There has been much discussion on this board about who actually owns the local Kingdom hall. My former Kingdom hall is now up for sale and I had a chance to talk to one of the brothers who is overseeing the sale of the building. He had some very interesting things to tell. First off, the body of elders were asking for over a million for the building, which is a heck of a lot more than they paid for it. They found a buyer but the sale fell through. They then decided to go their separate ways as it were and whenever they found a buyer just split the money between the several congregations that met there. When the Society got wind of this they sent a representative who then told them they could not do that because they did not own the property.
They could rebuild or buy another building (with the Society's approval) but they could not sale the building and split the assets between the congregations. The brother the Society sent is a friend of mine and he told me that the congregations are not owners but that from the bodies of elders they select trustees who are to represent the congregations. When I was an elder, the Society sent out an Index of their letters to help elders quickly find a letter on most any topic. In this index under Kingdom Hall there is a subheading 'Ownership' and the following letters are cited
Choosing trustees 9/15/87
Discussion 4/1/82
Relationship between Cong and title holders 4/1/82
Replacing trustees 5/1/89, 9/15/87
Trustee arrangement 5/1/89, 9/15/87, 4/1/82
I don't have access to any of these letters, if anyone here does could you please let us know what they say. From reading the headings found in the index, it would seem as though my friend was right. The Society owns the buildings. If you do have these letters can you post them or at least the parts that answer the questions as to ownership. I know everyone here has an opinion on this topic but I'm really interested in what the letters say about this subject. Thanks for your help
William,
Former member of a Non Prophet Organization