Hire-Purchase Act 1969 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 4 · Hirers
14. Power of hirer to terminate hiring
Feedback & supportThe hirer of any goods comprised in a regulated agreement may terminate the hiring by returning the goods to the owner during ordinary business hours at the place at which the owner ordinarily carries on business or to the place specified for that purpose in the agreement.
hirer
“hirer” means the person who takes or has taken goods from an owner under a hire‑purchase agreement or a conditional sale 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;
Where the nature of the goods comprised in a regulated agreement or the facilities available at the place or places of business of the owner or the place specified in the agreement is or are such that it would be impracticable to return the goods to such a place, the hirer may terminate the hiring by returning the goods to any place agreed to by the parties to the agreement.
goods
“goods” includes any replacement or renewal by the hirer of any part or parts of any goods and any accessory added or addition made to any goods by the hirer during the period of the hiring;
Where the parties fail to agree, the hirer who proposes to return the goods to the owner under this section may, subject to subsection (5), apply to a court for an order fixing the place to which the goods may be returned.
owner
“owner” means a person by whom goods are bailed to a hirer under a hire‑purchase agreement or a conditional sale agreement and includes a person whom the owner’s rights or liabilities under the agreement have passed by assignment or by operation of law;
The court —
shall fix the place that is in its opinion reasonable having regard to all the circumstances surrounding the transaction; and
may order that, subject to the goods being returned to the owner, the hiring shall be terminated on such date as is specified in the order.
Notice of an application under subsection (3) shall be given to the owner by the hirer.
When a regulated agreement is terminated under this section, the owner is entitled to recover from the hirer —
regulated agreement
“regulated agreement” means a hire-purchase agreement or a conditional sale agreement which relates to the goods specified in the First Schedule, but does not include any agreement in which the hirer is engaged in the trade or business of selling goods of the same nature or description as the goods comprised in the agreement;
the amount (if any) required to be paid in those circumstances under the agreement; or
the amount (if any) that the owner would have been entitled to recover if he had taken possession of the goods at the date of termination of the hiring,whichever is less.