Hire-Purchase Act · 2024 Revised Edition · Part 4
8. Duty of owners to supply documents and information
Official textFrom Attorney General's Chambers, unchanged
An owner shall, within 14 days of the receipt thereof, comply with a written request made to him by a hirer, at any time before final payment has been made, whereby the hirer requires either a copy of the hire-purchase agreement between the parties or a statement signed by the owner or his agent showing —
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;
the amount paid to the owner by or on behalf of the hirer;
the amount which has become due under the agreement but remains unpaid; and
the amount which is to become payable under the agreement, or both such copy of the agreement and the statement as aforesaid.
Notwithstanding subsection (1), an owner need not comply with such a request —
if he has sent the hirer the document requested within a period of 3 months immediately preceding the request; or
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unless the request is accompanied by a payment of $10 if the hirer makes a second or subsequent request for a copy of the hire-purchase agreement between the parties after the owner has previously complied with such a request.
In the event of a failure without reasonable cause to comply with subsection (1) then, while the default continues —
the owner shall not be entitled to enforce —
the agreement against the hirer;
any right to recover the goods from the hirer; or
any contract of guarantee relating to the agreement; or
any security given by the hirer in respect of money payable under the agreement or given by a guarantor in respect of money payable under a contract of guarantee relating to the agreement shall not be enforceable against the hirer or the guarantor by any holder thereof.
If the default continues for a period of one month, the owner is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000.
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;