- Laws of Fiji

Last Updated: 1 August 2020

[CONC 163] Repossession163

163

(1) Subject to this section, an owner must not exercise a power of taking possession of goods comprised in a hire purchase agreement which arises out of a breach of the agreement relating to the payment of instalments, unless—

(a)there have been 2 successive defaults of payments, or a default in respect of the last payment; and
(b)the owner has served on the hirer a notice in writing at the last known address provided to the owner and the period fixed by the notice (being not less than 21 days after the service of the notice) has expired.

(1A) Subsection (1) does not apply to hirers who have, in respect of defaults, other than the final payment, given not less than 51 days notice in lieu of the 21 days provided in subsection (1); and for the purpose of this subsection “final payment” means the final payment or instalment to be made under a hire purchase agreement.

[subs (1A) insrt Act 1 of 2006 s 58, effective 1 October 2009]

(2) If a hirer is deceased, the owner must not exercise any power of taking possession of goods comprised in a hire purchase agreement which arises out of any breach of the agreement relating to the payment of instalments, unless there have been 4 successive defaults of payments.

(3) An owner need not comply with subsection (1) if there are reasonable grounds for believing that the goods comprised in the hire-purchase agreement will be removed or concealed by the hirer contrary to the provisions of the agreement, but the onus of proving the existence of those grounds lies upon the owner.

(4) Within 21 days after the owner has taken possession of goods that were comprised in a hire purchase agreement, the owner must serve on the hirer and on every guarantor of the hirer a notice, in writing, setting out the cost of repossession and amount to be paid under the agreement and specifying a time within which the amount must be paid.

(5) An owner that takes possession of goods that were comprised in a hire purchase agreement must deliver or cause to be delivered to the hirer personally a document acknowledging receipt of the goods or, if the hirer is not present at that time, send to the hirer immediately after taking possession of the goods a document acknowledging receipt of the goods.

(6) The document required by subsection (5) acknowledging receipt of the goods must set out a short description of the goods and the date on which, the time at which and the place where the owner took possession of the goods.

(7) Before and when exercising a power of taking possession, the owner or the owner's servant or agent must, in addition to the provisions of this section, comply with Part 4 Division 3, as required by section 167(1)(a).