When a club cancels your membership...

SysRoot

I am trying to clarify a few point in law but legislation has changed since I last had my head in the books and google is not helping by trawling up useless responses.
I wanted to join a club.
They take a full year of membership in advance.
I have warned them about charging for the Checking and Barring Service which they are not allowed to charge for...
Their rules state that the "they are under no obligation to accept membership, reserve the right to terminate membership and do not have to give a reason and you will not get your £200 back.
From memory, that clause alone breaks 3 laws, one being the refund, the other being the termination without reason and the third being the clause I read in the Membewrship of Clubs and associations Act, some years back, stated somewhere in it that a club CAN NOT REFUSE MEMBERSHIP on any grounds other than those already laid out as valid reasons for not allowing membership and that it also stated you can't keep the fees. 
So can someone help point me to the parts of legislation on the legislation.gov.uk website as I am lost, a lot has changed in the last year!
There are other clauses that cause concern, I will address them one at a time.

user1977

SysRoot said:

the Membership of Clubs and associations Act

There's no such Act (assuming you're talking about the UK). And I've never heard of a legal principle that a club can't refuse an application for membership other than on previously-stated grounds.

SysRoot

user1977 said:

SysRoot said:

the Membership of Clubs and associations Act

There's no such Act (assuming you're talking about the UK). And I've never heard of a legal principle that a club can't refuse an application for membership other than on previously-stated grounds.

I read things under the consumer rights act, membership of clubs and associations act, equality act and disability acts. 

It is consumer law that you can not just take money and refuse membership, what you are saying is if I pay my £200 up front like I have to do, they can turn round and say no thanks and I have just done 200 notes.

It just doesn't track, that is why I am asking for pointers as these laws have been amended and I have tried searching and need to know what some laws have been replaced with, as in new legislation or now points to existing legislation....

Ectophile

There's the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.  Schedule 2 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/2083/schedule/2/paragraph/1/made has a whole list of contract terms that the law considers unfair.  Have a look through that list.

Sandtree

So the law says you cannot discriminate against someone for protected characteristics  (eg race, gender etc)  unless its a fundamental part of the group - eg a Black Women in Power group could refuse a white man to join.  Naturally they can refuse to allow people to join if they just don't like them etc.

Outside of that you are down to basic contract law and attempting to argue if terms are fundamentally unfair and that you are in a disadvantaged position as a consumer -v- a larger entity.  

If you dont like how they play why are you bothered about joining?

user1977

SysRoot said:

user1977 said:

SysRoot said:

the Membership of Clubs and associations Act

There's no such Act (assuming you're talking about the UK). And I've never heard of a legal principle that a club can't refuse an application for membership other than on previously-stated grounds.

I read things under the consumer rights act, membership of clubs and associations act, equality act and disability acts. 

It is consumer law that you can not just take money and refuse membership, what you are saying is if I pay my £200 up front like I have to do, they can turn round and say no thanks and I have just done 200 notes.

No, I'm saying there is no right for you to demand to become a member, not that they can also keep your money. And I've still no idea what the "membership of clubs and associations act" is (there are no UK Acts of Parliament which even contain the words "clubs" or "assocations").

unholyangel

If they don't have a specific selection/expulsion criteria....are you sure they're actually a club/association?

born_again

What sort of club does a "Checking and Barring Service" check. Given there is a charge for this. It seems fair that it has to be paid for.

k3lvc

born_again said:

What sort of club does a "Checking and Barring Service" check. Given there is a charge for this. It seems fair that it has to be paid for.

The mind boggles - I can imagine it's not a chess club though

Manxman_in_exile

born_again said:

What sort of club does a "Checking and Barring Service" check. Given there is a charge for this. It seems fair that it has to be paid for.

The OP's rather cryptic post doesn't actually say that the club does want to do a check.  He simply says, apparently apropos of nothing, that:  "I have warned them about charging for the Checking and Barring Service which they are not allowed to charge for... "  but he doesn't explain why it was necessary to warn them.

Sports club or sports association involving young and/or vulnerable people?

Ditzy_Mitzy

I've read this several times.  The OP seems to be suggesting that he applied to join a club and paid a £200 membership fee up front.  The 'club', whoever they are, insist on a DBS check being completed as part of the vetting process for new members.  DBS checks cost a few quid so, presumably, the club passes the costs on to prospective members.  There is no reason why the club cannot do this; it's wholly reasonable if the club isn't profit making.  The OP then refuses, for his own reasons, to pay the club's DBS check fee.  The check is not completed as a result and the club refuse to ratify his membership.  I'm not sure why they should, in the circumstances.  The whole thing seems self-inflicted, rather, as presumably he can have the membership ratified if he pays the DBS check fee.