Hire-Purchase (Further Amendment) Act 1997
Act No. 74/1997
TABLE OF PROVISIONS
Section
Page
PART 1—PRELIMINARY
1.
2.
1
Purposes
Commencement
1
2
PART 2—AMENDMENT OF HIRE-PURCHASE ACT 1959
3.
4.
Application of Hire-Purchase Act 1959
Definitions
PART 3—AMENDMENT OF GOODS ACT 1958
5.
3
3
4
5
New Part V inserted in Goods Act 1958
5
PART V—RIGHTS OF HIRERS UNDER HIREPURCHASE AGREEMENTS
5
120. Definitions
121. Hirer's right to surplus if goods repossessed by owner
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NOTES
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6
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Victoria
No. 74 of 1997
Hire-Purchase (Further Amendment)
Act 1997†
[Assented to 25 November 1997]
The Parliament of Victoria enacts as follows:
PART 1—PRELIMINARY
1. Purposes
The purposes of this Act are—
(a) to amend the Hire-Purchase Act 1959 to
limit its application to certain hire-purchase
agreements;
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Act No. 74/1997
(b) to amend the Goods Act 1958 to provide
that a hirer of goods may recover any surplus
if the goods are repossessed by the owner.
2. Commencement
(1) This Part comes into operation on the day on
which this Act receives the Royal Assent.
(2) Subject to sub-section (3), the remaining
provisions of this Act come into operation on a
day or days to be proclaimed.
(3) If a provision referred to in sub-section (2) does
not come into operation before 1 July 1998, it
comes into operation on that day.
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PART 2—AMENDMENT OF HIRE-PURCHASE ACT 1959
3. Application of Hire-Purchase Act 1959
No. 6531.
Reprint No. 3
as at 27
November
1991. Further
amended by
Nos 41/1995,
35/1996 and
19/1997.
In section 1 of the Hire-Purchase Act 1959, for
sub-section (4) substitute—
"(4) Subject to sub-sections (4A) and (4B), this
Act does not apply to a hire-purchase
agreement or any agreement made in
connection with a hire-purchase agreement
entered into on or after the commencement
of Part 2 of the Hire-Purchase (Further
Amendment) Act 1997.
(4A) This Act applies to a hire-purchase
agreement and any agreement made in
connection with a hire-purchase agreement
entered into and in operation immediately
before the commencement of Part 2 of the
Hire-Purchase (Further Amendment) Act
1997.
(4B) Sections 24 and 25 apply to a hire-purchase
agreement for farm machinery and any
agreement made in connection with such an
agreement if the agreement is entered into
within 2 years after the commencement of
Part 2 of the Hire-Purchase (Further
Amendment) Act 1997 and so apply as if a
reference to a notice in the form of the
Fourth Schedule were a reference to a notice
in the form required under the agreement.
(4C) An owner must not repossess farm
machinery under a hire-purchase agreement
to which sub-section (4B) applies unless the
owner gave to the hirer at the time that the
agreement was made a copy of sections 24
and 25, receipt of which was acknowledged
in writing by the hirer.".
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4. Definitions
In section 2 of the Hire-Purchase Act 1959
insert—
' "farm machinery" means—
(a) a harvester, binder, tractor, plough or
other agricultural implement;
(b) a motor truck used for the purposes of a
farming undertaking or any other
business involving the cultivation of the
soil, the gathering of crops or the
rearing of livestock;'.
—————————
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PART 3—AMENDMENT OF GOODS ACT 1958
5. New Part V inserted in Goods Act 1958
No. 6265.
Reprint No. 8
as at 22
January 1992.
After Part IV of the Goods Act 1958 insert—
'PART V—RIGHTS OF HIRERS UNDER HIREPURCHASE AGREEMENTS
120. Definitions
(1) In this Part—
"hire purchase agreement" includes—
(a) an agreement for the hire or
letting of goods with an option to
purchase; and
(b) an agreement for the purchase of
goods by instalments (whether the
agreement describes the
instalments as rent, hire or
otherwise)—
but does not include an agreement—
(c) to which the Hire-Purchase Act
1959 applies; or
(d) under which the property in the
goods comprised in the agreement
passes at the time of the
agreement or any time before the
delivery of goods; or
(e) that is a regulated contract within
the meaning of the Credit Act
1984; or
(f) that is a credit contract within the
meaning of the Consumer Credit
(Victoria) Code.
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"owner" means a person who lets, hires or
agrees to sell goods under a hirepurchase 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 by operation
of law;
"hirer" means a 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.
(2) A reference in this Part to taking possession
by an owner of goods comprised in a hirepurchase agreement does not include a
reference to taking possession by the owner
as a result of the voluntary return of the
goods by the hirer.
121. Hirer's right to surplus if goods repossessed
by owner
(1) If an owner takes possession of goods
comprised in a hire-purchase agreement and
the agreement is neither reinstated nor
finalised by the hirer, the hirer may recover
from the owner—
(a) if the owner sells or disposes of the
goods, an amount equal to the proceeds
of the sale of the goods; or
(b) if the owner does not sell or dispose of
the goods or fails to sell or dispose of
the goods as soon as reasonably
practicable after taking possession of
the goods (or such other time as the
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owner and the hirer agree), an amount
equal to the value of the goods at the
time that the owner took possession of
the goods—
less any amounts which the owner is entitled
to deduct from those proceeds under this
section.
(2) An owner who sells or disposes of goods
under sub-section (1) is entitled to deduct
from the proceeds of sale or the value of the
goods, as the case requires, only the
following amounts—
(a) the total amount owed by the hirer
under the hire-purchase agreement at
the time the owner took possession of
the goods, not being an amount greater
than the amount required to discharge
the agreement; and
(b) the reasonable expenses of the owner
incurred in taking possession of the
goods; and
(c) any amount reasonably incurred by the
owner on the storage, repair or
maintenance of the goods; and
(d) the reasonable expenses incurred in
selling or disposing of the goods,
whether or not the goods have
subsequently been sold or disposed of
by the owner.
(3) In this section "value of the goods" means
the best price reasonably obtainable by the
owner at the time the owner took possession
of the goods.
(4) The onus is on the owner to prove that the
price obtained for the goods was the best
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price reasonably obtainable at the time that
the owner took possession of the goods.'.
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Notes
NOTES
†
Minister's second reading speech—
Legislative Assembly: 18 September 1997
Legislative Council: 29 October 1997
The long title for the Bill for this Act was "to amend the Hire-Purchase
Act 1959 and the Goods Act 1958 and for other purposes."
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