Does a private loan agreement eventually expire?

[Dreamtopping]

Hi, my ex and I took out a private loan agreement a number of years ago from the proceeds of sale from our house. My ex lent me almost 15 k.
The loan was drawn up by a Solicitor, but there was no date put on the paperwork for when I was to pay back the money.

As I've been substantially underpaid child support over the years, my ex has agreed to forget about the loan, but a quick Google check appears to say that loans expire after a certain period of time anyway, so I'm wondering if there's any point in us having the loan officially cancelled through a a Solicitor, as I don't want him to change his mind one day and decide to come after the money after all.

Yes, it applies regardless of how the agreement was drawn up. However, as another poster says, any conversation you had with your ex about forgetting the loan will have reset the clock. If, for example, you discussed it with him last month, the limitation period won't run out until August 2031. That applies even if you didn't speak to him about it for 10 years before this conversation. If your ex is in agreement, you really need to see a solicitor and sort this out properly rather than relying on the limitation period.

I posted in response because the statement “limitation on a basic loan is 6 years” is likely to be read by a non-lawyer to mean that the loan cannot be called in after 6 years from the loan being made.

This is correct. Limitation runs from when the cause of action accrues. In a loan with fixed repayment date(s) the cause(s) of action accrue once each repayment date has passed without a repayment being made. In a loan with no fixed repayment date, the loan is repayable on demand so the cause of action accrues on the date the demand for repayment is made, and the 6 years runs from then. It doesn’t sound as though your ex has made a demand for repayment yet so the fact that you’ve recently discussed the loan with your ex seems to be a red herring in any event.

@Elektra1 again you've misread and misquoted. I said typically. Also again, we don't have sufficient information.

No, I didn’t misquote you. You said “limitation on a basic loan is typically 6 years”. That statement does not make clear that limitation runs from the date the cause of action accrues, and that the cause of action accrues when the loan falls due for repayment. Most non-lawyers would understand your statement to mean that a loan expires 6 years after it was made. That is incorrect.

@Elektra1 you quoted

“limitation on a basic loan is 6 years”

Which was not correct. I was simply pointing out that was not what I actually said (ie) I was misquoted.

My point was that you should not make an unclear statement which other people may rely on to their detriment. Me leaving the word “typically” out of your statement does not affect that. I’m not sure what your point is.

My statement was not absolute. Hence the typically. Nit sure what you're struggling with really.

Yes they do. There is a statute of limitation on debt of 6 years. So it becomes unenforceable six years from the last time the debt was acknowledged in writing.

No they don’t expire. The Limitation Act provides a defence after six years. The loan still exists, it is just difficult to enforce. But if the OP has acknowledged the debt recently, limitation is not relevant.

Agree with this. After 6 years a debt can no longer be enforced through the courts, but it still exists. It won't happen in this case but, for example, it can still be put on the debtor's credit report, and the creditor may be able to take other actions to make the debtor pay.

However, as it seems OP may have recently spoken to her ex about the debt, the clock has probably been reset. If she wants to be safe, she needs to consult a lawyer and take proper steps to get the loan agreement terminated.

This is incorrect. The acknowledgement does not have to be in writing. It may be more difficult for the claimant to prove the acknowledgement if it wasn’t in writing, but there is no requirement that it be in writing. If there’s evidence that there was an acknowledgement (which can be a witness statement from the claimant, or depending on whether other people are aware of the circumstances, a witness statement from one of them), that can suffice. There’s a lot of misleading “knowledge” on this thread that does not accord with the law in England.

In practice they don't have any chance of recovery according to the FCA.

https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/CONC/7/15.html

I acknowledge it may be easier with a personal debt rather than a business debt which has to follow the rules.

The FCA isn’t relevant to a personal loan between former romantic partners.

I acknowledged it may be easier with a personal debt rather than a business debt which has to follow the rules.

It’s just not a regulated debt. The rules are different.

It was signed over 12' years ago, no I've not made any payments towards it.

Some posters on this thread don't fully understand the law. Your OP says your ex has agreed to forget about the loan. That discussion would almost certainly have reset the clock. It doesn't matter that the loan agreement was 12 years ago and you've never paid anything. What matters is when you most recently discussed it with your ex.

The debt will still be there but if you haven’t made a payment within 6 years or acknowledged the debt in writing in 6 years it just means the lender can’t use court to force you to pay, provided they haven’t already started any court action over the debt.

A discussion won’t reset the clock

It depends on the content of the discussion. The clock would be reset if OP acknowledged the existence of the debt, particularly if she did so in writing.

Op after the discussion could easily deny any knowledge of a conversation hence why if it went to court a discussion would be no good, written discussion would reset the clock a verbal discussion wouldn’t

So if I lend a friend £100 and get them to sign an acknowledgment of it, does the limitation period start to run only once I demand repayment? Or from the date of the loan agreement?

If all you have is an acknowledgement of the debt rather than a proper contract, the limitation period starts running when you make a written demand for repayment. However, if there is a contract specifying when the debt is to be repaid, the limitation period starts when the debt becomes outstanding.

Thanks everyone for your replies, this whole thing has initially been so confusing to me, because a limitation period can be assumed to start from when a loan agreement was made.
I understand, with your help, that this isn't the case, and that I'm best to ensure I have a watertight contract drawn up which nulls the original one.

I guess I thought I was being clever when I asked the Solicitor at the time to not put a repayment date on the contract (because I didn't want to be put under pressure to have to pay it back quickly, especially when I had our very young children to look after alone)
Now I know that although a large period of time has passed, the clock has reset because I've acknowledged the debt.

The only thing I'm not certain about (just out of curiosity as I'm going to make sure we can have a proper contract drawn up once again) is, if after a limitation period passes, (resulting in it making it more difficult for my ex to take legal action), could he potentially still make a claim for the repayment if I put my house up for sale for instance?

Or could he also come after the loan if something happened to me and go after it from my children's inheritance?