Bassano v Toft & Others [2014] EWHC 377 (QB); [2014] All ER (D) 36
01/06/2014
Anthony Allston appeared in this recent case about the application of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (as amended) and Regulations under it. A loan by a fine instrument dealer to a musician still had to be repaid despite the fact that it was contained in a chattel mortgage deed which could not be enforced as a security because of non-compliance with the Bills of Sale (1878) Amendment Act 1882. The judge held that a lender did not have to be licensed under the Consumer Credit Act when the loan was a one-off transaction not part of his normal business. For the same reasons it also ranked as a “non-commercial” transaction so did not need to comply with the stringent regulations imposed by Part V of the Act. A separate part of the case established that for the purposes of those regulations a consumer could sign a financial transaction electronically by clicking “I accept”.