Delivering the goods—lessons from Farepack

• Why amend the transfer of ownership rules?
• The Law Commission’s proposed rules.
• The questions asked in the consultation paper.

The Law Commission has recently launched a consultation on a draft Bill that would amend the rules governing when consumers acquire ownership of goods under sales contracts. The consultation follows on from the Law Commission’s July 2016 Report, Consumer Prepayments on Retailer Insolvency (https://bit.ly/3itIRfj) which recommended reform of the transfer of ownership rules. In this article, we set out the case for reform, briefly explain our proposed rules, and describe the scope of our consultation.

Why amend the transfer of ownership rules?

Consumers often pay for goods in advance of receiving them. This happens whenever consumers buy goods online. It can also happen when consumers pay for goods in a physical store, but the goods have to be made to the consumer’s order, are not available