(a) A lessee who breaches any lease-purchase agreement, including but not limited to the failure to make timely lease payments, shall have the right to reinstate the original lease-purchase agreement without losing any rights or options previously acquired under the lease-purchase agreement if both of the following apply:
- (1) Subsequent to having failed to make a timely lease payment, the lessee has promptly surrendered the property to the lessor, in the manner as set forth in the lease-purchase agreement, and if and when requested by lessor; and
- (2) Not more than thirty days have passed since the lessee returned the property; provided that if the lessee has made more than sixty per cent of the total number of payments required under the lease-purchase agreement to acquire ownership, the thirty-day period shall be extended to a sixty-day period.
- (b) As a condition precedent to reinstatement of the lease-purchase agreement, a lessor may collect a reinstatement fee as set forth in subsection (d).
- (c) If reinstatement occurs pursuant to this section, the lessor shall provide the lessee with either the same item leased by the lessee prior to reinstatement or a substitute item of equivalent quality and condition. If a substitute item is provided, the lessor shall provide the lessee with all the information required by section 481M-14.
- (d) A reinstatement fee as provided for in this section shall equal the outstanding balance of any accrued missed payments and late charges plus an additional fee not to exceed $5.
[L 1997, c 248, pt of §1; am L 2008, c 19, §35]