It was a dramatic encounter between one young man and a car dealer sometime ago somewhere in the Northern part of Nigeria as the latter( the owner) had brought  five hefty men to recover a car the former (the hirer)had bought from him through hire purchase.The owner resorted to this drastic step after repeated demands on the hirer to pay three outstanding instalments in the hire purchase but which yielded no result.

Eventually, the owner (the car dealer) succeeded in impounding the car and put it in his care.Meanwhile, he had resolved to bring an action to recover the outstanding sum in court and vowed never to return the car to the hirer until the action to recover the outstanding sum was determined.

Is it right to behave this way as the owner in hire purchase involving a car or motor vehicle? What is the fate of the hirer who had already paid the sum of nine hundred thousand naira (N900, 000) out of the sum of one million and five hundred thousand naira( 1,500,000) being the total value of the car in the circumstances?

THE LEGAL POSITION
The applicable law here is the Hire Purchase Act,Cap H4, Vol. 7, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria,2004.Section 9 of this Act deals with the above scenario to the effect that the hirer  in hire purchase has a right to seize the motor vehicle being the subject matter of that hire purchase transaction if the hirer after due notice to the hirer to pay at least three outstanding instalments.It is instructive to note that the provisions of this section only cover a hirer who has paid at least 3/5 of the total value of the subject matter of the hire purchase.Upon the seizure of the motor vehicle, the owner is required by law to  then take an action for  the recovery of the unpaid outstanding sum including the balance in court.

So,what the hirer did in above scenario is right.As for the hirer,he could have the motor vehicle back if he paid the outstanding sum and the balance for the subject matter of the transaction.

It is important to note that the provisions of section nine of the Act as applied above are as applicable to motor vehicles only.

See you tomorrow.