Insurance Companies Act 1982 (repealed)

76 Right to withdraw from transaction in respect of long term policy. U.K.

[F1 (1) A person who has received a statutory notice in relation to an EC contract may, before the expiration of the fourteenth day after that on which he is informed in writing that the contract has become binding, serve a notice of cancellation on the insurer.

(1A) A person who has received a statutory notice in relation to a non-EC contract may, before the expiration of—

(a) the tenth day after that on which he received the notice, or

(b) the earliest day on which he knows both that the contract has been entered into and that the first or only premium has been paid,

whichever is the later, serve a notice of cancellation on the insurer.]

(2) A person to whom an insurer ought to have, but has not, sent a statutory notice in relation to any such contract as aforesaid may serve a notice of cancellation on the insurer; but if the insurer sends him a statutory notice in relation to that contract before he has served a notice of cancellation under this subsection, then, without prejudice to his right to serve a notice of cancellation under [F2 subsection (1) or (1A)] above, his right to do so under this subsection shall cease.

(3) A notice of cancellation may, but need not, be in the form annexed to the statutory notice and shall have effect if, however expressed, it indicates the intention of the person serving it to withdraw from the transaction in relation to which the statutory notice was or ought to have been sent.

(4) Where a person serves a notice of cancellation, then—

(a) if at the time when the notice is served the contract has been entered into, the notice shall operate so as to rescind the contract;

(b) in any other case, the service of the notice shall operate as a withdrawal of any offer to enter into the contract which is contained in, or implied by, any proposal made to the insurer by the person serving the notice of cancellation and as notice to the insurer that any such offer is withdrawn.

(5) Where a notice of cancellation operates to rescind a contract or as the withdrawal of an offer to enter into a contract—

(a) any sum which the person serving the notice has paid in connection with the contract (whether by way of premium or otherwise and whether to the insurer or to a person who is the agent of the insurer for the purpose of receiving that sum) shall be recoverable from the insurer by the person serving the notice;

(b) any sum which the insurer has paid under the contract shall be recoverable by him from the person serving the notice.

(6) Any sum recoverable under subsection (5) above shall be recoverable as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Textual Amendments

F1 s. 76(1)(1A) subsituted for s. 76(1)(1A) (20.5.1993) by S.I. 1993/1327, reg. 2(4)

F2 Words in s. 76(2) substituted (20.5.1993) by S.I. 1993/1327, reg. 2(5)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 Ss. 75–77 restricted by Financial Services Act 1986 (c. 60, SIF 69), s. 129, Sch. 10 para. 5(3)(4)