Consumer Credit Act 1974

38 The following section shall be inserted after section 313—

“313A Hire-purchase etc. agreements.

(1) Goods—

(a) bailed under a hire-purchase agreement or a consumer hire agreement, or

(b) agreed to be sold under a conditional sale agreement, or

(c) subject to a regulated agreement under which a bill of sale is given by way of security,

shall not during the period between—

(i) the service of a default notice under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 in respect of the goods, and

(ii) the date on which the notice expires or is earlier complied with,

be treated for the purposes of section 313 of this Act as goods which are by the consent and permission of the creditor, or (in the case of goods which are the subject of a consumer hire agreement) of the owner, in the possession, order or disposition of the person to whom they are bailed or agreed to be sold or who is the grantor of the bill of sale.

(2) In this section—

• " conditional sale agreement " means an agreement for the sale of goods under which the purchase price or part of it is payable by instalments, and the property in the goods is to remain in the seller (notwithstanding that the buyer is to be in possession of the goods) until such conditions as to the payment of instalments or otherwise as may be specified in the agreement are fulfilled;

• " consumer hire agreement " has the meaning given by section 15 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 ;

• " creditor " means the person bailing goods under a hire-purchase agreement or, as the case may be, the seller under a conditional sale agreement or the person providing credit under a regulated agreement, and includes the person to whom his rights and duties under the agreement have passed by assignment or operation of law ;

• " owner " means a person who bails out goods under a consumer hire agreement or the person to whom his rights and duties under the agreement have been passed by assignment or operation of law ; and

• " regulated agreement " has the meaning given by section 189 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

• " hire-purchase agreement " means an agreement, other than a conditional sale agreement, under which—

  (a)

  goods are bailed or (in Scotland) hired in return for periodical payments by the person to whom they are bailed or hired, and

  (b)

  the property in the goods will pass to that person if the terms of the agreement are complied with and one or more of the following occurs—

  (i)

  the exercise of an option to purchase by that person,

  (ii)

  the doing of any other specified act by any party to the agreement,

  (iii)

  the happening of any other specified event.”;