Limitation Act 1980

The Limitation Act 1980 is the cornerstone of civil time limits in England and Wales. Different sections apply to different types of claim: simple contract (s.5 — 6 years); deed (s.8 — 12 years); tort (s.2 — 6 years); personal injury (s.11 — 3 years from injury or knowledge); mortgage principal (s.20 — 12 years for principal, 6 years for interest); statutory action (s.9 — 6 years); judgment (s.24 — 6 years). Time is paused by deliberate concealment (s.32) and acknowledgement (s.29). Once limitation expires, the debt or claim is unenforceable through the courts though may still be morally owed.

In practice, the hard part is not the length of the period but working out when it started. For a simple contract debt the cause of action usually accrues when the breach occurs — for a credit agreement, typically when the creditor could first have sued, which for a regulated agreement is normally after a default notice has expired rather than on the first missed payment. For personal injury, time runs from the injury or from the later date of knowledge, which is why claims about conditions that emerge slowly can be brought many years after the exposure.

Worked example: Marek stops paying a credit card in March 2019 and hears nothing for six years. A debt purchaser writes in 2026 demanding payment and threatening court. Marek does not ring to discuss it and does not offer a token payment, because either could amount to an acknowledgement or part payment that restarts the clock under sections 29 and 30. Instead he writes a short letter asking the creditor to provide the date of the default notice and a statement of account, and stating that he believes the debt is statute-barred. If proceedings are nonetheless issued, limitation is a defence he must actively plead — the court will not raise it for him.

The misconceptions are the ones that cost people. Limitation does not wipe the debt out; it removes the court remedy, and the entry can still sit on a credit file for six years from default. Different clocks apply to different products: mortgage principal runs for twelve years, and enforcing an existing judgment is a different question again. Deliberate concealment or fraud postpones the start date. And a claim that is one day out of time is generally lost entirely, so if you are the one bringing a claim, issue early rather than negotiating up to the deadline.

The Act produces statute-barred debt, and interacts with enforcement of a county court judgment, which has its own six-year rule. Read our guides to statute-barred debts and debt collection harassment, and take free debt advice before replying to any old demand.