Voluntary Termination and Default Termination Information Leaflet
(CCA Regulated Hire Agreements)

If you have a Piano Hire Agreement with us this is regulated by the Consumer Credit Act, you have the right to voluntarily terminate your agreement at any time. The Frequently Asked Questions below explain what this means and also provides additional information about what you should do if you find yourself in arrears. This will help you decide what the best course of action is for you.

Voluntary Termination

Q1. What is Voluntary Termination?
Voluntary Termination is a legal right provided to you under UK law (Consumer Credit Act 1974, Section 99/100) which allows you to hand back your piano and end your Hire agreement with us.

Q2. Why would I want to voluntarily terminate my agreement?
There are various reasons why you may choose to end your agreement with us, for example:

  • Your circumstances have changed so you no longer need the piano

  • You can no longer afford the monthly repayments.

  • You have fallen into arrears and can’t afford to repay them.

  • You want to change the piano.

Q3. How do I know if I can terminate my agreement?
If you have a CCA regulated hire agreement with us, you can exercise this right at any time during its term. If you’re unsure, please contact us and we’ll be able to tell you if this applies to you or not.

Q4. How much will I have to pay to voluntarily terminate my agreement?
You can find this information by referring to section 8 on the hire agreement.  You will have to pay all rentals that are due under the minimum hire period together with the cost of the return of the piano.

Q5. Will there be any additional costs if I choose to terminate my agreement?
You may have to pay additional costs, such as:

  • Damage Costs - when you hand your piano back to us it must be in a reasonable condition otherwise you may have to pay to cover any damage over and above normal wear and tear.

You should be aware that we will not be able to tell you how much these costs will be until we’ve received your piano back and completed the necessary checks.

Q6. Does Voluntary Termination impact my credit file?
We reserve the right to record the Voluntary Termination on your credit file, but this is just to show how your agreement was ended. It won’t have any negative impact on its own, but if you have arrears on your agreement when you end it, this may be shown on your credit file.

Q7. I’m struggling with my finances – is Voluntary Termination an option?
Yes. If you find yourself struggling with your finances, we urge you to contact us as soon as possible so we can talk to you about your circumstances and see what we can do to help. You may want to choose to end your agreement and hand back the piano.

If you go into arrears, we’ll try to get in touch with you to talk about what options are available for you to repay these. If you don’t respond, however, we may take action to take the piano back from you, and this is known as a Default Termination (see below).

Default Termination

Q8. What’s Default Termination?
Default Termination is where we take legal action to take the piano back from you (known as repossession).

Q9. What’s the difference between Voluntary Termination and Default Termination?
The main difference is that Voluntary Termination is where you choose to end your hire agreement, but Default Termination is where we end it.

Don’t worry though, we will only take this action once every attempt has been made to get in touch with you by letter or a phone call to agree a way forward. It’s therefore important you contact us as quickly as possible if you’ve gone into arrears. We can then work with you to find a solution before your situation gets worse.

Q10. Why would you need to end my agreement/repossess my piano?
If you fail to make the rental payments due under the hire agreement and you owe arrears and…

  • We haven’t been able to come to any agreement with you as to how the arrears will be repaid, or

  • You haven’t responded when we’ve tried to contact you.

Before we do this, we’ll send you a Notice of Default which gives you a final chance to repay the arrears by a certain date. If you don’t then the full amount (arrears and any outstanding balance/costs etc) you owe us will become due and have to be repaid. At this point it may not be too late to come to an arrangement that allows you to keep hiring the piano so please call us so we can agree a way forward.

Q11. Will I have to pay any additional costs if you take the piano Back?
It’s likely you’ll have to pay additional costs such as:

  • Court Costs – We will obtain a court order before we can take back our piano and any related costs will have to be paid by you.

  • Recovery Costs – You will have to pay any costs in relation to us recovering the piano from you.

Additional costs as outlined in Q4 and Q5 will also be payable.

Q12. Will Default Termination impact my credit file?
Yes – a “Default” can be recorded and remain on your credit file for 6 years which could mean you find it difficult to get approved for any future finance you apply for. Also, some lenders will look at your credit history and apply an interest rate based on your ability to pay back the money you borrow so you could find that credit is more expensive.

Q13. Where can I get help and support?

You can contact us on 01227 637670 or office@musiqgroup.co.uk and we will be happy to help you.