Hire-Purchase Act · 2024 Revised Edition · Part · General
29. Limitation on terms charges
Official textFrom Attorney General's Chambers, unchanged
The terms charges in relation to a hire-purchase agreement shall not, when calculated as a rate per cent per annum in accordance with the formula set out in Schedule 7, exceed a rate per annum as may be prescribed by any regulations made under this Act in respect of any goods or class of goods.
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 a hire-purchase agreement is entered into in contravention of this section, the hirer may, by notice in writing to the owner signed by the hirer or the hirer’s agent, elect either to treat the agreement as void or to have his liability reduced by the amount included in the agreement for terms charges; and —
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;
where the hirer elects to treat the hire-purchase agreement as void, the agreement shall be void, and the amount paid or provided, whether by cash or other consideration, by or on behalf of the hirer under the agreement shall be recoverable by action as a debt due to him by the owner; or
where the hirer elects to have his liability reduced by the amount included in the agreement for terms charges, his liability shall be reduced by that amount and that amount may be set-off by the hirer against the amount that would otherwise be due under the agreement and, to the extent to which it is not so set-off, may be recovered by action by the hirer as a debt due to him by the owner.
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;
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;