Queensland Consolidated Acts Queensland Consolidated Acts(1) In this Act--
court means a Magistrates Court constituted by a stipendiary magistrate or acting stipendiary magistrate sitting alone or, when a stipendiary magistrate or acting stipendiary magistrate is not present to constitute the court, any 2 justices of the peace.
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.
goods includes all chattels personal other than money or things in action.
guarantor means a person who has guaranteed the performance by a hirer of all or any of the hirer's obligations under a hire-purchase 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 an agreement for the purchase of goods by instalments (whether such agreement describes such instalments as rent or hire or otherwise), but does not include any agreement--
(a) 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; or
(b) 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
(c) that is a credit sale contract within the meaning of the Credit Act 1987 or is deemed by that Act to be a credit sale contract; or
(d) that is a contract for the hiring of goods that is excluded from the effect of the Credit Act 1987, section 15 under section 21 of that Act; or
(e) that is a credit contract within the meaning of the Consumer Credit (Queensland) Code; or
(f) that is a contract for the hire of goods that, under the Consumer Credit (Queensland) Code, section 10(1), is to be regarded as a sale of goods by instalments under the Code; or
(g) that is or is part of a transaction for 1 or both of the following--
(i) the letting, with an option to purchase, of goods of a total market value of more than $40000000 at the time the transaction is entered into;
(ii) the purchase by instalments of goods of a total market value of more than $40000000 at the time the transaction is entered into.
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 the agreement means the period between the commencement of the hiring and the time provided by the agreement for the payment of the last instalment.
statutory rebate--
(a) in relation to terms charges--
(i) means the amount derived by multiplying the terms charges by the sum of all the whole numbers from 1 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 1 to the number which is the total number of complete months in the period of the agreement (both inclusive); or
(ii) 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 (not including the terms charges) outstanding from month to month--means the amount of interest attributable to the period of complete months still to go under the agreement; and
(b) in relation to insurance--means the sum of--
(i) the total amount of premium paid in respect of any annual period not yet commenced; and
(ii) 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
(c) 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 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 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 in connection with the registration and use of a motor vehicle, including any amount payable for third-party insurance.
(2) Any reference in this Act to taking possession by the owner of goods comprised in a hire-purchase agreement does not include a reference to taking possession by the owner as a result of the voluntary return of such goods by the hirer, but does include a taking of possession by the owner of such goods pursuant to an order of any court and a return of goods after a notice has been served on the hirer pursuant to the provisions of section 13(1).
(3) 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 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.
(4) However, subsection (3) does not apply if the agreements--
(a) are, or are taken to be, credit sale contracts within the meaning of the Credit Act 1987; or
(b) are credit contracts within the meaning of the Consumer Credit (Queensland) Code; or
(c) are to be regarded as sales of goods by instalments under the Consumer Credit (Queensland) Code.