Hire-Purchase Act · 2024 Revised Edition · Part · Form and Contents of Hire-Purchase Agreements
5. Hire-purchase agreements which are not enforceable
Official textFrom Attorney General's Chambers, unchanged
A hire-purchase agreement that is not in writing shall not be enforceable by the owner.
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;
An owner shall not be entitled to enforce a hire-purchase agreement or any contract of guarantee relating thereto or any right to recover the goods from the hirer, and no security given by the hirer in respect of money payable under the hire-purchase agreement or given by a guarantor in respect of money payable under such a contract of guarantee shall be enforceable against the hirer or guarantor by any holder thereof, unless the requirements set out in section 3(3)(b), (c), (d) and (e) and in section 4 have been complied with.
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;
Notwithstanding subsection (2), where the court is satisfied that —
a failure to comply with any of the requirements set out in sections 3 and 4 has not prejudiced the hirer; and
it would be just and equitable to dispense with such of the requirements mentioned in paragraph (a),
Hire-Purchase the court may, subject to any condition that it thinks fit to impose, dispense with those requirements for the purpose of the action.
Terms defined in s 2
contract of guarantee
Defined · s 2“contract of guarantee” means, in relation to any hire-purchase agreement, a contract made at the request, expressed or implied, of the hirer to guarantee the performance of the hirer’s obligations under the hire-purchase agreement, but does not include the dealer or a person engaged, at the time of 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;
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;
Part 3
Part 4
Part
Guarantors
Part
Insurance
Part