- The hirer is responsible at all times for ensuring that the equipment is returned to the business.
- Interest of five percent per month, or part of a month, accrues on money owed by the hirer to the business.
- The business may terminate the hire agreement at any time by posting written notice to the hirer’s address shown on the agreement. It may retake the equipment immediately after notice is delivered. When the business cancels the agreement, the unused part of any periodic hire charge will be refunded on a proportional basis.
- The business may retain from the hirer’s deposit an amount it considers sufficient to cover loss, damage or inconvenience affecting the equipment or the business under the agreement.
- Where the business delivers equipment to an agreed address, delivery is complete when the equipment reaches the external entrance. Employees or agents may help move it further when reasonable and practical, but the hirer indemnifies them against claims for damage or injury arising from handling or using the equipment at the premises or another location.
The hirer acknowledges that the owner hires equipment for reward and is not a general contractor, and that the agreement reflects this distinction.
The agreement begins when the hirer accepts the owner’s quotation and takes effect retrospectively from the quotation date.
Quotation
Quotations remain valid for 30 days. The owner may issue a corrected quotation for a clear error and may adjust the quoted price for increases in labour, material or overhead costs after the 30-day period.
Period
Hire begins when the equipment leaves the owner’s warehouse and ends when the owner collects it or the hirer returns it. The hire period includes public holidays, non-working days, bad weather and other periods when the equipment is unused for reasons that are not the owner’s fault.
The hirer may end the hire by notifying the owner’s office and obtaining a return instruction number. Unless there is a clear error, the owner’s records determine when notice was given, the return number and the start and end of hire. The owner issues an off-hire receipt after collection, and the hirer should retain it as proof of return.
The hirer authorises delivery and collection and accepts the owner’s report of the quantity and condition of equipment delivered or returned.
Ascend Access System Scaffolding will make reasonable efforts to deliver at the specified time but is not liable for delivery delays.
The owner may terminate the hire after the initial period by giving three days’ notice. Where the owner is collecting, the hirer must provide 24 hours’ notice before 4:00 p.m., Saturday to Thursday, to avoid another day’s hire, and must place all equipment in one secure location accessible to the collection vehicle. Part of a day is charged as a full day, and a hire day ends at 4:00 p.m.
Charges
The hirer must pay the hire charges, each collection call-out, and the cost of damaged, lost, stolen or unreturned equipment until it is repaired and fit for hire or replaced. At the owner’s option, replacement cost may be charged, and the owner may require payment of its reasonable repair estimate before repairs begin.
Hire charges for lost equipment continue until the hirer tells Ascend Access Scaffolding LLC that all or part of the equipment is missing.
Where the owner grants a credit account, all charges must be paid within 30 days of the invoice date; otherwise the charges for the initial hire period are payable as agreed.
Hirer’s Obligation – The Hirer
The hirer remains responsible for the equipment until the owner collects it.
Where the hirer erects the scaffolding, the hirer warrants that erection will comply with the law.
The hirer must reimburse Ascend for costs or damage caused by failure to meet these obligations.
The hirer must provide a foundation or other surface firm and suitable enough to support the equipment and every load placed on it without subsidence or collapse.
The equipment must be used safely and properly, and only by people qualified as required by law.
The hirer must immediately report damage, defective operation, accidents or other events involving the equipment that may lead to a claim for loss, damage or injury.
The equipment must not be altered, added to or tampered with without the owner’s prior written consent.
The hirer must not sell, encumber, re-hire or otherwise deal with the equipment, make it part of a building, move it from the site without prior written consent, or deny Ascend Scaffolds’ ownership.
Equipment
All equipment remains the owner’s property, and the hirer’s possession and use are governed by these conditions.
Risk passes to the hirer when Ascend Scaffolds delivers the equipment. The owner does not insure it, so the hirer is responsible for theft or damage and for third-party loss, damage or injury resulting from the hirer’s fault.
The hirer must adequately insure the equipment in the joint names of the owner and hirer against loss or damage and maintain insurance covering the other liabilities accepted under the agreement. Evidence that this insurance remains current must be provided when requested.
Default
Payment of charges by the due date is a fundamental obligation. The hirer is in default if charges are not paid on time, any part of the agreement is breached, an individual hirer becomes bankrupt, a corporate hirer is wound up, or the hirer can no longer pay debts when due.
On default, the hire ends immediately and the hirer authorises Ascend Scaffolds, its employees and agents to enter the hirer’s workplace or premises to remove or recover the equipment.
A waiver of one default does not waive a later default. Termination for default does not affect the owner’s right to recover charges or damages for breach of the agreement.
Indemnities
The hirer indemnifies the owner against actions, claims, demands, losses, damages, costs and expenses arising during or after any hire period from providing the equipment and the owner’s work, the owner entering the site, use or misuse by the hirer or a third party, or a breach of the agreement by the hirer, its employees or agents.
Hirer Authorities
An officer, employee or agent who signs the agreement or a related document for the hirer is treated as having full authority to sign and bind the hirer. A person signing for a corporation warrants that the corporation has fully authorised them to do so.