When does a debt between private individuals become time-barred?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

In Catalonia, ten years from when payment could be demanded, which is the general time limit under the “Código Civil de Cataluña”, the Catalan Civil Code. For periodic payments, such as the rent under a tenancy, each payment becomes time-barred after three years. If the creditor claims the debt or the debtor acknowledges it, the time limit is interrupted and starts again in full. Limitation does not apply of its own accord but has to be raised by the debtor when a claim is made late. Under the Spanish Civil Code (“Código civil”), which applies in most of the rest of Spain, the general time limit is five years. The time limits in Catalonia These time limits apply when the debt is governed by Catalan law, which is the usual case if both parties live in Catalonia. The Catalan code distinguishes between: Ten years as a general rule. This is the time limit, for example, for a loan that had to be repaid in one go. Three years for periodic payments, those made yearly or at shorter intervals, such as the rent under a tenancy or interest paid every month. Each payment has its own time limit, which starts on the day it falls due. Also three years, among other cases, to collect payment for a service or for work carried out and to claim for damage caused outside a contract. If a loan is repaid in instalments, it is unclear whether each instalment is subject to the three-year time limit for periodic payments or the ten-year limit for the loan. The prudent course is to claim each unpaid instalment before three years have passed since it fell due. When the time limit starts The time limit starts when the debt can be demanded and the creditor knows, or could reasonably know, the facts and the person against whom the claim must be made. It is counted from date to date. For example, if a loan of 10.000 euros had to be repaid in one go on 1 March 2024 and is governed by Catalan law, it can be claimed until 1 March 2034, if no one interrupts the time limit before then. In most of the rest of Spain, with the five years under the Spanish Civil Code, the time limit would end on 1 March 2029. If no date was set for repaying the money, the moment when the time limit starts to run is open to dispute. The prudent course is to ask for repayment in writing and not to let the years go by without claiming. What changes the time limit Some situations interrupt or halt the time limit: It is interrupted by a claim by the creditor in court or in writing and by the debtor acknowledging the debt, for example by asking for more time to pay or paying part of it. The time limit then starts again in full. The time limit is suspended, that is, it stops running, between spouses until they separate, between the members of a Catalan stable partnership (“pareja estable”) while they live together and between parents and children while the children are under their parental authority, which normally lasts until they turn eighteen. Between parents and adult children, as a general rule, it does run. Even if the time limit has been suspended, the debt is extinguished in any event once thirty years have passed since it arose without anyone having interrupted the limitation period. If the creditor claims after the time limit has expired, the debtor must plead limitation to avoid paying, because the judge does not apply it unless someone raises it.