Limitation Act 2010, ss 11–14, 47; Property Law Act 2007, s 9
Usually a lender has only six years to recover a debt. This time limit starts as soon as the debt is owed, unless you acknowledge the debt or pay part of it, in which case the time limit starts from the date you acknowledge the debt or the date of the last payment.
The precise rules here depend on how long ago you last made a payment:
If you last made a payment on or after 1 January 2011 (or if you weren’t required to make any payments until 2011), the lender generally has six years from when you stopped paying.
If you last made a payment before 2011, then the debt, if it comes from a simple contract, has to be recovered from you within six years. If it’s a debt acknowledged in a deed (for example, a hire-purchase contract might be in the form of a deed), the time limit is 12 years. (The requirements of a deed are set out in section 9 of the Property Law Act 2007.) The time limits start from when the debt is owed, unless the debt is acknowledged or is paid in part, in which case the time limit starts from the date of acknowledgement or the date of the last part-payment.