Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003

Consumer leases, credit-related insurance, and buy-back transactions of land - Consumer leases

60: Consumer leases

You could also call this:

"Hiring goods for personal use, like renting something for a year or more."

Illustration for Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003

A consumer lease is when you hire goods for personal use. You are hiring the goods for yourself, not for a business. The person or company you hire from must do this type of business. When you hire goods, it is a consumer lease if you hire them for a year or more, or if you have the option to buy the goods. If you plan to use the goods for different things, the main purpose is what matters. What you intend to do with the goods is what counts. If a lease is treated as a consumer credit contract under section 16, it is not a consumer lease. Sometimes, a contract or arrangement might seem like a consumer lease, even if it does not look like one at first. In that case, it must be treated like a consumer lease for the purposes of this Act, and this section is subject to section 62.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM213126.

This page was last updated on 1 January 2026 — View changes

Topics:

Money and consumer rights > Consumer protection

59B: Duty of directors and senior managers of creditors, or

"Company bosses must make sure their business follows the lending rules."

61: Presumption relating to consumer lease, or

"What happens when you say a lease is for personal use in court"

Part 3Consumer leases, credit-related insurance, and buy-back transactions of land
Consumer leases

60Consumer leases

For the purposes of this Act, a lease is a consumer lease if—
the lessee is a natural person; and
the goods are hired, or intended to be hired, wholly or predominantly for personal, domestic, or household purposes; and
when the lease is entered into, the lessor, or one of the lessors, carries on the business of leasing goods (whether or not the business is the lessor's only business or the lessor's principal business), or makes a practice of leasing goods in the course of a business carried on by the lessor; and
when the lease is entered into, 1 or more of the following applies:
1. the term of the lease is for 1 year or more:
2. the lessee has an option to purchase the goods.

For the purposes of subsection (1)(b), the predominant purpose for which the goods are hired is, if the goods are intended to be used for different purposes, the purpose for which the goods are intended to be most used.
The reference to intention in subsections (1)(b) and (1A) is a reference to the lessee's intention.
However, a lease that is to be treated as a consumer credit contract under section 16 is not a consumer lease.
If, because of any contract or contracts (none of which by itself constitutes a consumer lease) or any arrangement, there is a transaction that is in substance or effect a consumer lease, the contract, contracts, or arrangement must, for the purposes of this Act, be treated as a consumer lease made at the time when the contract, or the last of those contracts, or the arrangement, was made, as the case may be.
This section is subject to section 62.

Notes

Section 60(1)(b): replaced, on 6 June 2015, by section 42(1) of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Amendment Act 2014 (2014 No 33).
Section 60(1A): inserted, on 6 June 2015, by section 42(2) of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Amendment Act 2014 (2014 No 33).
Section 60(1B): inserted, on 6 June 2015, by section 42(2) of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Amendment Act 2014 (2014 No 33).