Western Australian Current Acts

PAWNBROKERS AND SECOND-HAND DEALERS ACT 1994 - SECT 3A

3A .         Meaning of “pawnbroker”

        (1)         In this Act —

        pawnbroker means a person conducting the business of lending money on the security of pawned goods.

        (2)         For the purposes of this Act, goods are pawned if the goods are taken into the possession of a lender of money for the purpose of the lender relying on possession of the goods as security for the repayment of the loan.

        (3)         To determine for the purposes of this Act whether goods are pawned and whether money is lent on the security of pawned goods —

            (a)         regard is to be had to the substance of the loan transaction rather than its form or other legal technicalities;

            (b)         particular regard is to be had to the ordinary understanding of the borrower as to the nature of the loan transaction and the reason or basis on which possession of goods is given to the lender;

            (c)         it does not matter that the terms of the loan transaction provide that the lender has taken possession of the goods at the request of, or on behalf of, the borrower or otherwise so as to give the appearance that the lender does not rely on possession of the goods as security for the repayment of the loan; and

            (d)         goods can be considered pawned and money can be considered lent on the security of pawned goods even if the loan also gives rise to a mortgage of the goods.

        (4)         The regulations may prescribe cases or circumstances in which, for the purposes of this Act —

            (a)         the taking of goods into the possession of a lender of money in connection with the loan is the pawning of the goods (whether or not that taking into possession is for the purpose of the lender relying on possession of the goods as security for the repayment of the loan);

            (b)         the taking of goods into the possession of a lender of money in connection with the loan is not the pawning of the goods (despite that taking into possession being for the purpose of the lender relying on possession of the goods as security for the repayment of the loan); or

            (c)         the taking of goods into the possession of a person acting on behalf of, or associated with, a lender of money is taken to be the taking of goods into the possession of the lender.

        [Section 3A inserted: No. 46 of 2006 s. 5.]