Barber v NWS Bank plc
Court of Appeal 17 November 1995 (Times Law Report 27 November 1995)

Mr Barber obtained a Honda Accord car under a conditional sale agreement with NWS Bank. Nineteen months later, when he wished to dispose of the car, he found out that it was subject to a previous finance agreement. He sought to rescind the agreement and to recover the deposit and instalments paid.

It was held as follows on the basis that Section 27 of the Hire Purchase Act 1964 already protects a private purchaser in such circumstances, and subsection (6) provides that nothing in the section should exonerate the finance company from any liability under which it would have been apart from the section. There was an implied condition that the finance company had good title, and its breach gave the purchaser the right to rescind the contract.