Limitation Act 1980: an overview of the time limits

What the Act does, and where it applies

The Limitation Act 1980 does not decide whether a claim is good. It decides whether the claimant left it too late. Once a limitation period has expired the defendant can plead the Act as a complete defence, and the merits of the underlying complaint never get argued. That makes limitation one of the small number of legal questions that a professional firm and its insurers should be able to answer quickly about any live matter.

The Act applies to England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own limitation and prescription regimes, so a claim with a Scottish or Northern Irish connection needs to be looked at under the rules for that jurisdiction rather than by reading across from the 1980 Act.

The sections below are the ones that come up most often in professional negligence and construction disputes, and therefore in professional indemnity claims. Each links to the text on legislation.gov.uk so you can read the wording rather than a paraphrase of it.

Section 2: six years for claims in tort

Section 2 provides that an action founded on tort shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued. In negligence the cause of action accrues when damage is suffered, not when the negligent act was committed, and not when the claimant finds out about it. Establishing the date of damage is therefore the whole argument in a great many limitation disputes.

Source: Limitation Act 1980, section 2 (legislation.gov.uk).

Section 5: six years for simple contract

Section 5 provides that an action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued. In contract the cause of action accrues at the date of breach, whether or not any loss has yet been felt. That difference matters: the same professional retainer can produce a contract claim that is already time-barred and a tort claim that is not, simply because breach and damage happened on different dates.

Source: Limitation Act 1980, section 5 (legislation.gov.uk).

Section 14A: latent damage and the date of knowledge

Section 14A was inserted by the Latent Damage Act 1986. It applies to negligence actions (other than personal injury claims under section 11) where the starting date for reckoning limitation falls after the cause of action accrued. In those cases the period is the later of six years from accrual or three years from the starting date, which the section defines as the earliest date on which the claimant first had both the knowledge required for bringing an action in respect of the relevant damage and a right to bring it.

Section 14A is why a professional firm cannot assume that six years after the file closed the exposure has gone. Where the damage was not reasonably discoverable, the clock can start much later.

Source: Limitation Act 1980, section 14A (legislation.gov.uk). See also our longer note on section 14A in professional negligence claims.

Section 14B: the fifteen-year longstop

Section 14B, also inserted by the Latent Damage Act 1986, provides that an action for damages for negligence not involving personal injuries shall not be brought after fifteen years from the date, or the last of the dates, on which there occurred any act or omission alleged to constitute negligence and to which the damage claimed is alleged to be attributable. The section bars the right of action even where the cause of action has not yet accrued, and even where the section 14A starting date has not yet arrived.

Section 14B does not apply to actions to which section 11 or section 11ZA of the Act applies, so it is not a longstop for personal injury claims.

Source: Limitation Act 1980, section 14B (legislation.gov.uk).

Section 32: fraud, deliberate concealment and mistake

Section 32 postpones the start of the limitation period where the action is based on the defendant's fraud, where a fact relevant to the claimant's right of action has been deliberately concealed, or where the action is for relief from the consequences of a mistake. In those cases the period does not begin to run until the claimant discovered the fraud, concealment or mistake, or could with reasonable diligence have discovered it. Section 32(2) adds that deliberately committing a breach of duty in circumstances in which it is unlikely to be discovered for some time amounts to deliberate concealment of the facts involved in that breach.

Source: Limitation Act 1980, section 32 (legislation.gov.uk). See also our note on section 32 and deliberate concealment.

Section 4B: buildings, defective premises and the Building Safety Act 2022

Section 4B was inserted on 28 June 2022 by section 135(1) of the Building Safety Act 2022. It creates a special time limit for certain actions about damage or defects in relation to buildings. Where a person becomes entitled to bring an action by virtue of a relevant provision, no action may be brought after fifteen years from the date on which the right of action accrued. The relevant provisions are section 1 or section 2A of the Defective Premises Act 1972 and section 38 of the Building Act 1984.

Section 4B(4) is the retrospective limb: where a person became entitled to bring an action by virtue of section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 before the commencement date, the fifteen-year period is read as thirty years. The commencement date is the day on which section 135 of the Building Safety Act 2022 came into force.

Section 4B(2) also disapplies most of the rest of the Act to these actions: sections 1, 28, 32, 35, 37 and 38 apply, and the other provisions do not.

Sources: Limitation Act 1980, section 4B, Building Safety Act 2022, section 135 and Defective Premises Act 1972, section 1, all at legislation.gov.uk. See also our note on the section 135 limitation extension.

Why limitation matters to a professional indemnity programme

Professional indemnity policies are written on a claims-made basis: they respond to claims first made against you during the period of insurance, whatever year the work was done. The Limitation Act works on a different axis entirely, running from breach, damage or knowledge. The two do not line up, and the gap between them is where uninsured exposure tends to sit.

Three practical consequences follow. Old work is not safe work, because sections 14A, 14B, 32 and 4B can all keep an exposure alive well beyond six years. Run-off cover matters, because a firm that has stopped trading still needs a live policy to respond when a late claim arrives. And a circumstance that might give rise to a claim should be notified when it is spotted, not when the claimant finally writes, because notification protects the policy year regardless of where the limitation clock has got to.

If you want the same analysis written from the professional negligence side rather than the statutory side, see our working reference on professional negligence limitation periods in England and Wales, and our note on latent damage and limitation in professional indemnity claims.

Frequently asked questions

How long is the limitation period for professional negligence?

Ordinarily six years: six years from the date of breach for a claim in contract under section 5, and six years from the date damage is suffered for a claim in tort under section 2. Section 14A can extend the tort period to three years from the claimant's date of knowledge where that expires later, subject to the fifteen-year longstop in section 14B.

When does the limitation clock start running?

It depends on the cause of action. In simple contract it starts at the date of breach, whether or not loss has yet been suffered. In tort it starts when damage occurs. Under section 14A it can start at the date on which the claimant first had both the knowledge required to bring the action and the right to bring it. Under section 32 it does not start until the claimant discovered, or could with reasonable diligence have discovered, the fraud, concealment or mistake.

What is the fifteen-year longstop?

Section 14B provides that a negligence claim not involving personal injury cannot be brought more than fifteen years after the last act or omission alleged to constitute negligence to which the damage is attributable. It bars the right of action even if the cause of action has not accrued or the section 14A starting date has not arrived. It does not apply to actions to which section 11 or section 11ZA applies.

Does the thirty-year period under the Building Safety Act apply to every building claim?

No. Section 4B of the Limitation Act 1980 applies only to actions brought by virtue of a relevant provision, which are section 1 or section 2A of the Defective Premises Act 1972 and section 38 of the Building Act 1984. The period is fifteen years prospectively. The thirty-year period in section 4B(4) applies where the right of action under section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 accrued before section 135 of the Building Safety Act 2022 came into force.

Does an expired limitation period mean a professional indemnity policy will not respond?

Not by itself. Limitation is a defence the insured firm and its insurers can raise against the claimant; it is not a coverage question. A claim that is time-barred still has to be notified, investigated and defended, and defence costs are usually the main cost of a limitation argument. Whether the policy responds depends on the policy wording and on when the claim or circumstance was notified.

References

• Limitation Act 1980 (legislation.gov.uk) — sections 2, 4B, 5, 14A, 14B and 32
• Latent Damage Act 1986 (legislation.gov.uk) — inserted sections 14A and 14B
• Building Safety Act 2022, section 135 (legislation.gov.uk) — inserted section 4B
• Defective Premises Act 1972, section 1 (legislation.gov.uk)

This page is insurance information, not legal advice. Statutory references and case citations are stated as at August 2026 and were checked against legislation.gov.uk and the National Archives Find Case Law service. If limitation or contractual liability is live on a matter, take your own legal advice.

Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 724952). This page is general information, not advice on a specific policy.