Hire Purchase (Amendment) Act , 1960

PART I. Preliminary and General

1 Short title, collective citation and construction.

1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Hire-Purchase (Amendment) Act, 1960.

(2) The Principal Act and this Act may be cited together as the Hire-Purchase Acts, 1946 and 1960.

(3) The Principal Act and this Act shall be construed as one.

2 Commencement.

2.—This Act shall come into operation on such day as the Minister by order appoints.

3 Definitions.

3.—In this Act—

“the Principal Act” means the Hire-Purchase Act, 1946;

“authorised officer” means an officer appointed to be an authorised officer under section 8 of this Act;

“the Minister” means the Minister for Industry and Commerce.

4 Laying of orders before Houses of the Oireachtas.

4.—Every order under Part II of this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if a resolution annulling the order is passed by either such House within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the order is laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

5 Expenses.

5.—The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

PART II. Control of Hire-Purchase, Credit-Sale and Letting of Goods.

6 Control of hire-purchase, credit-sale and letting of goods.

6.—(1) The Minister may by order provide for the regulation and control of the letting, whether under hire-purchase agreements or otherwise, and the selling by credit-sale agreements of goods or of any class or description of goods.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing or to anything in the Principal Act, an order under this section may provide for—

(a) the form of the agreements referred to in subsection (1) of this section,

(b) the minimum deposit to be paid by a buyer or hirer,

(c) the maximum period of payment, and the amount and frequency of instalments or rentals,

(d) the information to be given in any visual advertisement or visual announcement published or made in any form or manner whatsoever relating to goods for sale by way of hire-purchase or credit-sale agreement regarding the terms upon which the goods will be sold,

(e) the inclusion in any such advertisement or announcement of a statement of the price at which the goods will be sold for cash.

(3) An order under this section may also provide that a person who sells or lets goods to which the order applies shall not be entitled to enforce any agreement for such sale or letting or any right to recover the goods unless specified provisions of the order are complied with.

(4) The Minister may by order amend or revoke an order under this section.

(5) An order under any provision of this section (except in relation to paragraph (d) or (e) of subsection (2) of this section) shall be made only after consultation with the Minister for Finance.

7 Furnishing of information.

7.—Any person who carries on, or is employed in connection with, the business of letting goods, whether under hire-purchase agreements or otherwise, or selling goods by credit-sale agreements shall, whenever so required by the Minister, furnish to the Minister any books, documents, records, particulars, or information in that person's power or control which the Minister may require for enabling him to exercise his functions under this Part of this Act.

8 Authorised officers.

8.—(1) The Minister may appoint such and so many of his officers as he thinks fit to be authorised officers for the purposes of this Part of this Act.

(2) Every authorised officer shall be furnished with a warrant of his appointment as an authorised officer, and, as soon as he has entered any premises pursuant to section 9 of this Act, shall produce the warrant to the person in charge of the premises.

9 Powers of authorised officers.

9.—(1) An authorised officer may, for the purpose of obtaining any information which the Minister may require for enabling him to exercise his functions under this Part of this Act, at all reasonable times enter premises at which the business of letting goods, whether under hire-purchase agreements or otherwise, or selling goods by credit-sale agreements is carried on and do any one or more of the following things—

(a) inspect the premises,

(b) require the person who carries on such business and any person employed in connection therewith to produce to him any books, documents or records relating to such business which are in that person's power or control and to give him such information as he may reasonably require in regard to any entries in such books, documents or records,

(c) inspect and copy or take extracts from such books, documents or records,

(d) require such person to give to him any information he may reasonably require in regard to the persons carrying on such business (including, in particular, in the case of an unincorporated body of persons, information in regard to the membership thereof and of its committee of management or other controlling authority) or employed in connection therewith,

(e) require such person to give to him any other information which he may reasonably require in regard to such business.

(2) No one shall be required by virtue of section 7 of this Act or subsection (1) of this section to answer any question or to give any evidence tending to criminate himself.

(3) Subject to the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, if any person obstructs or impedes an authorised officer in the exercise of his powers under this section or does not comply with a requirement under section 7 of this Act or under this section, that person shall be guilty of an offence.

10 Prohibition on disclosure of information.

10.—(1) No person shall disclose information available to him by virtue of the powers of obtaining information conferred on him by this Part of this Act.

(2) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to—

(a) a communication made by an authorised officer in the execution of his duties under this Part of this Act,

(b) the disclosure of information for the purpose of legal proceedings under this Part of this Act.

(3) If any person contravenes subsection (1) of this section he shall be guilty of an offence.

11 Contravention of order.

11.—(1) A person who contravenes (whether by act or omission) any provision of an order under this Part of this Act for the time being in force shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) Every person who aids, abets, or assists another person, or conspires with another person, to do any thing (whether by way of act or of omission) the doing of which is declared by subsection (1) of this section to be an offence shall himself be guilty of an offence.

12 Offences in relation to bodies corporate and unincorporated bodies.

12.—Where an offence under this Part of this Act is committed by a body corporate or by a person purporting to act on behalf of a body corporate or an unincorporated body of persons, and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or approval of, or to have been facilitated by any default on the part of any person being, in the case of a body corporate, a director thereof, or, in the case of an unincorporated body, a member of the committee of management or other controlling authority thereof, that person shall also be guilty of the offence.

13 Penalties.

13.—Every person who commits an offence under this Part of this Act shall on summary conviction thereof be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment.

14 Prosecution of offences.

14.—(1) Proceedings in relation to an offence under this Part of this Act may be brought and prosecuted by the Minister.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (4) of section 10 of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851, summary proceedings for an offence under this Part of this Act may be instituted within twelve months from the date of the offence.

PART III. Amendment of the Principal Act.

15 Further provisions relating to postponed orders for specific delivery of goods.

15.—(1) Where a postponed order for the specific delivery of goods to the owner has been made, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, under paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of section 13 of the Principal Act, the powers of the court under paragraphs (a) and (c) of subsection (4) of section 14 of that Act (which respectively enable the court to vary the conditions of the postponement or to make an order for the delivery of part of the goods to the owner and for the transfer to the hirer of the owner's title to the remainder) may be exercised, notwithstanding that any condition of the postponement has not been complied with, at any time before the goods are delivered to the owner in accordance with an execution order within the meaning of the Enforcement of Court Orders Act, 1926, issued in pursuance of the order; and where such an execution order has been issued (whether before or after the commencement of this Act) the court shall—

(a) if the court varies the conditions of the postponement under the said paragraph (a), suspend the execution order on the like conditions;

(b) if the court makes an order under the said paragraph (c) for the specific delivery of a part of the goods to the owner and for the transfer to the hirer of the owner's title to the remaining part thereof, cancel the execution order so far as it provides for the delivery of the last-mentioned part of the goods.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in rules of court, at any time before the delivery of goods to the owner in accordance with an execution order issued as aforesaid, the execution order may, so far as it provides for the delivery of the goods, be discharged by the payment to the owner by the hirer or any guarantor of the whole of the unpaid balance of the hire-purchase price together with any interest (being interest payable under the hire-purchase agreement on instalments of the hire-purchase price which are due and unpaid) the payment of which had been provided for in the postponed order, and in any such case the owner's title to the goods shall vest in the hirer.

(3) If in an action to which the said section 13 applies an offer as to conditions for the postponement of the operation of an order under paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of that section is made by the hirer and accepted by the owner in accordance with rules of court, an order under that paragraph may thereupon be made by the court in accordance with the said offer without hearing evidence as to matters specified in the said paragraph (b):

Provided that where a guarantor is a party to the action, no such order shall be made before the date fixed for the hearing of the action.

16 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.

17 Liability of guarantor where goods are returned to owner.

17.—(1) Where—

(a) goods are let under a hire-purchase agreement, whether made before or after the commencement of this Act, and

(b) the owner recovers possession thereof or an order is made by the court under paragraph (a) of subsection (4) of section 13 of the Principal Act for the specific delivery thereof to the owner,

then, subject to subsection (3) of this section, the liability of a guarantor under a contract of guarantee in relation to the agreement shall not exceed the amount, if any, which the hirer would have been liable to pay under section 5 of the Principal Act if he had determined the agreement under that section at the time of the recovery or the making of the order, as the case may be.

(2) Subject to subsection (3) of this section, any provision in a contract of guarantee in relation to a hire-purchase agreement whereby the guarantor, after the recovery of possession of the goods let under the agreement or the making of an order by the court under the said paragraph (a) for the specific delivery of the goods to the owner, is subject to a liability which exceeds the liability specified in subsection (1) of this section shall be void.

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) of this section are without prejudice to any liability of the guarantor which has accrued in respect of instalments of the hire-purchase price which are due under the hire-purchase agreement and are unpaid at the time of the recovery or the making of the order, as the case may be.

(4) This section shall not have effect in respect of a claim or order in relation to a guarantor made before the commencement of this Act.

18 Appropriation of payments by owner in respect of hire-purchase agreements.

18.—Where—

(a) a hirer is entitled under section 10 of the Principal Act to appropriate a payment made after the commencement of this Act, and

(b) the hirer fails to make an appropriation under that section, and

(c) one-third of the hire-purchase price has been paid under each of the hire-purchase agreements in respect of which are due sums in or towards the satisfaction of which the entitlement exists,

the owner may, notwithstanding the provisions of the said section 10, appropriate the payment in or towards the satisfaction of the sum due under any one of the agreements or in or towards the satisfaction of the sums due under any two or more of the agreements in such proportions as he thinks fit and, if he fails to make any such appropriation as aforesaid, the payment shall, by virtue of that section, be appropriated towards the satisfaction of the sums due under the respective hire-purchase agreements in the proportions which those sums bear to one another.

19 Jurisdiction of the courts.

19.—(1) In an action commenced after the commencement of this Act by the owner of goods let under a hire-purchase agreement to enforce a right to recover possession of the goods from the hirer—

(a) the Circuit Court shall have jurisdiction where the hire-purchase price does not exceed one thousand pounds, and

(b) the District Court shall have jurisdiction where the hire-purchase price does not exceed one hundred pounds.

(2) In an action commenced after the commencement of this Act by the owner of goods let under a hire-purchase agreement to enforce payment of a sum due under the hire-purchase agreement or under any contract of guarantee relating thereto—

(a) the Circuit Court shall have jurisdiction where the amount claimed does not exceed one thousand pounds, and

(b) the District Court shall have jurisdiction where the amount claimed does not exceed one hundred pounds.

(3) Neither paragraph (v) of section 52 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1924, nor paragraph (a) of section 53 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1936, shall apply to an action—

(a) in which the defendant or one, at least, of the defendants ordinarily resides or carries on any profession, business or occupation in the State, and