S.I. No. 46/1956 - Hiring, Hire-Purchase and Credit Sale Order, 1956.

S.I. No. 46 of 1956.

HIRING, HIRE-PURCHASE AND CREDIT SALE ORDER, 1956.

I, WILLIAM NORTON, Minister for Industry and Commerce, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by Article 31 of the Emergency Powers Order, 1939 (S. R. & O. No. 224 of 1939), as amended by the Emergency Powers (No. 173) Order, 1942 (S. R. & O. No. 166 of 1942), (which Orders are continued in force by the Supplies and Services (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1946 (No. 22 of 1946)), hereby order as follows :

1. This Order may be cited as the Hiring, Hire-Purchase and Credit Sale Order, 1956.

2.—(1) This Order applies to agreements entered into after the date of this Order.

(2) Where an agreement entered into on or before the date of this Order is varied after that date by the inclusion of goods not comprised therein before the variation or by the alteration of any term of the agreement in a manner prohibited by this Order, then, this Order shall apply to the agreement as so varied.

3. Any word or expression used in this Order to which a particular meaning is assigned by the Hire-Purchase Act, 1946 (No. 16 of 1946), has in this Order the meaning so assigned to it.

4.—(1) An owner of goods 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—

(a) a minimum deposit has been paid by the hirer before entering into the agreement of an amount calculated at the percentage set out in the First Schedule hereto of the price at which the goods may be purchased by him for cash, and the period of payment provided by the agreement is not greater than the relevant period set out in the said Schedule, and

(b) the note or memorandum of the agreement contains a statement to that effect.

(2) A person who has sold goods by a credit-sale agreement 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 —

(a) a minimum deposit has been paid by the buyer before entering into the agreement of an amount calculated at the percentage set out in the First Schedule hereto of the price at which the goods may be purchased by him for cash, and the period of payment provided by the agreement is not greater than the relevant period set out in the said Schedule, and

(b) the note or memorandum of the agreement contains a statement to that effect.

(3) In calculating the minimum deposit for the purpose of this Article account may be taken of any allowance for goods taken in part exchange for the goods to which the agreement relates if that allowance is shown to be reasonable in relation to the value of the goods so taken in part exchange.

5.—(1) A person who lets goods on any agreement other than a hire-purchase agreement shall not be entitled to enforce the agreement or any right to recover the goods unless —

(a) the agreement is in writing, and

(b) it provides for payment of the rental for the hire of the goods by fixed periods of equal duration, not exceeding three months, the first of which commences on the date of the agreement, and

(d) no rental payable after the expiry of nine months from the date of the agreement exceeds the smallest rental payable during that period, and

(e) (i) in the case of a letting for a specified period not exceeding nine months, the whole of the rental for that period, or

(ii) in any other case, the whole of the rental for the first nine months, has been paid before entering into the agreement.

(2) In this Article " rental " includes all ascertainable service charges.

(3) This Article does not apply to a letting of particular goods for a period or periods not exceeding one month in all.

6. No person shall let or sell goods under an agreement for hire, a hire-purchase agreement or a credit-sale agreement declared by this Order to be unenforceable.

7. This Order does not apply to any goods specified in the Second Schedule hereto.

8. A person shall, whenever so required by the Minister, furnish to the Minister any documents, returns and particulars in his possession or procurement which the Minister may require for the purposes of this Order and permit any officer of the Department of Industry and Commerce, authorised in writing in that behalf by the Minister, to inspect any documents relating to the letting or sale of goods in his possession or control and to take copies of any such document or of any extract therefrom.

FIRST SCHEDULE.

Description of goods.	Minimum deposit.	Maximum period of payment.
Domestic furniture, floor coverings, carpets and mattresses.	10%	2 years.
Pedal cycles.	10%	1 year.
Motor vehicles, including motor cycles, motor scooters, autocycles and power-assisted cycles.	25%	2 years.
Personal clothing	50%	6 months.
Radio Sets	20%	1½ years.
Television sets, musical instruments and cameras.	33¹/3%	1½ years.
Refrigerators, washing, drying, cleaning and polishing machines.	33¹/3%	1½ years.
Other goods.	20%	2 years.

SECOND SCHEDULE.

Exempted Goods.

Commercial motor vehicles, tractors, industrial and agricultural machinery, cookers, fishing boats, fishing gear.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 13th day of March, 1956.

(Signed) WILLIAM NORTON,

Minister for Industry and Commerce.