corporation law
  to be set forth therein, set forth  that  this  section  has  also  been
  complied  with.  The petition of the trustees of an incorporated African
  Methodist Episcopal  Zion  church  shall  in  addition  to  the  matters
  required by article five of the not-for-profit corporation law to be set
  forth  therein, set forth that this section has also been complied with.
  The petition of the trustees of an incorporated Presbyterian  church  in
  connection   with  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church
  (U.S.A.), shall, in addition to the matters required by article five  of
  the  not-for-profit  corporation  law to be set forth therein, set forth
  that this section has also been  complied  with.  The  petition  of  the
  trustees  of  an incorporated United Methodist church shall, in addition
  to  the  matters  required  by  article  five  of   the   not-for-profit
  corporation law to be set forth therein, set forth that this section has
  also been complied with.
7.  Lots,  plots  or burial permits in a cemetery owned by a religious
  corporation may, however, be sold, also all or part of such cemetery may
  be conveyed to a cemetery corporation, without applying for or obtaining
  leave of the court. No cemetery lands of a religious  corporation  shall
  be mortgaged while used for cemetery purposes.
8.  Except  as  otherwise  provided  in  this  chapter in respect to a
  religious corporation of a specified denomination, any solvent religious
  corporation may, by order of the court, obtained as  above  provided  in
  proceedings  to  sell, mortgage or lease real property, convey the whole
  or any part of its real property to another religious corporation, or to
  a membership, educational, municipal or  other  non-profit  corporation,
  for  a  consideration  of one dollar or other nominal consideration, and
  for the purpose of applying  the  provisions  of  article  five  of  the
  general  corporation  law,  a proposed conveyance for such consideration
  shall be treated as a sale, but it shall not be necessary  to  show,  in
  the  petition or otherwise, nor for the court to find that the pecuniary
  or proprietary interest of the  grantor  corporation  will  be  promoted
  thereby;  and  the  interests  of  such  grantor  shall  be deemed to be
  promoted if it appears that religious or  charitable  objects  generally
  are  conserved by such conveyance, provided, however, that such an order
  shall not be made if tending to  impair  the  claim  or  remedy  of  any
  creditor.
9. If a sale, mortgage or lease for a term exceeding five years of any
  real  property  of any such religious corporation has been heretofore or
  shall be hereafter made  and  a  conveyance  or  mortgage  executed  and
  delivered  without  the  authority of a court of competent jurisdiction,
  obtained as required by law, or not in accordance with  its  directions,
  the  court  may, thereafter, upon the application of the corporation, or
  of the grantee or mortgagee in any such conveyance or mortgage or of any
  person claiming through or under any such grantee or mortgagee upon such
  notice to such corporation, or its successor, and such other  person  or
  persons  as  may  be  interested  in  such  property,  as  the court may
  prescribe, confirm said previously executed conveyance or mortgage,  and
  order  and  direct  the execution and delivery of a confirmatory deed or
  mortgage, or the recording of such  confirmatory  order  in  the  office
  where  deeds  and  mortgages  are  recorded  in  the county in which the

  property is located; and  upon  compliance  with  the  said  order  such
  original  conveyance or mortgage shall be as valid and of the same force
  and  effect  as  if  it  had  been  executed  and  delivered  after  due
  proceedings  had in accordance with the statute and the direction of the
  court. But no confirmatory order may  be  granted  unless  the  consents
  required  in  the first part of this section for a Protestant Episcopal,
  Roman Catholic, Presbyterian church or an incorporated African Methodist
  Episcopal Zion church or an incorporated United  Methodist  church  have
  first  been  given  by the prescribed authority thereof, either upon the
  original application or upon the application for the confirmatory order.
10. The provisions of this section shall not apply  to  real  property
  heretofore  or  hereafter  acquired on a sale in an action or proceeding
  for the foreclosure of a mortgage owned by a  religious  corporation  or
  held by a trustee for or in behalf of a religious corporation or to real
  property  heretofore or hereafter acquired by a religious corporation or
  held by a trustee for or in behalf of a religious corporation by deed in
  lieu of the foreclosure of a mortgage owned, either in whole or in part,
  whether in certificate form or otherwise, by a religious corporation.