Hire-Purchase Act, 1946

Requirements relating to credit-sale agreements.

4.—(1) Before making any credit-sale agreement under which the total purchase price exceeds five pounds, the seller shall state in writing to the prospective buyer, otherwise than in the note or memorandum of the agreement, a price at which the goods may be purchased by him for cash (in this section referred to as the cash price):

Provided that this subsection shall be deemed to have been sufficiently complied with—

(a) if the buyer has inspected the goods or like goods and at the time of his inspection tickets or labels were attached to or displayed with the goods clearly stating the cash price, either of the goods as a whole or of all the different articles or sets of articles comprised therein, or

(b) if the buyer has selected the goods by reference to a catalogue, price list or advertisement, which clearly stated the cash price either of the goods as a whole or of all the different articles or sets of articles comprised therein.

(2) A person who has sold goods by a credit-sale agreement under which the total purchase price exceeds five pounds shall not be entitled to enforce the agreement or any contract of guarantee relating thereto, and no security given by the buyer in respect of money payable under the credit-sale agreement or given by a guarantor in respect of money payable under such a contract of guarantee as aforesaid shall be enforceable against the buyer or guarantor by any holder thereof, unless the requirement specified in the foregoing subsection has been complied with, and

(a) a note or memorandum of the agreement is made and signed by the buyer and by or on behalf of all other parties to the agreement, and

(b) the note or memorandum contains a statement of the total purchase price and of the cash price of the goods to which the agreement relates and of the amount of each of the instalments by which the total purchase price is to be paid and of the date, or the mode of determining the date, upon which each instalment is payable, and contains a list of the goods to which the agreement relates sufficient to identify them, and

(c) a copy of the note or memorandum is delivered or sent to the buyer within seven days of the making of the agreement:

Provided that, if the court is satisfied in any action that a failure to comply with the requirement specified in the foregoing subsection or any requirement specified in paragraph (b) or (c) of this subsection has not prejudiced the buyer, and that it would be just and-equitable to dispense with the requirement, the court may, subject to any conditions that it thinks fit to impose, dispense with that requirement for the purposes of the action.