Hire-Purchase (Amendment) Act, 1960

• Permanent Page URL

Recovery of possession of motor vehicles let under hire-purchase agreements.

16.—(1) Section 6 of the Principal Act shall not apply in relation to a provision in an agreement made after the commencement of this Act whereby an owner of a motor vehicle which has been let under a hire-purchase agreement or a person acting on his behalf is—

(a) authorised to enter premises (other than a house used as a dwelling or any building within the curtilage thereof) for the purpose of taking possession of the motor vehicle, or

(b) relieved from liability for any such entry.

(2) Where—

(a) the owner of a motor vehicle let under a hire-purchase agreement has commenced an action after the commencement of this Act to recover possession of the vehicle from the hirer, and

(b) either—

(i) one-third of the hire-purchase price has, before the commencement of the action, been paid or tendered by or on behalf of the hirer or any guarantor, or

(ii) the hire-purchase agreement is a further hire-purchase agreement within the meaning of section 16 of the Principal Act, and

(c) the vehicle has been abandoned or has been left unattended in circumstances which have resulted or are imminently likely to result in damage to, or more than normal depreciation in the value of, the vehicle,

the provisions of section 12 of the Principal Act shall not apply and the owner shall be entitled to enforce a right to recover possession of the vehicle and to retain possession thereof during the ensuing period prior to the making of an order by the court in relation to the vehicle under subsection (3) of section 13 of the Principal Act.

(3) Where, pursuant to subsection (2) of this section, an owner of a motor vehicle enforces a right to recover possession of the vehicle—

(a) he shall make an application to the court under subsection (3) of section 13 of the Principal Act not later than the fourteenth day after the day on which possession of the vehicle was recovered or, if the court is not sitting on that day, the first day on which the court sits after that day, and

(b) if, on the hearing of the action referred to in subsection (2) of this section, the owner does not satisfy the court that in all the circumstances of the case he was entitled, pursuant to that subsection, to enforce his right to recover possession of the vehicle, the court may, without prejudice to any other power of the court, award to the hirer such damages payable by the owner, in respect of the recovery and the ensuing retention of possession of the vehicle, as it thinks proper.

(4) Where, pursuant to subsection (2) of this section, an owner of a motor vehicle enforces a right to recover possession of the vehicle but does not comply with the provisions of paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of this section, he shall, notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, be deemed to have recovered the vehicle in contravention of subsection (1) of section 12 of the Principal Act and subsection (2) of that section shall have effect accordingly.

(5) Subsection (2) of section 12 of the Principal Act shall not apply in any case in which damages are awarded under paragraph (b) of subsection (3) of this section.

(6) The Schedule to the Principal Act is, as respects hire-purchase agreements relating to motor vehicles and made after the commencement of this Act, hereby amended by the insertion at the end thereof of the paragraph set out in the Schedule to this Act.

(7) In this section “motor vehicle” means any mechanically propelled vehicle constructed for use on roads for the carriage of persons or goods and includes a tractor.