How long do you have to sue someone? Time limits explained

Summary

Check the time limits for contract, negligence and personal injury claims in England and Wales. Practical help for litigants in person using the small claims court or fast track. This information applies to England and Wales. 1 Is this guide for you? 2 Time limits for breach of contract claims 3 Time limits for cases about negligence or breach of duty not involving injury 4 Time limits for personal injury claims 5 If you miss the deadline for starting your civil claim 6 FAQs about time limits in the civil court 7 Preparing and starting your claim in good time 8 Top tips about how to meet time limits in a civil case 9 What does it mean? 10 About this guide When you want to start a civil claim, there are strict time limits you must follow. These are called called limitation periods. The time limits are sometimes referred to as the ‘statute of limitations’. This guide explains the key limitation periods for common claim types — including breach of contract, negligence and personal injury — and who the rules apply to. Courts are very strict about these time limits so it is important to know how much time you have got to start your claim. We understand that figuring out court deadlines.

Key information

• •you are thinking about starting a civil claim in either England or Wales, and
• •your case involves a claim for £25,000 or less, and
• •you are representing yourself (you are a litigant in person) and not eligible to have your case paid for by legal aid, a trade union, or insurance.
• •family cases (such as an application for a domestic violence injunction or a divorce),
• •housing disrepair cases involving housing possession including mortgage possession,
• •injunctions (including court claims about anti-social behaviour),
• •cases involving defamation (that is libel or slander), or
• •a tribunal case (such as a discrimination or employment case).
• •Before you start your claim, the court expects you to have gone through various processes with your opponent. These include communicating and exchanging information with them, and negotiating to try to resolve the problem without going to court. If you haven’t allowed enough time to work at trying to settle your claim before starting the case, you are likely to find the court imposes sanctions on you. See our guide to pre-action conduct and pre-action protocols.
• •You will often need to give your evidence to the court when you start your claim and, depending on the type of claim, it can take a long time to get it. Evidence can also be lost for all sorts of reasons so it is better to gather it as soon as you can. See our separate guide to the evidence needed to take someone to court.
• •It can be very difficult to identify the correct defendant (see our separate guide to identifying the correct defendent in a civil claim). If you have left it close to the deadline to start court proceedings, you may find out too late that you have got the wrong defendant, or that it would have been a good idea to include a second defendant.
• •Once your claim has started, there is an automatic court timetable to follow. For many steps you might only have two or four weeks in which to carry out the task. If you aren’t well prepared before you start the case proceedings, you may find it very difficult to manage to do this.

Practical guidance

• •Source: [How long do you have to sue someone? Time limits explained](https://www.advicenow.org.uk/get-help/going-court/small-claims-and-civil-court/time-limits-suing-someone)

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