Can I just buy a product and then hire it out? Or are there things thst would legally stop me doing this?

[MrsNouveauRichards]

Or does it depend on the product?

There seems to be a market for hiring safety equipment in the horse world (would rather not be too specific at the moment) and I wondered if it is possible.

How do I go about finding out whether it could be done? Or whether the manufacturer has things in place to stop people doing that?

Many thanks for any advice!

I would assume you' d need public indemnity insurance in case anyone was hurt whilst using your equipment. Business insurance ? Registered for tax ?

Yes, I assumed I would need insurance and was going to look into that too, but before I went any further I wanted to know whether legally I can hire out someone else's product?

There are two manufacturers of the same type of product, and they are sold through lots of retailers now, but can I buy a couple and rent them out legally, or would the manufacturers have something in place?

Nothing legally to stop you unless it says something in their terms and conditions of sale. You can look on their web site for those or get someone to ask if they have any. Only downside I can see is insurance and the fact that if they don't like you renting it out they may stop supplying you (or put in place some terms and conditions which aim to stop people hiring out. Any new terms and conditions would only apply to new purchases though

If you buy from retailer look at their terms and conditions too. Pretty unlikely that they will say anything that would stop you doing it

Wonderful, thank you!

Seeing as one manufacturer has it written in their t&c that in the event of non personal use, (enterprise etc) strict record keeping is advisable, would it make sense to email the company with my proposal, asking their advice on most common sizing etc, or is that asking for the door shut in my face?

Sounds as if they don't mind people hiring stuff which is good. But I would be wary about giving them too much info in case they steal your idea or something. Can you get the info you need over the phone anonymously on a pretext?

As its safety equipment would you need to test it between loans, or replace regularly? Are there any hygiene concerns or can item be deep cleaned between hires?

They recommend servicing which I've looked into and taken into consideration. I'm going to a huge horse event in a couple of weeks where they (and their direct competitors) will have tradestands and I can get more info about the product. I have a feeling that if it works, it will work very well, but it may not get off the ground at all due to insurance costs with it being a safety product.

Thanks so much for all the advice! :)

Thinking g about why they might mind you hiring it out?

I take if that the product is not a low cost Item and many people would be unsure of whether they needed it.

Perhaps you could approach the manufacturer with a proposal to hire out their product as you have described, and refer customers to them to purchase the product if they think they have a need for it. A sort of mutually advantageous arrangement. They probably haven't got into hiring their own stuff because it can be very labour intensive doing the admin and hey just want to concentrate on sales and manufacture.

That is kind of what I was thinking. Hiring out as one off's probably wouldn't work out financially, but it is the sort of thing a parent may want for a teenager doing higher level stuff, but loath to spend £500 on a season or two due to the growth spurts of teens.

So, a hiring out one for a season, followed by hiring a different size for the next season and so on.

One company does do 0% finance now, which is great for an adult, but a teenager could have grown out of it by the time it was paid for.