HIRE-PURCHASE LAW
Hire Purchase Agreements under which Hire-purchase price does not exceed the sum of four million shillings (4,000,000/=) or such other higher or lower sum as the Minister may, after taking into account market forces from time to time prevailing, prescribe".
-
A person who wants to buy goods, but does not have sufficient monetary consideration as the price may enter into an agreement with the owner of goods, so that the owner may hire the goods to him with a view of finally purchasing them. In this case, the owner allows the hirer to take immediate possession and custody of the goods after which the hirer pays periodic instalments. At common law a hire purchase agreement is defined as a contract for the delivery of goods under which the Hirer is granted an option to purchase the goods. The agreement is a hybrid form of contract in that it is neither a simple bailment nor a contract of sale but combines elements of both. The Kenyan Hire Purchase Law is governed by the principles of the English common law as modified by the Hire Purchase Act Cap. 507 of the Laws of Kenya. The late J. M. Kariuki sponsored this bill as a private member bill in 1968. It however came into operation from the 2nd November 1970. It was based on the English Hire Purchase Act 1965. The preamble of Cap. 507 states that it is ’ an Act of Parliament to make provisions for the regulation of certain hire-purchase agreements, and for the licensing of hire-purchase concerns, and for the purposes connected herewith’ These ‘certain hire-purchase agreements’ are stated in Section 3 to include:- Hire-purchase agreements entered into after the commencement of the Act.
Where the hirer is not a body corporate. An agreement which is not a scheme controlled, managed or guaranteed by the Government for the purpose of providing loans to any persons for the purchase of motor vehicles.
DEFINITIONS AND MEANINGS.
Owner: - This is a person who lets or has let goods to a hirer