Hire Purchase Waiver

United Kingdom
13/03/2012
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Landlords are increasingly being asked to sign “waiver” documents that they have received from a tenant's hire purchase lessor.

This is because goods leased under a hire purchase agreement are not exempt from distress. If a tenant defaults on rent payments due under its lease, the landlord is entitled to distrain against goods at the property, including any hire purchase goods, in order to discharge the arrears. A hire purchase lessor must then serve a declaration on the landlord in order to recover the hire purchase goods.

Many hire purchase lessors are seeking to shortcut this procedure by asking landlords to sign a “waiver” making the hire purchase goods exempt from distress.

Whilst there is no obligation on a landlord to agree the “waiver” that has been proposed, it may be sensible to agree it in principle, in order to reduce the time and costs involved if hire purchase goods might be distrained.

The terms of any “waiver” document need to be reviewed carefully, as hire purchase lessors sometimes seek to impose obligations that are outside the landlord's control or simply impractical – for example an obligation on the landlord to notify the hire purchase lessor if the landlord sells his interest in the leased premises. A schedule of the hire purchase goods should be appended and kept up-to-date and then placed with the deeds.

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