Consumer Rights Act 2015

The statute behind most small claims against a shop, a garage or a tradesperson — it sets the standard goods and services must meet, and it fixes the order in which remedies become available.

How long do I have to reject faulty goods?

The short-term right to reject lasts 30 days from the day you own the goods, they have been delivered and, where relevant, they have been installed. Ask for a repair or replacement inside that window and the clock pauses while the trader deals with it. After 30 days you move to the repair or replacement stage first, and only then to a price reduction or the final right to reject.

Does the Act cover services as well as goods?

Yes. Services supplied to a consumer must be carried out with reasonable care and skill, within a reasonable time where no time was agreed, and for a reasonable price where no price was agreed. If the service falls short, the remedies are repeat performance or a price reduction rather than rejection.

Who has to prove the fault was there from the start?

For the first six months after delivery, a fault that appears is treated as having been there when you received the goods unless the trader shows otherwise. After six months the burden shifts: you have to show the goods did not meet the standard when supplied, which usually means evidence rather than assertion.

Does the Act apply if I bought from a private seller?

No. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 governs contracts between a trader and a consumer. A private sale between two individuals is governed by the Sale of Goods Act 1979, where the goods must match their description but the satisfactory quality obligation does not apply in the same way.

How long do I have before I have to issue a court claim?

The limitation period for a breach of contract claim in England and Wales is generally six years from the date of the breach under the Limitation Act 1980. That is separate from the 30-day rejection window, which is about which remedy you can insist on rather than about your deadline to go to court.

Can a trader say no refunds and make it stick?

A term cannot exclude or restrict the statutory rights the Act gives a consumer over goods, services or digital content, and Part 2 of the Act makes unfair terms in consumer contracts non-binding. A no refunds sign does not remove a right to reject faulty goods.

What the Act actually requires

The Act does three separate jobs, and small claims usually turn on one of them rather than all three. For goods, it implies three standards into every contract between a trader and a consumer: the goods must be of satisfactory quality, fit for any particular purpose the consumer made known, and as described. Satisfactory quality is measured by what a reasonable person would consider satisfactory, taking account of price, description and how the goods were presented — which is why a £40 kettle and a £400 one are not held to the same expectation of longevity.

For services, the standard is different in kind. There is no equivalent of satisfactory quality; instead the service must be performed with reasonable care and skill, within a reasonable time if none was agreed, and for a reasonable price if none was agreed. Anything the trader said about the service that the consumer took into account also becomes a term of the contract. That last point does real work in disputes with tradespeople, where the promise that mattered was made verbally on a doorstep.

For digital content — software, downloads, streamed media, in-app purchases — the goods-style standards apply, with a specific right to compensation where faulty digital content damages a device or other digital content and the trader did not take reasonable care.

Part 2 sits behind all of this. A term in a consumer contract that is unfair is not binding on the consumer, and the Act protects the core statutory rights from being contracted out of. Terms buried in small print that make the trader the sole judge of whether something is faulty, or that impose a disproportionate charge for cancellation, are the usual candidates.

The remedies come in a fixed order

This ordering matters enormously in a small claim. A claimant who insists on a full refund eight weeks after delivery, having refused an offered repair, has usually claimed the wrong remedy — and a district judge will say so. Setting out in your

which stage you are at, and why, is what turns a complaint into a claim.

Proving it: the six-month rule

The single most useful provision for an unrepresented claimant is the reversed burden of proof in the first six months. If a fault shows up within six months of delivery, the law treats it as having been present when the goods were supplied unless the trader proves otherwise. The practical effect is that the trader has to produce the evidence, not you.

After six months that flips. You now have to show, on the

, that the goods did not meet the required standard when they were supplied. In a small claim that usually means something concrete: photographs with dates, an independent report from a garage or repairer, the original listing or advertisement, and the full message trail with the trader. An engineer’s report costing £80 to £150 is often the difference between a claim that succeeds and one that comes down to two people disagreeing in a hearing room.

Keep the paperwork proportionate. The

is designed for people to run their own cases, and costs recovery is deliberately limited, so spending £600 on expert evidence to prove a £450 loss makes no sense even if you win.

Where the Act does not help

It applies only to trader-to-consumer contracts. Buying from a private individual on a marketplace puts you under the Sale of Goods Act 1979, where the protection is thinner. Buying as a business, even a sole trader buying equipment for the business, takes you outside the consumer regime entirely.

It does not cover a change of mind. The right to cancel a distance or off-premises contract within 14 days comes from separate consumer contracts regulations, not from this Act, and does not apply to most in-store purchases. And it does not help where the fault was pointed out before purchase or was one you should have spotted on the examination you actually carried out.

A consumer buys a used car from a dealer for £5,400. Five weeks later the clutch fails. The dealer says the car was sold as seen and offers nothing.

Short-term right to reject

expired — over 30 days

on the dealer — within 6 months

Remedy to claim first

repair or replacement

The right approach is a Letter Before Action asking for a repair within a stated reasonable period, not an immediate demand for £5,400 back. If the dealer refuses or the repair fails, the consumer moves to a price reduction or the final right to reject and can then claim the refund, less any deduction for use, plus

. Sold as seen does not displace the Act.

Letter Before Action

Interest under s.69 County Courts Act

Balance of probabilities

Consumer Rights Act 2015

Limitation Act 1980, section 5

Make a court claim for money

Consumer Rights Act 2015 — Small Claims Glossary

What the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires of goods, services and digital content, the fixed order in which remedies apply, and how the six-month burden of proof rule works.