Commentary on Sections Part 1: Consumer Contracts for Goods, Digital Content and Services Other rules about remedies under goods contracts Section 26: Instalment deliveries
146.This section corresponds substantively to section 31 of the SGA, but is not limited to sales contracts and as with all of this Part it only relates to trader to consumer contracts.
147.Under this section the consumer is not required to accept delivery in instalments unless they agree to it. If they do agree and one or more of the deliveries is defective (for example because the goods in that instalment are substandard), depending on the circumstances, the consumer may have a right to damages or to reject the goods in the relevant instalment(s), or to treat the whole contract as ended. Which of these rights applies depends on the specific circumstances and must be judged on a case-by-case basis. However, subsection (5) provides that, if a delivery of an instalment fails to comply with section 28, it is section 28 that applies, and not section 26.