Terms used
2 Terms used
In this Act, unless inconsistent with the context or subject‑matter —
cash includes a cheque drawn on a financial institution;
Commissioner means the person for the time being designated as the Commissioner under section 23A;
credit provider means a hire‑purchase credit provider;
dealer means a person, not being the hirer or the owner or a servant of the owner, by whom or on whose behalf negotiations leading to the making of a hire‑purchase agreement with the owner were carried out or by whom or on whose behalf the transaction leading to a hire‑purchase agreement with the owner was arranged;
default charge in relation to an agreement means such amount as, subject to any relief granted under section 36A, is payable under the agreement by the hirer where he fails to fulfil his obligations under the agreement;
Department means the department of the Public Service principally assisting in the administration of this Act;
goods includes all chattels personal other than money or things in action;
guarantee includes an indemnity;
guarantor means a person who has guaranteed the performance by a hirer of all or any of his obligations under a hire purchase agreement and includes a person who undertakes to indemnify the owner against any loss which he may incur in respect of that agreement but does not include the dealer or a person engaged, at the time of the giving of the guarantee, in the trade or business of selling goods of the same nature or description as the goods comprised in the agreement;
hire‑purchase agreement includes —
a letting of goods with an option to purchase; and
any agreement under which there is a bailment of goods and either the bailee may buy the goods or the property in the goods will or may pass to the bailee; and
any agreement for the purchase of goods by instalments (whether the agreement describes the instalments as rent or hire or otherwise) if the vendor or any person other than the hirer or his guarantor retains any interest in the goods or is or may become entitled to repossess the goods or to cause the hirer to lose his property in the goods; and
any agreement whereby the property in the goods comprised therein passes at the time of the agreement or upon or at any time before delivery of the goods, if the vendor or any person other than the hirer or his guarantor retains any interest in the goods or is or may become entitled to repossess the goods or to cause the hirer to lose his property in the goods,
but does not include —
any agreement under which the person by whom the goods are being hired or purchased is a person who is engaged in the trade or business of selling goods of the same nature or description as the goods comprised in the agreement; or
any agreement that includes a provision conferring any right or licence to occupy land on which the goods comprised in the agreement are permanently or ordinarily situated; or
any agreement that is a credit sale contract under the Credit Act 1984 or any agreement that is deemed to be a credit sale contract by that Act or any agreement that is a credit contract, or is to be regarded as a credit contract, under the National Credit Code (Commonwealth);
hire‑purchase credit provider means a person whose business is, or includes, being an owner under hire‑purchase agreements or who holds himself out as a person whose business is, or includes, being such an owner;
hirer means the person to whom goods are let, hired, or agreed to be sold 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;
owner means the person letting, hiring or agreeing to sell goods 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 have passed by assignment or operation of law;
period of agreement in relation to a hire‑purchase agreement means the period between the commencement of the hiring and the time provided by the agreement for the payment of the last instalment payable thereunder;
Schedule means Schedule to this Act;
statutory rebate —
in relation to terms charges —
means the amount derived by multiplying the terms charges by the sum of all the whole numbers from one to the number which is the number of complete months in the period of the agreement still to go (both inclusive) and by dividing the product so obtained by the sum of all the whole numbers from one to the number which is the total number of complete months in the period of the agreement (both inclusive); or
where it is agreed in a hire‑purchase agreement that the terms charges have been calculated on a simple interest basis at a rate specified in the agreement on the amount outstanding from month to month means the amount of interest attributable to the period of complete months which at the relevant time is still to go under the agreement;
and
in relation to insurance, means the sum of —
the total amount of premium paid in respect of any annual period which at the relevant time has not yet commenced; and
90% of the proportion of the amount of the premium for insurance in respect of the current annual period attributable to the unexpired portion of that period consisting of whole months;
and
in relation to maintenance, means the amount derived by multiplying the amount charged for maintenance by the number of complete months in the period of the agreement which at the relevant time is still to go and dividing the product so obtained by the number of complete months in the period of the agreement;
third party insurance means any insurance in relation to liability in respect of death or bodily injury caused by or arising out of the use of a motor vehicle being insurance required by the law of the place where the vehicle is registered or is being registered, as the case requires;
total amount payable in relation to a hire‑purchase agreement means the total amount to be paid or provided whether by way of cash or other consideration by or on, behalf of the hirer under a hire‑purchase agreement;
vehicle registration fees means any amount to be provided under a hire‑purchase agreement by the owner for payment by or on behalf of the hirer under the law of a State or Territory of The Commonwealth in connection with the registration and use of a motor vehicle, including any amount payable for third party insurance.
A reference in this Act to the taking possession by the owner of goods comprised in a hire‑purchase agreement includes a reference to —
the taking possession of goods by the owner pursuant to an order by any court; and
the return of goods to the owner after notice has been served pursuant to the provisions of section 13(1); and
except in section 12A and in section 13(1) and (2), the taking possession by the owner as a result of the voluntary return of the goods by the hirer under section 12.
Where, by virtue of 2 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 in the goods will or may pass to the bailee, then, except where the agreements are credit sale contracts under the Credit Act 1984 or are deemed to be credit sale contracts pursuant to that Act, the agreements shall, for the purposes of this Act, be treated as a single hire‑purchase agreement made at the time when the last agreement was made.
[Section 2 amended: No. 107 of 1973 s. 4; No. 37 of 1980 s. 3; No. 102 of 1984 s. 8; No. 1 of 1985 s. 20; No. 30 of 1996 s. 13; No. 57 of 1997 s. 39(10); No. 24 of 2000 s. 53; No. 59 of 2004 s. 141; No. 28 of 2006 s. 101; No. 14 of 2010 s. 11(2).]
2A. Orders making Act inapplicable
The Governor may, by order published in the Government Gazette, declare that the provisions of this Act, or such of those provisions as are specified in the order —
do not have effect in relation to a specified person or to a specified class of persons; or
have effect in relation to a specified person or to a specified class of persons to such extent as is specified; or
do not have effect in relation to a specified transaction or matter or class of transactions or matters; or
have effect in relation to a specified transaction or matter or class of transactions or matters to such extent as is specified; or
do not have effect in relation to a specified transaction or class of transactions entered into by a specified person or specified class of persons or in relation to specified associated matters; or
have effect in relation to a specified transaction or class of transactions entered into by a specified person or specified class of persons, or in relation to specified associated matters, to such extent as is specified.
An order made under subsection (1) —
may specify the period during which the order shall remain in force; or
may provide that its operation is subject to such terms and conditions as are specified in the order,
but any such order may be made only in respect of hire‑purchase transactions entered into for the purpose of providing goods for Government purposes or the purpose prescribed in subsection (2a).
The purpose referred to in subsection (2) is the purpose of providing rail freight services that are available to the public, whether or not those services are to be provided by or on behalf of the State.
The Governor may, by order published in the Government Gazette, revoke or vary an order made under this section.
An order made under this section, including an order that is varied under this section, is to be taken to be a regulation for the purposes of section 42 of the Interpretation Act 1984 and that section applies accordingly.
An order in force under this section, including an order that is varied under this section, has effect according to its tenor.
A person to whom an order under this section applies, including an order that is varied under this section, shall comply with the terms and conditions (if any) to which the operation of the order is subject.
Penalty: $5 000.
[Section 2A inserted: No. 43 of 1995 s. 3; amended: No. 13 of 2000 s. 95.]
[2B. Deleted: No. 14 of 2010 s. 11(3).]
This provision refers to the regulations (a regulation
). Made under this Act:
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