Buying and Selling: Ruling on Unauthorised Sale of Cooperative Property by New Members

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Buying and Selling: Ruling on Unauthorised Sale of Cooperative Property by New Members

English:

Question #1469:

Members of a cooperative building society bought a plot of land with their own money. The land was officially registered in the name of the society. Later on, the administrative committee of the society became a new member of the society and sold the land below its actual price without the permission of the previous members. Is such a transaction valid?

Answer #1469:

Should the land have been bought by the members for their own use and with their own money, it is theirs. The others have no right of disposal over it. The sale of the land by the administrative committee of the society without the permission of the owners is considered fuḍūlī.
However, if the land was bought with money from the capital of the society, in its legal capacity, and for its own purposes, it would constitute part of its assets. Accordingly, the administrative committee should have right of disposal over the land in accordance with the rules and regulations of the society.

-Imam Khamenei, Practical Laws of Islam, Importance and Conditions of Buying and Selling