Consumer Rights Act 2015

Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA 2015)

Brings together rights and remedies available to consumers when making a contract with a business.

Application of CRA 2015

Applies to contracts and notices between a ‘consumer’ and a ‘trader’.

Consumer

“An individual acting for purposes that are wholly or mainly outside that individual’s trade, business, craft or profession.”

Trader

“A person acting for purposes relating to that person’s trade, business, craft or profession, whether acting personally or through another person acting in the trader’s name or on the trader’s behalf.”

Mixed contracts

Contracts involving the supply of both goods and services (e.g. a car service where parts are fitted).

Rights and remedies in mixed contracts

In such contracts, the service element attracts service rights and remedies (s.49, s.52), and the goods element attracts goods rights and remedies (s.9, s.10, s.11).

OIR - CRA 2015 s.9

Every contract to supply goods is to be treated as including a term that the quality of the goods is satisfactory.

OIR - Definition of satisfactory quality

Where goods meet the standard that a reasonable person would consider satisfactory, taking account of description, price and all other relevant circumstances.

OIR - Factors in assessing quality

Includes state and condition, fitness for purposes goods are usually supplied for, durability, appearance and finish, freedom from minor defects, and safety.

OIR - Shine v General Guarantee Corp

A car that was found to have been submerged in water was held not to be of satisfactory quality.

OIR - CRA 2015 s.10

Goods should be fit for purpose.

OIR - Implied term for particular purpose

If the consumer makes known any particular purpose for the goods before the contract, there is an implied term that the goods are reasonably fit for that purpose, whether or not it is a usual purpose for goods of that kind.

OIR - Crowther v Shannon Motor Company

A car was not fit for its purpose (being driven on a public road) when the engine seized up after 3 weeks.

OIR - CRA 2015 s.11

Every contract to supply goods by description is to be treated as including a term that the goods will match the description.

OIR - Re Moore & Landauer

A contract for 3,100 tins of peaches described as packed in cases of 30 arrived packed in cases of 24; the purchaser was entitled to reject the goods as they were not as described.

OIR - Remedies under CRA 2015 (Goods)

If goods do not conform to the contract because of a breach of any rights under the CRA 2015, specific remedies are available to the consumer.

OIR - Short-term right to reject (s.20)

Consumer can reject goods within 30 days and is entitled to a full refund.

OIR - Right to repair or replacement (s.23)

If the consumer does not exercise the short-term right to reject, they can request a repair or replacement.

OIR - Right to price reduction or final rejection (s.24)

If, for any reason, repair/replacement is unsatisfactory, consumer can request a price reduction or reject the goods entirely.

OIR - Presumption of fault within 6 months (s.19(14) & (15))

If a breach of statutory rights (e.g faulty goods) arises within 6 months of delivery, it is presumed the fault was present at delivery; the trader can seek to prove otherwise.

OIR - Burden of proof after 6 months

If a fault develops after the first 6 months, the burden is on the consumer to prove that the product was faulty at the time of delivery.

OIR - CRA 2015 s.49

States that a contract to supply a service is to be treated as including a term that the trader must perform the service with reasonable care and skill.

OIR - Reasonable care and skill

For what amounts to “reasonable care and skill” the principles of negligence are generally used and it will vary according to the standards within a profession.

OIR - Bolam

In this, it was decided that professionals should be compared to a responsible body of opinion from within the same profession.

OIR - CRA 2015 s.52

Applies to a contract to supply a service, and states that the service has to be performed within a reasonable time where the contract does not expressly fix the time for the service to be performed, and does not say how it is to be fixed.

OIR - Reasonable time

What is a reasonable time is a question of fact.

OIR - Rights under CRA 2015 s.55 & s.56

If the services are not performed with reasonable care and skill then there are rights under s.55 and s.56 of the CRA 2015.

OIR - Right to repeat performance (s.55)

This is the right to require the trader to perform the service again, to the extent necessary to complete its performance in accordance with the contract.

OIR - Timing and conditions for s.55

If the right is demanded, and assuming that performance is not impossible, the trader must then provide it within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to the consumer.

OIR - Right to a price reduction (s.56 CRA 2015)

This is the right to require the trader to reduce the price to the consumer by an appropriate amount for the trader’s failure to perform the contract.

OIR - Conditions for s.56

This right is only available if repeat performance is impossible or has not been done within a reasonable time or without significantly inconveniencing the consumer.