Hire-Purchase Act, 1946

JurisdictionIreland
CitationIR No. 16/1946


Number 16 of 1946.


HIRE-PURCHASE ACT, 1946.


ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

Section

1.

Interpretation.

2.

Application of Act.

3.

Requirements relating to hire-purchase agreements.

4.

Requirements relating to credit-sale agreements.

5.

Rights of hirer to determine hire-purchase agreement.

6.

Avoidance of certain provisions.

7.

Duty of owners and sellers to supply documents and information.

8.

Duty of hirer to give information as to whereabouts of goods.

9.

Conditions and warranties to be implied in hire-purchase agreements.

10.

Appropriation of payments made in respect of hire purchase agreements.

11.

Evidence of adverse detention in actions by owners to recover possession of the goods.

12.

Restriction of owner's right to recover possession of goods otherwise than by action.

13.

Powers of court in certain actions by owners to recover possession of the goods.

14.

Effect of postponement of operation of an order for specific delivery of goods to the owner.

15.

Powers of the court to deal with payments arising on determination of hire-purchase agreements.

16.

Successive hire-purchase agreements between the same parties.

17.

Provisions as to bankruptcy of hirer and distress on hirer's premises.

18.

Hirer's refusal to surrender goods not to be conversion in certain cases.

19.

Special provisions as to installation charges.

20.

Jurisdiction of the District Court.

21.

Application of Act in relation to existing agreements.

22.

Short title and commencement.

SCHEDULE.


Acts Referred to

Courts of Justice Act, 1936

No. 48 of 1936


Number 16 of 1946.


HIRE-PURCHASE ACT, 1946.


AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAW WITH RESPECT TO THE HIRE-PURCHASE AND SALE UPON CREDIT OF GOODS AND THE LAW OF DISTRESS IN ITS RELATION THERETO. [9th July, 1946.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

Interpretation.

1.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

the words “action”, “buyer”, “delivery”, “goods”, “property”, “sale”, “seller” and “warranty” have the meanings respectively assigned to them by the Sale of Goods Act, 1893 ;

the expression “hire-purchase agreement” means an agreement for the bailment of goods under which the bailee may buy the goods or under which the property in the goods will or may pass to the bailee, and where by virtue of two or more agreements, none of which by itself constitutes a hire-purchase agreement, there is a bailment of goods and either the bailee may buy the goods, or the property therein will or may pass to the bailee, the agreements shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as a single agreement made at the time when the last of the agreements was made;

the expression “credit-sale agreement” means an agreement for the sale of goods under which the purchase price is payable by five or more instalments;

the expression “hire-purchase price” means the total sum payable by the hirer under a hire-purchase agreement in order to complete the purchase of the goods to which the agreement relates, exclusive of any sum payable as a penalty or as compensation or damages for a breach of the agreement;

the word “owner” means the person who lets or has let goods to a hirer under a hire-purchase agreement and includes a person to whom the owner's property in the goods or any of the owner's rights or liabilities under the agreement has passed by assignment or by operation of law;

the word “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 hirer's rights or liabilities under the agreement have passed by assignment or by operation of law;

the expression “contract of guarantee” means, in relation to any hire-purchase agreement or credit-sale agreement, a contract, made at the request express or implied of the hirer or buyer, to guarantee the performance of the hirer's or buyer's obligations under the hire-purchase agreement or credit-sale agreement, and the expression “guarantor” shall be construed accordingly;

the expression “total purchase price” means the total sum payable by the buyer under a credit-sale agreement, exclusive of any sum payable as a penalty or as compensation or damages for a breach of the agreement.

(2) Where an owner has agreed that any part of the hire-purchase price may be discharged otherwise than by the payment of money, any such discharge shall for the purposes of sections 5 , 7 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 and 16 of this Act, be deemed to be a payment of that part of the hire-purchase price.

Application of Act.

2.—This Act shall apply in relation to every hire-purchase or credit-sale agreement not being—

(a) an agreement relating to livestock, or

(b) an agreement between Comhlachas Iascaigh Mhara na h-Éireann, Teoranta (The Irish Sea Fisheries Association, Limited), and any of its members,

and the expressions “hire-purchase agreement” and “credit-sale agreement” shall be construed accordingly.

Requirements relating to hire-purchase agreements.

3.—(1) Before any hire-purchase agreement is entered into in respect of any goods, the owner shall state in writing to the prospective hirer, otherwise than in the note or memorandum of the agreement, a price at which the goods may be purchased by him for cash (in this section referred to as the cash price):

Provided that this subsection shall be deemed to have been sufficiently complied with—

(a) if the hirer has inspected the goods or like goods and at the time of his inspection tickets or labels were attached to or displayed with the goods clearly stating the cash price, either of the goods as a whole or of all the different articles or sets of articles comprised therein, or

(b) if the hirer has selected the goods by reference to a catalogue, price list, or advertisement, which clearly stated the cash price either of the goods as a whole or of all the different articles or sets of articles comprised therein.

(2) 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 as aforesaid shall be enforceable against the hirer or guarantor by any holder thereof, unless the requirement specified in the foregoing subsection has been complied with, and—

(a) a note or memorandum of the agreement is made and signed by the hirer and by or on behalf of all other parties to the agreement, and

(b) the note or memorandum contains a statement of the hire-purchase price and of the cash price of the goods to which the agreement relates and of the amount of each of the instalments by which the hire-purchase price is to be paid and of the date, or the mode of determining the date, upon which each instalment is payable, and contains a list of the goods to which the agreement relates sufficient to identify them, and

(c) the note or memorandum contains a notice, which is at least as prominent as the rest of the contents of the note or memorandum, in the terms prescribed in the Schedule to this Act, and

(d) a copy of the note or memorandum is delivered or sent to the hirer within seven days of the making of the agreement:

Provided that if the Court is satisfied in any action that a failure to comply with the requirements specified in the foregoing sub-section or any requirement specified in paragraph (b), (c) or (d) of this subsection has not prejudiced the hirer, and that it would be just and equitable to dispense with the requirement, the Court may, subject to any conditions that it thinks fit to impose, dispense with that requirement for the purposes of the action.

Requirements relating to credit-sale agreements.

4.—(1) Before making any credit-sale agreement under which the total purchase price exceeds five pounds, the seller shall state in writing to the prospective buyer, otherwise than in the note or memorandum of the agreement, a price at which the goods may be purchased by him for cash (in this section referred to as the cash price):

Provided that this subsection shall be deemed to have been sufficiently complied with—

(a) if the buyer has inspected the goods or like goods and at the time of his inspection tickets or labels were attached to or displayed with the goods clearly stating the cash price, either of the goods as a whole or of all the different articles or sets of articles comprised therein, or

(b) if the buyer has selected the goods by reference to a catalogue, price list or advertisement, which clearly stated the cash price either of the goods as a whole or of all the different articles or sets of articles comprised therein.

(2) A person who has sold goods by a credit-sale agreement under which the total purchase price exceeds five pounds shall not be entitled to enforce the agreement or any contract of guarantee relating thereto, and no security given by the buyer in respect of money payable under the credit-sale agreement or given by a guarantor in respect of money payable under such a contract of guarantee as aforesaid shall be enforceable against the buyer or guarantor by any holder thereof, unless the requirement specified in the foregoing subsection has been complied with, and

(a) a note or memorandum of the agreement is made and signed by the buyer and by or on behalf of all other parties to the agreement, and

(b) the note or memorandum contains a statement of the total purchase price and of the cash price of the goods to which the agreement relates and of the amount of each of the instalments...

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