Hire-Purchase Act · 2024 Revised Edition · Part 3
7. Liability of owner and person acting on his behalf for misrepresentation
Official textFrom Attorney General's Chambers, unchanged
Every representation, warranty or statement made to the hirer or prospective hirer, whether orally or in writing, by the owner or the dealer or any person acting on behalf of the owner or the dealer in connection with or in the course of negotiations leading to the entering into of a hire-purchase agreement shall confer on the hirer —
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;
as against the owner, the same right to rescind the agreements as the hirer would have had if the representation, warranty or statement had been by an agent of the owner; and
as against the person who made the representation, warranty or statement, and any person on whose behalf the person who made the representation, warranty or statement was acting in making it, the same right of action in damages as the hirer would have had against them or either of them if the hirer had purchased the goods from the person who made the representation, warranty or statement or the person on whose behalf the person who made the representation, warranty or statement was acting, as the case may be, as a result of the negotiations.
Hire-Purchase
Every covenant, condition or term in any hire-purchase agreement or other document purporting to exclude, limit or modify the operation of subsection (1) or to preclude any right of action or any defence based on or arising out of any such representation, warranty or statement shall be void.
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;
Without prejudice to any other rights or remedies to which an owner may be entitled, an owner shall be entitled to be indemnified —
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;
by the person who made the representation, warranty or statement; and
by any person on whose behalf the representation, warranty or statement was made against any damage suffered by the owner as a result of any such representation, warranty or statement.
Terms defined in s 2
dealer
Defined · s 2“dealer” means a person, not being the hirer or the owner or a servant of the owner, by whom or on whose behalf negotiations leading to the making of a hire-purchase agreement with the owner were carried out or by whom or on whose behalf the transaction leading to a hire-purchase agreement with the owner was arranged;
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;
Part 4
Part
Guarantors
Part
Insurance
Part