Loan agreements, are they worth the paper they are written on?

i dont believe so, purely from experience. I was told the contract from the BHS was useless and wasnt worth the paper it was written on.
My old pony was put out on loan some years ago. we drew up a BHS loan contract, everything was fine till I got the vet out for the pony when she just wasnt right. The loaners told me i was in the wrong, that my opinion didnt count so wouldnt pay the vet bill. Eventually we found that they had crippled the pony and spent £100's on physios vets etc. We threatened them with small claims but after contacting the legal team at the insurance company was told the contract was usless even though we had got them to sign to everysingle little detail - including them paying vets fees if I got the vet out if something wasnt right.

do you have legal cover on your horse insurance? might be worth a ring to clarify things before you have a breakdown
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Basically, in the "Law World" ANY agreement drawn up between two parties, is pretty useless!
I guess it comes down to whether the parties involved are of the trusting nature.
I had an agreement when I had my last loan horse, and I stuck to it, purely because I am that sort of person, but I could have gone against it, and the owner wouldn't of had a leg to stand on!!
 
Any contract between people, it matters little if it is a loan agreement or any other contract, has to be drawn up correctly to have any chance of holding up in law should there be a dispute. Self drawn up & signed contracts are a recipe for a disaster as the wording has to be precise & open to no other interpretation. For a loan contract to have any weight go & see a solicitor who specialises in Equine matters & future problems will be minimalised.

For most people their horse is so special to them but for some reason they will part with them to a stranger after signing a piece of paper drawn up in a few minutes by themselves who have no knowledge of the law. They will spend a fortune on rugs, tack, chiro, vets etc but won't spend a few pounds to get a proper legally enforcible document drawn up to protect their horse.
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I had a nightmare last summer when I tried to send a loan horse back to an owner who refused to take it (kind of the opposite of your problem). We had to get lawyers involved and it took the whole summer to resolve
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If I were you, I'd be hiring a lorry, going to pick the horse up and just be done with it.
 
Scotsmare - that's exactly what's happened to us!! We've got 3 and want to return them but the owner won't have them back. Our solicitor says give them notice to remove them then start charging livery. Their solicitor says the loan agreement from 2004 is still in force (even though it has (i)lapsed (ii) been superceded in 2006 with another agreement with different terms that I refused to sign and (iii) been terminated by me in writing).

Their solicitor is saying they won't pay livery and when I take them to small claims to get it, then he'll win because the agreement is still in force. The agreement itself refers to it being a conditonal loan agreement, a lease agreement and a hire agreement all in the same document. The person who signed it is now saying they aren't the owner, just an agent!

Nightmare - I will never, ever loan another horse as long as I l live.
 
If they came to testing in a court of law then no.

As a way of both parties clearly understanding their responsibilities then they are very valuable and much better than just chatting about it.

I have always used a written loan agreement based on the BHS one and never had any problems, but then I have also always vetted the home, checked the horse at it's new home and taken it back if required.
 
I dont get how a loan agreement is basically worthless, yet people can take each other to court over things that were 'said' as in with regards to buying selling horses. Surely if what is said in a loan agreement is worthless, then what someone says regarding selling etc is worthless to unless its written up by a solicitor?
 
Sorry to tell you this, however, the loan agreements, even the bhs ones are not really worth the paper they are printed on.
This does however depend on your area and your local police. I have investigated over 30 horses missing on loan in the past year, found one woman had taken ten and sold them on, not one criminal conviction out of it.
 
There is a difference between what would be accepted in a civil court Vs a criminal court. There is a much lower expectation in a civil court. Hence why some people try to get police involved & then fail, give up & dont try the civil route for fear of loosing money in an attempt to get their case through.

I personally believe that something is better than nothing, as there is a start point for the debate in court.
 
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