Consumer Credit Act 1974

(14) (1) Section 11(1)(c) of the principal Act (whereby provisions in certain circumstances a breach of a condition in a contract of sale is treated only as a breach of warranty shall not apply to conditional sale agreements which are agreements for consumer sales. (2) In England and Wales and Northern Ireland a breach of a condition (whether express or implied) to be fulfilled by the seller under any such agreement shall be treated as a breach of warranty, and not as grounds for rejecting the goods and treating the agreement as repudiated, if (but only if) it would have fallen to be so treated had the condition been contained or implied in a corresponding hire-purchase agreement as a condition to be fulfilled by the creditor. (15) (1) In sections 8 to 14 above and this section— - “business” includes a profession and the activities of any government department (including a Northern Ireland department), local authority or statutory undertaker; - “buyer” and “seller” includes a person to whom rights and duties under a conditional sale agreement have passed by assignment or operation of law ; - “condition” and “warranty”, in relation to Scotland, mean stipulation, and any stipulation referred to in sections 8(1)(a), 9, 10 and 11 above shall be deemed to be material to the agreement. - “conditional sale agreement” means an agreement for the sale of goods under which the purchase price or part of it is payable by instalments, and the property in the goods is to remain in the seller (notwithstanding that the buyer is to be in possession of the goods) until such conditions as to the payment of instalments or otherwise as may be specified in the agreement are fulfilled; - “consumer sale” has the same meaning as in section 55 of the principal Act, as amended by section 4 above ; - “creditor” means the person by whom the goods are bailed or (in Scotland) hired under a hire-purchase agreement or the person to whom his rights and duties under the agreement have passed by assignment or operation of law ; and - “hire-purchase agreement” means an agreement, other than conditional sale agreement, under which— (a) goods are bailed or (in Scotland) hired in return for periodical payments by the person to whom they are bailed or hired, and (b) the property in the goods will pass to that person if the terms of the agreement are complied with and one or more of the following occurs— (i) the exercise of an option to purchase by that person, (ii) the doing of any other specified act by any party to the agreement, (iii) the happening of any other specified event. (2) Goods of any kind are of merchantable quality within the meaning of section 10(2) above if they are as fit for the purpose or purposes for which goods of that kind are commonly bought as it is reasonable to expect having regard to any description applied to them, the price (if relevant) and all the other relevant circumstances ; and in section 11 above “unmerchantable ” shall be construed accordingly. (3) In section 14(2) above “corresponding hire-purchase agreement” means, in relation to a conditional sale agreement, a hire-purchase agreement relating to the same goods as the conditional sale agreement and made between the same parties and at the same time and in the same circumstances and, as nearly as may be, in the same terms as the conditional sale agreement. (4) Nothing in sections 8 to 13 above shall prejudice the operation of any other enactment including any enactment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland or the Northern Ireland Assembly or any rule of law whereby any condition or warranty, other than one relating to quality or fitness, is to be implied in any hire-purchase agreement.

Fair Trading Act 1973

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Part II — NORTHERN IRELAND

Irish Bankrupt and Insolvent Act 1857

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Bills of Sale (Ireland) Act (1879) Amendment Act 1883

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The following section shall be inserted after section 7:—

(7A) (1) Paragraph (1) of section 7 of this Act does not apply to a default relating to a bill of sale given by way of security for the payment of money under a regulated agreement to which section 87(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 applies:— (a) unless the restriction imposed by section 88(2) of that Act has ceased to apply to the bill of sale; or (b) if, by virtue of section 89 of that Act, the default is to be treated as not having occurred. (2) Where paragraph (1) of section 7 of this Act does apply in relation to a bill of sale such as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, the proviso to that section shall have effect with the insertion after “High Court ” of the words “or county court ”.

Liability for War Damage (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (Northern Ireland) 1939

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In section 1(3), for paragraph (a) and (b) substitute—

(a) a hire-purchase agreement or a conditional sale agreement within the meaning of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 being a consumer credit agreement as defined by that Act ; or (b) a consumer hire agreement within the meaning of that Act.

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Trading Stamps Act (Northern Ireland) 1965

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Hire-Purchase Act (Northern Ireland) 1966

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For Part VI substitute the following (which reproduces the existing provisions of that Part subject only to changes in terminology)—

(62) (1) This section applies where a motor vehicle has, been bailed under a hire-purchase agreement, or has been agreed to be sold under a conditional sale agreement, and, before the property in the vehicle has become vested in the debtor, he disposes of the vehicle to another person. (2) Where the disposition referred to in subsection (1) is to a private purchaser, and he is a purchaser of the motor vehicle in good faith without notice of the hire-purchase or conditional sale agreement (the “relevant agreement ”) that disposition shall have effect as if the creditor’s title to the vehicle had been vested in the debtor immediately before that disposition. (3) Where the person to whom the disposition referred to in subsection (1) is made (the “original purchaser ”) is a trade or finance purchaser, then if the person who is the first private purchaser of the motor vehicle after that disposition ( “the first private purchaser ”) is a purchaser of the vehicle in good faith without notice of the relevant agreement, the disposition of the vehicle to the first private purchaser shall have effect as if the title of the creditor to the vehicle had been vested in the debtor immeffiatily before he disposed of it to the original purchaser. (4) Where, in a case within subsection (3)— (a) the disposition by which the first private purchaser becomes a purchaser of the motor vehicle in good faith without notice of the relevant agreement is itself a bailment under a hire-purchase agreement, and (b) the person who is the creditor in relation to that agreement disposes of the vehicle to the first private purchaser, or a person claiming under him, by transferring to him the property in the vehicle in pursuance of a provision in the agreement in that behalf, the, disposition referred to in paragraph (b) (whether or not the person to whom it is made is a purchaser in good faith without notice of the relevant agreement) shall, as well as the disposition referred to in paragraph (a), have effect as mentioned in subsection (3). (5) The preceding provisions of this section apply— (a) notwithstanding anything in section 21 of the Sale of Goods Act 1893 (sale of goods by a person not the owner), but (b) without prejudice to the provisions of the Factors Act (as defined by section 62(1) of the said Act of 1893) or of any other enactment enabling the apparent owner of goods to dispose of them as if he were the true owner. (6) Nothing in this section shall exonerate the debtor from any liability (whether criminal or civil) to which he would be subject apart from this section ; and, in a case where the debtor disposes of the motor vehicle to a trade or finance purchaser, nothing in this section shall exonerate— (a) that trade or finance purchaser, or (b) any other trade or finance purchaser who becomes a purchaser of the vehicle and is not a person claiming under the first private purchaser, from any liability (whether criminal or civil) to which he would be subject apart from this section. (63) (1) Where in any proceedings (whether criminal or civil) relating to a motor vehicle it is proved— (a) that the vehicle was bailed under a hire-purchase agreement, or was agreed to be sold under a conditional sale agreement, and (b) that a person (whether a party to the proceedings or not) became a private purchaser of the vehicle in good faith without notice of the hire-purchase or conditional sale agreement (the “relevant agreement ”), this section shall have effect for the purpose of the operation of section 62 of this Act in relation to those proceedings. (2) It shall be presumed for those purposes, unless the contrary is proved, that the disposition of the vehicle to the person referred to in subsection (1)(b) (the “relevant purchaser ”) was made by the debtor. (3) If it is proved that that disposition was not made by the debtor, then it shall be presumed for those purposes, unless the contrary is proved— (a) that the debtor disposed of the vehicle to a private purchaser purchasing in good faith without notice of the relevant agreement and (b) that the relevant purchaser is or was a person claiming under the person to whom the debtor so disposed of the vehicle. (4) If it is proved that the disposition of the vehicle to the relevant purchaser was not made by the debtor, and that the person to whom the debtor disposed of the vehicle (the “original purchaser ”) was a trade or finance purchaser, then it shall be presumed for those purposes, unless the contrary is proved,— (a) that the person who, after the disposition of the vehicle to the original purchaser, first became a private purchaser of the vehicle was a purchaser in good faith without notice of the relevant agreement, and (b) that the relevant purchaser is or was a person claiming under the original purchaser. (5) Without prejudice to any other method of proof, where in any proceedings a party thereto admits a fact, that fact shall, for the purposes of this section, be taken as against him to be proved in relation to those proceedings. (64) (1) In this Part— - “conditional sale agreement” means an agreement for the sale of goods under which the purchase price or part of it is payable by instalments, and the property in the goods is to remain in the seller (notwithstanding that the buyer is to be in possession of the goods) until such conditions as to the payment of instalments or otherwise as may be specified in the agreement are fulfilled ; - “creditor” means the person by whom goods are bailed under a hire-purchase agreement or, as the case may be, the seller under a conditional sale agreement, or the person to whom his rights and duties have passed by assignment or operation of law ; - “disposition” means any sale or contract of sale (including a conditional sale agreement), any bailment under a hire-purchase agreement and any transfer of the property in goods in pursuance of a provision in that behalf contained in a hire-purchase agreement, and includes any transaction purporting to be a disposition (as so defined), and “dispose of ” shall be construed accordingly; - “hire-purchase agreement” means an agreement, other than a conditional sale agreement, under which— (a) goods are bailed in return for periodical payments by the person to whom they are bailed, and (b) the property in the goods will pass to that person if the terms of the agreement are complied with and one or more of the following occurs— (i) the exercise of an option to purchase by that person, (ii) the doing of any other specified act by any party to the agreement, (iii) the happening of any other specified event, and “motor vehicle” means a mechanically propelled vehicle intended or adapted for use on roads to which the public has access. (2) In this Part “trade or finance purchaser” means a purchaser who, at the time of the disposition made to him, carries on a business which consists, wholly or partly,— (a) of purchasing motor vehicles for the purpose of offering or exposing them for sale, or (b) of providing finance by purchasing motor vehicles for the purpose of bailing them under hire-purchase agreements or agreeing to sell them under conditional sale agreements, and “private purchaser” means a purchaser who, at the time of the disposition made to him, does not carry on any such business. (3) For the purposes of this Part a person becomes a purchaser of a motor vehicle if, and at the time when, a disposition of the vehicle is made to him ; and a person shall be taken to be a purchaser of a motor vehicle without notice of a hire-purchase agreement or conditional sale agreement if, at the time of the disposition made to him, he has no actual notice that the vehicle is or was the subject of any such agreement. (4) In this Part the “debtor ”, in relation to a motor vehicle which has been bailed under a hire-purchase agreement or, as the case may be, agreed to be sold under a conditional sale agreement, means the person who at the material time (whether the agreement has before that time been terminated or not) either— (a) is the person to whom the vehicle is bailed under that agreement or (b) is, in relation to the agreement, the buyer, including a person who at that time is, by virtue of section 130(4) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 treated as a bailee of the vehicle. (5) In this Part any reference to the title of the creditor to a motor vehicle which has been bailed under a hire-purchase agreement, or agreed to be sold under a conditional sale agreement, and is disposed of by the debtor, is a reference to such title (if any) to the vehicle as, immediately before that disposition, was vested in the person who then was the creditor in relation to the agreement. (6) This Part binds the Crown to the full extent authorised or permitted by the constitutional laws of Northern Ireland.

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Vehicles (Excise) Act (Northern Ireland) 1972

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Miscellaneous Transferred Excise Duties Act (Northern Ireland) 1972

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In section 1(2) for “VII ” where first occurring substitute “V ” and for “to VIII ” where secondly occurring substitute “and V ”.

Schedule 5

Editorial notes