PART III

Hire-Purchase Agreements

25. —(1) The Hire-Purchase Acts, 1946 and 1960, and this Part may be cited together as the Hire-Purchase Acts, 1946 to 1980.

(2) The Hire-Purchase Acts, 1946 and 1960, and this Part shall be construed as one.

26. —(1) In every hire-purchase agreement, other than one to which subsection (2) applies, there is—

(a) an implied condition on the part of the owner that he will have a right to sell the goods at the time when the property is to pass, and

(b) an implied warranty that the goods are free, and will remain free until the time when the property is to pass, from any charge or encumbrance not disclosed to the hirer before the agreement is made and that the hirer will enjoy quiet possession of the goods except so far as it may be disturbed by any person entitled to the benefit of any charge or encumbrance so disclosed.

(2) In a hire-purchase agreement, in the case of which there appears from the agreement or is to be inferred from the circumstances of the agreement an intention that the owner should transfer only such title as he or a third person may have, there is—

(a) an implied warranty that all charges or encumbrances known to the owner have been disclosed to the hirer before the agreement is made, and

(b) an implied warranty that neither—

(i) the owner, nor

(ii) in a case where the parties to the agreement intend that any title which may be transferred shall be only such title as a third person may have, that person, nor

(iii) anyone claiming through or under the owner or that third person otherwise than under a charge or encumbrance disclosed to the hirer before the agreement is made,

will disturb the hirer's quiet possession of the goods.

(3) Nothing in this section shall prejudice the operation of any other enactment or rule of law whereby any condition or warranty is to be implied by a hire-purchase agreement.

(4) Section 9 of the Hire-Purchase Act, 1946 (which provides for implied terms) is hereby repealed.

27. —(1) Where under a hire-purchase agreement goods are let by description, there is an implied condition that the goods will correspond with the description, and if under the agreement the goods are let by reference to a sample as well as a description it is not sufficient that the bulk of the goods corresponds with the sample if the goods do not also correspond with the description.

(2) Goods shall not be prevented from being let by description by reason only that, being exposed for sale or hire, they are selected by the hirer.

(3) A reference to goods on a label or other descriptive matter accompanying goods exposed for sale or hire may constitute or form part of a description.

28. —(1) Except as provided by this section and subject to the provisions of any other enactment, there is no implied condition or warranty as to the quality or fitness for any particular purpose of goods let under a hire-purchase agreement.

(2) Where the owner lets goods under a hire-purchase agreement in the course of a business, there is an implied condition that the goods are of merchantable quality within the meaning of section 14 (3) of the Act of 1893 as set out in the Table to section 10 of this Act, except that there is no such condition—

(a) as regards defects specifically drawn to the hirer's attention before the agreement is made, or

(b) if the hirer examines the goods before the agreement is made, as regards defects which that examination ought to have revealed.

(3) Where the owner lets goods under a hire-purchase agreement in the course of a business and the hirer, expressly or by implication, makes known to the owner or the person by whom any antecedent negotiations (as defined in section 35) are conducted, any particular purpose for which the goods are being hired, there is an implied condition that the goods supplied under the agreement are reasonably fit for that purpose, whether or not that is a purpose for which such goods are commonly supplied, except where the circumstances show that the hirer does not rely, or that it is unreasonable for him to rely, on the skill or judgment of the owner or that person.

(4) An implied condition or warranty as to quality or fitness for a particular purpose may be annexed to a hire-purchase agreement by usage.

(5) The foregoing provisions of this section apply to a hire-purchase agreement made by a person who in the course of a business is acting as agent for the owner as they apply to an agreement made by the owner, except where the owner is not letting in the course of a business and either the hirer knows that fact or reasonable steps are taken to bring it to the notice of the hirer before the agreement is made.

29. —Where under a hire-purchase agreement goods are let by reference to a sample, there is an implied condition—

(a) that the bulk will correspond with the sample in quality, and

(b) that the hirer will have a reasonable opportunity of comparing the bulk with the sample, and

(c) that the goods will be free from any defect, rendering them unmerchantable within the meaning of section 14 (3) of the Act of 1893 as set out in the Table to section 10 of this Act, which would not be apparent on reasonable examination of the sample.

30. —(1) Subsections (2) and (3) apply to any statement likely to be taken as indicating that a right or the exercise of a right conferred by, or a liability arising by virtue of, section 26, 27, 28 or 29 is restricted or excluded otherwise than under section 31.

(2) It shall be an offence for a person in the course of a business to do any of the following things in relation to a statement to which subsection (1) refers:

(a) to display on any part of any premises a notice that includes any such statement, or

(b) to publish or cause to be published an advertisement which contains any such statement, or

(c) to supply goods bearing, or goods in a container bearing, any such statement, or

(d) otherwise to furnish or to cause to be furnished a document including any such statement.

(3) For the purposes of this section a statement to the effect that goods will not be exchanged, or that money will not be refunded, or that only credit notes will be given for goods returned, shall be treated as a statement to which subsection (1) refers unless it is so clearly qualified that it cannot be construed as applicable in circumstances in which the hirer may be seeking to exercise a right conferred by any provision of a section mentioned in subsection (1).

(4) It shall be an offence for a person in the course of a business to furnish to a hirer goods bearing, or goods in a container bearing, or any document including, any statement, irrespective of its legal effect, which sets out, limits or describes rights conferred on a hirer or liabilities to the hirer in relation to the goods or any statement likely to be taken as such a statement, unless that statement is accompanied by a clear and conspicuous declaration that the contractual rights which the hirer enjoys by virtue of section 26, 27, 28 or 29 are in no way prejudiced by the relevant statement.

31. —(1) An express condition or warranty does not negative a condition or warranty implied by this Part unless inconsistent therewith.

(2) A term of a hire-purchase agreement or any other agreement exempting from all or any of the provisions of section 26 shall be void.

(3) A term of a hire-purchase agreement or any other agreement exempting from all or any of the provisions of section 27, 28 or 29 shall be void where the hirer deals as consumer and shall, in any other case, not be enforceable unless it is shown that it is fair and reasonable.

(4) Subsection (3) shall not prevent the court from holding, in accordance with any rule of law, that a term which purports to exclude or restrict any of the provisions of section 27, 28 or 29 is not a term of the hire-purchase agreement.

(5) Any reference in this section to a term exempting from all or any of the provisions of any section of this Act is a reference to a term which purports to exclude or restrict, or has the effect of excluding or restricting, the operation of all or any of the provisions of that section, or the exercise of a right conferred by any provision of that section, or any liability of the owner for breach of a condition or warranty implied by any provision of that section.

(6) Any reference in this section to a term of an agreement includes a reference to a term which although not contained in an agreement is incorporated in the agreement by another term of the agreement.

32. —Where goods are let under a hire-purchase agreement to a hirer dealing as consumer, the person, if any, by whom the antecedent negotiations (as defined in section 35) were conducted shall be deemed to be a party to the agreement and that person and the owner shall, jointly and severally, be answerable to the hirer for breach of the agreement and for any misrepresentations made by that person with respect to the goods in the course of the antecedent negotiations.

33. —Where goods are let under a hire-purchase agreement section 12 (which relates to warranties for spare parts and servicing) and sections 15 to 19 (which relate to guarantees and undertakings) shall have effect as if a contract for the sale of goods were a hire-purchase agreement, the buyer were the hirer and the person by whom the antecedent negotiations (as defined in section 35) were conducted were the seller.

34. —Where a motor vehicle is let under a hire-purchase agreement, section 13 (which relates to an implied condition on sale of motor vehicles) shall have effect as if a contract for sale were a hire-purchase agreement, the buyer were the hirer and the person by whom the antecedent negotiations (as defined in section 35) were conducted were the seller; and the owner shall, jointly with that person and severally, be answerable to the hirer for breach of the implied condition.

35. —(1) In this Part “antecedent negotiations”, in relation to a hire-purchase agreement, means any negotiations or arrangements with the hirer whereby he was induced to make the agreement or which otherwise promoted the transaction to which the agreement relates; and any reference to the person by whom any antecedent negotiations were conducted is a reference to the person by whom the negotiations or arrangements in question were conducted or made in the course of a business carried on by him.

(2) For the purposes of this Part any negotiations conducted or arrangements or representations made by a servant or agent, if conducted or made by him in the course of his employment or agency, shall be treated as conducted or made by his employer or principal; and anything received by a servant or agent, if received by him in the course of his employment or agency, shall be treated as received by his employer or principal.

In this subsection “representations” includes any statement or undertaking, whether constituting a condition or a warranty or not, and references to making representations shall be construed accordingly.

36. —Where the proper law of a hire-purchase agreement would, apart from a term that it should be the law of some other country or a term to the like effect, be the law of Ireland or where any such agreement contains a term which purports to substitute, or has the effect of substituting, provisions of the law of some other country for all or any of the provisions of sections 26 to 29 and 31, those sections shall, notwithstanding that term, apply to the contract.

37. —(1) Nothing in section 31 or 36 shall prevent the parties to an international hire-purchase agreement from negativing or varying any right, duty or liability which would otherwise arise by implication of law under sections 26 to 29.

(2) In subsection (1) “international hire-purchase agreement” means a hire-purchase agreement made by parties whose places of business are in the territories of different States and in the case of which one of the following conditions is satisfied:

(a) the agreement involves the hire of goods which are at the time of the conclusion of the agreement in the course of carriage or will be carried from the territory of one State to the territory of another; or

(b) the acts constituting the offer and acceptance have been effected in the territories of different States; or

(c) delivery of the goods is to be made in the territory of a State other than that within whose territory the acts constituting the offer and the acceptance have been effected.

38. —Where goods are let, otherwise than under a hire-purchase agreement, to a person dealing as consumer the provisions of this Part, other than section 26, shall apply to the letting agreement as if it were a hire-purchase agreement and in every such agreement there is an implied warranty that the goods are free, and will remain free, from any charge or encumbrance not disclosed, before the agreement is made, to the person taking the goods and that that person will enjoy quiet possession of the goods except so far as it may be disturbed by any person entitled to the benefit of any charge or encumbrance so disclosed.