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Hire Purchase (Amendment) Act 1987

COOK ISLANDS

HIRE PURCHASE AMENDMENT ACT 1987

Title

1. Short Title
2. Notice of default to be given to purchaser before goods are repossessed
3. Jurisdiction of Small Claims Tribunals
4. Third Schedule
Schedule.

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1987, No. 13

An Act to amend the Hire Purchase Act 1986

(19 August 1987

BE IT ENACTED by the Parliament of the Cook Islands in Session assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. Short Title - This Act may be cited as the Hire Purchase Amendment Act 1987 and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Hire Purchase Act 1986 (hereinafter referred to as "the principal Act").

2. Notice of default to be given to purchaser before goods are repossessed - Section 26 of the principal Act is repealed and the following substituted therefore:

"26. Notice of default to be given to purchaser before goods are repossessed - (1) A vendor shall not exercise any power of taking possession of goods comprised in a hire purchase agreement whether pursuant to the agreement or by virtue of his property in the goods, unless–

(a) The vendor has served on the purchaser a notice in writing in the form set out in the Third Schedule to this Act in the English and Maori languages specifying a default complained of under the agreement and, if the default is capable of remedy, requiring the purchaser to remedy the default within a period to be specified in the notice (being a period of not less than 10 days after the service of the notice on the purchaser); and

(b) The purchaser has failed within the period specified in the notice to remedy the default insofar as it is capable of being remedied; and

(c) The vendor has, after the expiration of the period specified in the notice for remedying the alleged default, obtained on notice a Court Order that the purchaser is in default.

(2) Where a vendor takes possession of the goods comprised in a hire purchase agreement in contravention of the provisions of this section, the purchaser may apply to the Court; and the Court, having regard to –

(a) The conduct of the parties; and

(b) The nature of the purchaser's default; and

(c) Such other matters as it thinks proper-

may make such order as to costs, expenses, damages, compensation, penalty or relief as is reasonable, whether or not the granting of relief involves a variation of the terms of the agreement, as the Court in the circumstances of each case thinks fit:

Provided that where the Court determines that an application under subsection (2) of this section is vexatious it shall order–

(a) That the purchaser pay to the vendor his full costs (including reasonable costs incurred between solicitor and client), fees, and other reasonable expenses incurred in connection with the application; and

(b) That subsection (3) of section 28 and paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 29 of this Act shall not apply in respect of the goods.

(3) Every vendor who acts in contravention of the provisions of subsection (1) of this section commits an offence against this Act.

(4) Every person who wilfully and forcibly obstructs or resists a vendor or any agent of a vendor who is lawfully exercising any power of taking possession of goods comprised in a hire purchase agreement commits an offence against this Act.

(5) A Justice of the Peace shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine any application made pursuant to provisions of this section."

3. Jurisdiction of Small Claims Tribunals- Section 47 of the principal Act is amended by deleting the expression "26(2)" wherever it appears.

4. Third Schedule - The Third Schedule to the principal Act is repealed and the Schedule to this Act substituted.

SCHEDULE

"THIRD SCHEDULE

Section 26(1)(a)

Hire Purchase Act 1986

Notice of default and intention to repossess

TO: [Insert name and address of purchaser]

TAKE NOTICE that you are in default under your agreement with [Insert Full Name_ of Vendor] which is dated the ........................ day ......... of .................... 19.... and which relates to [Insert description of goods].

Your defaults consist of:

[Specify the defaults complained of]

YOU ARE REQUIRED, within * days after notice on you,-

(a) To pay the arrears of instalments which now amounts to $........... made up as follows: [There shall be inserted a statement showing how the arrears are made up]; and

(b) To remedy other breaches of the agreements by [There shall follow a _statement of the action which the purchaser must take to remedy breaches of the agreement in so far as they are capable of being remedied.]

AND IF YOU FAIL to comply with these requirements, within * days after the service of this notice on you.

*Insert number of days not being less than 10.

[Insert Full Name of Vendor] INTENDS TO APPLY TO THE COURT FOR AN ORDER THAT YOU ARE IN DEFAULT AND THEN INTENDS TO REPOSSESS THE GOODS

DATED this .............day of .................................19 .........

[Vendor’s signature]

This notice is given by [Insert full name and address of vendor] as vendor under the hire purchase agree agreement."

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This Act is administered by the Justice Department.