14In section 1 of the Act of 1938 there shall be added the following subsections:—
“(2)If at any time after the commencement of the Hire-Purchase Act 1964 it appears to Her Majesty in Council that the limit specified in the foregoing subsection (whether by virtue of that subsection or of a previous Order in Council under this subsection) should be further raised, Her Majesty may by Order in Council direct that the foregoing subsection shall be amended so as to substitute, for the sum specified in that subsection, such larger sum as may be specified in the Order.
(3)No recommendation shall be made to Her Majesty to make an Order in Council under the last foregoing subsection unless a draft of the Order has been laid before Parliament and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament.”
15In section 2 of the Act of 1938 there shall be added the following subsections:—
“(3)The Board of Trade may by regulations provide that in any document which on being signed as mentioned in subsection (2)(a) of this section constitutes a hire-purchase agreement to which this Act applies, the signature of the hirer shall be inserted in a space marked in such manner and accompanied in the document by such words, as may be specified in the regulations ; and the regulations may include provision as to the location of those words in relation to the space in which the signature is inserted and may prescribe such other requirements (whether as to type, size, colour or disposition of lettering or otherwise) as the Board may consider appropriate for securing that the words come to the attention of the hirer at the time when he is about to sign the document.
(4)A document to which any regulations made under the last foregoing subsection apply shall not be invalid by reason only that the regulations are not complied with ; but subsection (2) of this section shall have effect in relation to compliance with the requirements of any such regulations as it has effect in relation to compliance with the requirements specified in paragraphs (b) to (e) of the said subsection.”
16In section 3 of the Act of 1938 there shall be added the following subsection:—
“(3)Subsections (3) and (4) of the last foregoing section shall apply in relation to a credit-sale agreement to which this Act applies under which the total purchase price exceeds £30 as it applies to a hire-purchase agreement, with the substitution for any reference to the hirer of a reference to the buyer and for any reference to paragraph (a) or to paragraphs (b) to (e) of subsection (2) of the said section, of a reference to paragraph (a) or, as the case may be, to paragraphs (b) to (d) of subsection (2) of this section.”
17After section 13 of the Act of 1938 there shall be inserted the following section:—
(1)Where a postponed order for the specific delivery of goods to the owner has been made under paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of section 12 of this Act, the powers of the court under paragraphs (a) and (c) of subsection (4) of the last foregoing section may be exercised, notwithstanding that any condition of the postponement has not been complied with, at any time before the goods are delivered to the owner in accordance with a warrant issued in pursuance of the order; and where such a warrant has been issued the court shall—
(a)if the court varies the conditions of the postponement under the said paragraph (a), suspend the warrant on the like conditions ;
(b)if the court makes an order under the said paragraph (c) for the specific delivery of a part of the goods to the owner and for the transfer to the hirer of the owner's title to the remaining part thereof, cancel the warrant so far as it provides for the delivery of the last mentioned part of the goods.
(2)At any time before the delivery of goods to the owner in accordance with a warrant issued as aforesaid, the warrant may, so far as it provides for the delivery of the goods, be discharged by the payment to the owner by the hirer or any guarantor of the whole of the unpaid balance of the hire-purchase price ; and in any such case the owner's title to the goods shall vest in the hirer.
(3)If, in an action to which the said section 12 applies, an offer as to conditions for the postponement of the operation of an order under paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of that section is made by the hirer and accepted by the owner in accordance with rules of court, an order under that paragraph may thereupon be made by the court in accordance with the said offer without hearing evidence as to matters specified in the said paragraph (b) or in subsection (5) of that section:
Provided that where a guarantor is a party to the action, no such order shall be made before the date fixed for the hearing of the action.”
18In section 21(1) of the Act of 1938—
(a)in the definition of " hire-purchase price ", after the words " to which the agreement relates " there shall be inserted the words " inclusive of any sum so payable by way of a deposit or other initial payment, or credited or to be credited to the hirer under such an agreement on account of any such deposit or payment, whether that sum is to be or has been paid to the owner 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 "; and
(b)at the end of the subsection there shall be added the following words:—
“and any reference in this Act to a document which constitutes a hire-purchase agreement or a credit-sale agreement shall be construed as including a reference to a document which together with one or more other documents constitutes such an agreement, and any reference to a document which, if executed by or on behalf of another person, would constitute such an agreement shall be construed accordingly.”