Hire-Purchase Act [Chapter 14:09]

Chapter 14:09

Hire-Purchase Act

Acts 34/1956 (Federal), 14/1959 (Federal), 11/1967, 35/1976 (s.38); 35/1976, 13/1993, 20/1994 (s. 11); F.G.Ns. 189/1957, 29/1958, 45/1958, 229/1958, 261/1958, 315/1958, 46/1959, 60/1959, 84/1959, 89/1959, 183/1959,

297/1959,26/1960, 68/1960, 156/1960, 235/1960, 299/1960, 63A/1961, 117/1961, 243/1961, 17/1962, 197/1962, 309/1962, 9/1999 (s. 82), 22/2001 (s. 4), 12/2002 (s. 85); (s.R.G.Ns. 9471963, 348/1965, 879/1969, 1093/1972, 309/1973, 783/1977, 182/1978; S.I. 152/1994 (corrected by S.I. 164/1994).

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

PART I

PRELIMINARY

Section

1. Short title.
2. Application of Act.

PART II

GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO AGREEMENTS

4. Application of Part II.
5. Provisions as to agreements.
6. Supply of copies to purchaser.
7. Provisions to be included in agreements.
8. Invalidity of certain provisions.
9. Purchaser entitled to certain information.
10. Removal of goods.
11. Removal of goods from Zimbabwe.
12. Conditions and warranties implied in agreements.
13. Appropriation of payments made in respect of agreements.
14. Negotiable instruments.
15. Right of purchaser to be reinstated after return of goods to seller.
16. Right of purchaser to pay outstanding balance of purchase price.
17. Passing of ownership.
18. Right of purchaser to terminate hire-purchase agreement.
19. Special provisions as to installation charges.
20. Disposal of goods upon termination of agreement.
21. Powers of the court.
22. Waiver of rights by purchaser.
23. Agreements binding on liquidator or trustee of seller.
24. Insolvency of purchaser.

PART III

FINANCIAL PROVISIONS RELATING TOAGREEMENTS

25. Initial payments and periods for repayment.
26. Obligation of buyer to pay instalments to be suspended in certain circumstances.
27. Time limit for certain actions.
28. Control over purchase price.

PART IV

MISCELLANEOUS

SCHEDULE: Initial Payments and Periods for Payment.

AN ACT to make provision for the regulation of hire-purchase agreements and certain instalment sales, and for other purposes incidental to the foregoing.

[Date of commencement: 8th March, 1957.]

PART I

PRELIMINARY

1    Short title

This Act may be cited as the Hire-Purchase Act [Chapter 14:09].

                       2    Application of Act

Subject to subsection (5) of section twenty-four, this Act shall not apply to any agreement under which the State is the seller.

                       3    Interpretation

• In this Act—

“agreement” means a hire-purchase agreement or an instalment sale agreement;

“cash price”, in relation to any goods, means the price at which the goods may be purchased outright for cash;

“financial lease” means a written agreement for the letting and hiring of capital goods to be used by the purchaser for the purposes of his trade, where— (a) the seller is—

• a commercial bank; or
• an accepting house; or
• a discount house; or
• a financial house; registered or required to be registered under the Banking Act [Chapter 24:01]; or

[Paragraph amended by section 82 of act 9 of 1999]

• an institution referred to in paragraph (a) has acquired the rights and obligations of the seller by discounting the agreement;

“goods” means any movable property which may lawfully form the subject-matter of a contract of hire or sale;

“hire-purchase agreement” means—

• any contract whereby goods are sold subject to the condition that, notwithstanding delivery of the goods, the ownership in such goods shall not pass except in terms of the contract and the purchase price is to be paid in two or more instalments;
• any contract, other than a financial lease, which provides for the hiring of goods whereby the hirer has the right—
  • to purchase such goods after two or more instalments have been paid in respect thereof; or
  • after two or more instalments have been paid in respect thereof, to continue or renew from time to time such hiring at a nominal rental, or to continue or renew from time to time the right to be in possession of the goods without any further payment or against payment of a nominal amount periodically or otherwise;

whether or not the agreement may at any time be terminated by either party or one of the parties;

• any other contract, other than a financial lease, which has, or contracts which together have, the same import as either or both the contracts defined in paragraph (a) or (b) of this definition, whatever form such contract or contracts may take;

“instalment” includes any cash amount payable in terms of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section twentyfive and, where no cash amount is payable in terms of that paragraph, the amount of any deposit or initial payment payable under an agreement;

“instalment sale agreement” means any contract of sale under which—

• the ownership in the goods sold passes either before or upon delivery; and
• the purchase price is to be paid in instalments of which one or more are payable after delivery; and
• the seller is entitled to the return of the goods sold if the purchaser fails to comply with any provisions thereof;

and includes any other contract which has, or contracts which together have, the same import, whatever form such contract or contracts may take;

“Minister” means the Minister of Finance or any other Minister to whom the President may from time to time assign the administration of this Act;

“purchase price” means the total sum payable by the purchaser under an agreement, including any sum payable by him by way of a deposit or other initial payment or credited or to be credited to him under such agreement on account of any such deposit or payment, whether that sum is to be or has been paid to the seller or to any other person or is to be or has been discharged by a payment of money or by the transfer or delivery of goods or by any other means, but excluding any sum payable—

• as compensation or damages for breach of the agreement; or
• for licence or registration fees; or
• for any insurance premiums which have been paid to insure the goods sold under the agreement; or
• by way of interest upon instalments which are in arrear; or
• in respect of any installation as defined in subsection (2) of section nineteen;

“purchaser” means the person who, in terms of any agreement, is the purchaser or hirer, as the case may be, and includes his successors in title;

“seller” means the person who, in terms of any agreement, is the seller or the lessor, as the case may be, and includes his successors in title;

“writing”, in relation to an agreement—

• in a form which the Act requires shall be set out in printed or typed letters, means printing or

typewriting;

• which is not in a form such as is referred to in paragraph (a), means writing as defined in section 8 of the Interpretation Act [Chapter 1:01].

• References in sections five, seven and twenty-five to “contain”, “set out” and “provide” shall, without derogation from paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section five, be construed as references to “contain expressly in writing”, “set out expressly in writing” and “provide expressly in writing”, respectively.
• Where a seller has agreed that any part of the purchase price may be discharged otherwise than by the payment of money, any such discharge shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be a cash payment of that part of the purchase price.