Western Australian Consolidated Acts Western Australian Consolidated Acts (1) 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) a
letting of goods with an option to purchase; and
(b) 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
(c) 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
(d)
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 —
(e) 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
(f) 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
(g) 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 —
(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 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
(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 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
(b) in
relation to insurance, means the sum of —
(i)
the total amount of premium paid in respect of any annual
period which at the relevant time has 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 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.
(2) A reference in
this Act to the taking possession by the owner of goods comprised in a
hire-purchase agreement includes a reference to —
(a) the
taking possession of goods by the owner pursuant to an order by any court; and
(b) the
return of goods to the owner after notice has been served pursuant to the
provisions of section 13(1); and
(c)
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.
(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,
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 by 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).]