Hire-Purchase Act · 2024 Revised Edition · Part · Guarantors
20. Liability of guarantor and his rights on repossession
Official textFrom Attorney General's Chambers, unchanged
Subject to this Act, a guarantor shall not, by reason of the operation of this Act, be discharged from liability under his guarantee.
guarantor
“guarantor” means a person who has guaranteed the performance by a hirer of all or any of his obligations under a hire-purchase agreement, but does not include the dealer or a person engaged, at the time of the giving of the guarantee, in the trade or business of selling goods of the same nature or description as the goods comprised in the agreement;
The liability of a guarantor shall continue notwithstanding that the owner has, pursuant to the provisions of a hire-purchase agreement, taken possession of the goods comprised therein (and whether or not the goods have been redelivered to the hirer pursuant to this Act); but nothing in this subsection shall operate to preserve the liability of a guarantor where the owner and the hirer have entered into a new agreement in respect of the goods comprised in any hire-purchase agreement.
owner
“owner” means a person who lets or has let goods to a hirer under a hire-purchase agreement and includes a person to whom the rights or liabilities of the owner under the agreement have passed by assignment or by operation of law;
No guarantor is liable to any further or other extent than the hirer, the performance of whose obligations he has guaranteed; but nothing in this
hirer
“hirer” means the person who takes or has taken goods from an owner under a hire-purchase agreement and includes a person to whom the rights or liabilities of the hirer under the agreement have passed by assignment or by operation of law;
Act shall affect any agreement by the guarantor binding him to the performance of any obligation that is not one of the obligations imposed on
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the hirer under the hire-purchase agreement in respect of which the guarantee is given.
hire-purchase agreement
“hire-purchase agreement” includes a letting of goods with an option to purchase and an agreement for the purchase of goods by instalments (whether the agreement describes the instalments as rent, hire or otherwise), but does not include any agreement — (a) whereby the property in the goods comprised therein passes at the time of the agreement or upon or at any time before delivery of the goods; or (b) under which the person by whom the goods are being hired or purchased is a person who is engaged in the trade or business of selling goods of the same nature or description as the goods comprised in the agreement;
Where goods have been delivered to the hirer pursuant to a hire-purchase agreement and the owner subsequently takes possession thereof, any guarantor who has paid any moneys to the owner in accordance with his guarantee shall have the like right in like manner to recover those moneys as he would have had if he had been the hirer of the goods, but for the purpose of calculating the amount received by the owner all moneys paid and the value of any other consideration provided by or on behalf of the hirer are deemed to have been paid or provided by the guarantor.
goods
“goods” includes any replacement or renewal by the hirer of any part or parts thereof and any accessories added or additions made thereto by the hirer during the period of the hiring;
No moneys shall be recovered by the guarantor in excess of the moneys actually paid by him.
Terms defined in s 2
goods
Defined · s 2“goods” includes any replacement or renewal by the hirer of any part or parts thereof and any accessories added or additions made thereto by the hirer during the period of the hiring;
guarantor
Defined · s 2“guarantor” means a person who has guaranteed the performance by a hirer of all or any of his obligations under a hire-purchase agreement, but does not include the dealer or a person engaged, at the time of the giving of the guarantee, in the trade or business of selling goods of the same nature or description as the goods comprised in the agreement;
hire-purchase agreement
Defined · s 2“hire-purchase agreement” includes a letting of goods with an option to purchase and an agreement for the purchase of goods by instalments (whether the agreement describes the instalments as rent, hire or otherwise), but does not include any agreement — (a) whereby the property in the goods comprised therein passes at the time of the agreement or upon or at any time before delivery of the goods; or (b) under which the person by whom the goods are being hired or purchased is a person who is engaged in the trade or business of selling goods of the same nature or description as the goods comprised in the agreement;
hirer
Defined · s 2“hirer” means the person who takes or has taken goods from an owner under a hire-purchase agreement and includes a person to whom the rights or liabilities of the hirer under the agreement have passed by assignment or by operation of law;
owner
Defined · s 2“owner” means a person who lets or has let goods to a hirer under a hire-purchase agreement and includes a person to whom the rights or liabilities of the owner under the agreement have passed by assignment or by operation of law;