Section 14A can push the limitation date a long way beyond the ordinary six years, because it runs from knowledge rather than from the wrongdoing. Parliament balanced that with section 14B, also inserted by the Latent Damage Act 1986. Section 14B provides that an action for damages for negligence, other than for personal injury, shall not be brought after the expiration of fifteen years from the date of the act or omission alleged to constitute negligence and to which the damage is alleged to be attributable.
The longstop bites even where the cause of action has not yet accrued, and even where the claimant neither knew nor could have known of the damage. It is a hard cut-off measured from the defendant's conduct, not from the claimant's loss.
Section 14B applies to claims in negligence. It does not apply to claims in contract. A claimant with a contractual retainer keeps the six-year period under section 5, or twelve years under section 8 where the appointment was executed as a deed, and those periods run on their own terms without reference to section 14B.
That distinction has real consequences in construction and consultancy. A consultant appointment executed as a deed in 2012 remains within the twelve-year contractual period until 2024 regardless of section 14B, and a collateral warranty given to a funder or tenant on the same project will usually have been executed as a deed as well. Practices on the engineers PI pillar and the quantity surveyors PI pillar should assume the deed period, not the tort period, is the operative number on most commissions.
The longstop does not apply where section 32 is engaged. Section 32(5) disapplies section 14B in cases of deliberate concealment and related conduct, so a defendant who has concealed a relevant fact cannot rely on the fifteen-year cut-off.
Statutory regimes can also displace the ordinary position. The Defective Premises Act 1972 carries its own limitation treatment, which was altered substantially by the Building Safety Act 2022, and claims under that route are not governed by section 14B.
Because the period runs from the act or omission rather than from completion, a long project can produce several different longstop dates on the same job. Concept design, technical design, a change instruction issued during construction and a defects-period inspection are separate acts, each with its own fifteen-year date. A firm that closes a project file in one year may still be within the longstop on early-stage work for more than a decade.
Advisory practices face a shorter practical tail but the same structure. A strategy or systems recommendation made once and relied on for years produces one act with one longstop date, which is why documentation of the date and scope of each engagement matters for firms on the management consultants PI pillar.
Professional indemnity responds to the claim when it is made, so a firm needs cover in force throughout the period during which a claim can still be brought. Section 14B sets an outer boundary for tort claims, but the contractual and deed positions frequently extend beyond it. Apex Insurance Brokers looks at the appointment documents rather than the statute alone when advising on how long cover should be maintained.
Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Firm reference number 724952. This entry is general information, not advice on any particular policy.