Section 16 of Hire Purchase Act CAP 507: Provisions where suit instituted

(1) Where a suit is instituted in the circumstances described in section 15 of this Act, the owner shall not take any step to enforce payment of any sum due under the hire-purchase agreement or under any contract of guarantee relating thereto, except by claiming the sum in the suit.
(2) Subject to rules of court, all the parties to the agreement and any guarantor shall be made parties to the suit.
(3) Pending the hearing of the suit -
(a) the court shall have power, in addition to any other powers, to make upon the application of the owner such orders as the court thinks just for the purpose of protecting the goods from damage or depreciation, including orders restricting or prohibiting the use of the goods or giving directions as to their custody; and
(b) without prejudice to the powers of the court under paragraph (a) of this subsection, where two instalments of the hire-purchase price are due and unpaid the owner may remove the whole or any part of the goods to any premises under his control for the purpose of protecting them from damage or depreciation and retain them there pending the hearing of the suit, and the owner shall be liable to the hirer for any damage or loss which may be caused to them there after such removal but shall not be taken to have repossessed the goods for the purposes of this Act or of the hire-purchase agreement by reason of his having so done.
(4) On the hearing of the suit the court may, without prejudice to any other power -
(a) make an order for the delivery of all the goods to the owner; or
(b) make an order for the delivery of all the goods to the owner, and postpone the operation of the order on condition that the hirer or any guarantor pays the unpaid balance of the hire-purchase price at such times and in such amounts and fulfils such other conditions as the court thinks just; or
(c) make an order for the delivery of a part of the goods to the owner and for the transfer to the hirer of the owner’s title to the remainder of the goods:
Provided that -
(i) an order shall not be made under paragraph (b), unless the hirer satisfies the court that the goods are in his possession or control at the time when the order is made;
(ii) an order shall not be made under paragraph (c) transferring to the hirer the owner’s title to a part of the goods, unless the court is satisfied that the amount which the hirer has paid towards the hire-purchase price exceeds the price of that part of the goods by at least one-third of the unpaid balance of the hire-purchase price.
(5) Where the court makes an order under subsection (4) for delivery of the whole or part of the goods to the owner, it shall in the order confer on the owner a right of entry on any premises where the goods may be for the purpose of obtaining possession of the goods.
(6) Where damages are awarded against the owner in the suit, the court may treat the hirer as having paid towards the hire-purchase price, in addition to the actual amount paid, the amount of the damages or such part thereof as the Court thinks fit, and remit the damages accordingly.
(7) If at any time before the hearing of the suit the owner has recovered possession of a part of the goods, the references in subsection (4) to all the goods shall be construed as references to all the goods which the owner has not recovered, and, if the parties have not agreed upon an adjustment of the hire-
purchase price in respect of the goods so recovered, the court may for the purposes of paragraphs (b) and (c) of that subsection make such reduction of the hire-purchase price and of the unpaid balance thereof as it thinks just.
(8) Where an owner has recovered part of the goods let under the hire-purchase agreement, and recovery was effected in contravention of section 15 of this Act, this section shall not apply in relation to a suit by the owner to recover the remainder of the goods.
(9) In this section, “order for delivery” in relation to goods means an order for the delivery of the goods to the owner without giving the hirer an option to pay their value, and “the price” in relation to goods means such part of the hire-purchase price as is assigned to those goods in the agreement, or if no such assignment is made such part of the hire-purchase price as the court may determine.