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Hire Purchase Regulation
The Hire-Purchase Acts, first introduced across Australia during the late 1950s, no longer regulate the form and substance of hire-purchase contracts. While they have not been replaced with product-specific legislation, there is a range of laws applying to hire-purchase agreements. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 applies fair trading and unconscionable conduct rules to most hire-purchase agreements, covering conduct when they are entered, as well as their product promotion and account management.
Legislation in Victoria and WA require the hirer to receive the benefit of any surplus after repossession sale in those States. WA extends that right to voluntary surrender sales. Also, NSW, Victorian, Queensland and WA legislation lay down procedures when enforcing a hire-purchase agreement against a farmer. For completeness it is noted that, as a result of the National Credit Code and its predecessors, hire-purchase is no longer a form of consumer finance.
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