Building Societies Act, 1989

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Membership and liability of members.

16.—(1) Every person holding one or more shares in a building society shall be a member of the society.

(2) Subject to its rules, a society may allow a person to whom a housing loan is made or to whom a loan secured by the mortgage of freehold or leasehold estate or interest has been made under the repealed enactments, to be a member without holding a share in the society, and the liability of such a member shall be no greater than it would be if the rules treated him as being, by reason of the making of the loan, the holder of a share in the society.

(3) Two or more persons may jointly hold shares in a society.

(4) The liability of a member of a society in respect of any share in the society on which no loan has been made shall be limited to the amount actually paid and in arrear on the share and, in respect of any share on which a loan has been made, shall be limited to the amount payable thereon under any mortgage or other security or under the rules of the society.

(5) A person who is not of full age within the meaning of the Age of Majority Act, 1985 , may be admitted as a member of a society the rules of which do not prohibit such admission and can give all necessary receipts, but while he is not of such age he shall not be entitled to vote, hold any office in the society or nominate or join in nominating a person for election as a director of the society.

(6) Where two or more persons jointly hold shares in a society, the following provisions shall apply—

(a) the person whose name first appears in the records of the society in relation to shares jointly held shall be the representative joint holder;

(b) except where the rules of a society otherwise provide, any notice or other document required by this Act to be sent by a society to the holders of shares in the society shall be deemed to have been sent to the joint holders if it is sent to the representative joint holder;

(c) where under this Act a member of a society may vote at a meeting or under a postal ballot by virtue of being a holder of shares in the society and such person is a joint holder of such shares, the person entitled to exercise the rights conferred by sections 68 , 69 and 72 to 74 shall, notwithstanding anything in those sections, be the representative joint holder;

(d) in the register required to be kept under section 65 the entry of that one of the joint holders who is the representative joint holder shall indicate that fact;

(e) for the purposes of Parts X and XI , the shares shall be deemed to be held by the representative joint holder alone, and a joint holder of the shares (other than a representative joint holder) shall not be regarded as a member of the society for the purposes of those Parts;

(f) the representative joint holder, but not the other joint holders, shall have the right to join in making an application under section 45 and any reference in that section to the total membership shall be construed accordingly;

(g) paragraph (b) shall not operate so as to prevent any of the joint holders from obtaining from the society, on demand, a copy of its annual accounts or summary financial statement;

(h) the joint holders shall be entitled to choose the order in which they are named in the records of the society.

(7) Where a loan, being a loan made under the repealed enactments secured by the mortgage of freehold or leasehold estate or interest or a housing loan, is made by a society to two or more persons jointly, the following provisions shall apply—

(a) the person whose name first appears in the records of the society in relation to such a loan shall be the representative joint borrower;

(b) except where the rules of a society otherwise provide, any notice or other document required by this Act to be sent to borrowers shall be deemed to be sent to the joint borrowers if it is sent to the representative joint borrower;

(c) where under this Act a borrower may vote at a meeting of the society or under a postal ballot and such a person is a joint borrower the person entitled to exercise the rights conferred by sections 68 , 69 , 72 and 73 shall, notwithstanding anything in those sections, be the representative joint borrower;

(d) in the register required to be kept under section 65 the entry of that one of the joint borrowers who is the representative joint borrower shall indicate that fact;

(e) for the purposes of Part XI , the rights of the joint borrowers as borrowing members of the society shall be treated as the rights of the representative joint borrower alone and a joint borrower (other than a representative joint borrower) shall not be regarded as a borrowing member of the society for the purposes of that Part;

(f) paragraph (b) shall not operate so as to prevent any of the joint borrowers from obtaining from the society, on demand, a copy of its annual accounts of summary financial statement;

(g) the joint borrowers shall be entitled to choose the order in which they are named in the records of the society.