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How long can I chase an unpaid invoice before it's too late?

The short answer

Six years. You have that long to start a court claim for an unpaid invoice1, usually from its due date, or twelve for a deed2. Chasing does not restart the clock, but a payment from them3 or a signed written admission4 starts it again from that day, if time is still running. Miss it and they can use the time limit as a defence6.

Mara, WolfX research desk
Written with AI, checked by a person · 8 October 2026

England and Wales only. WolfX is software, not a law firm.

The numbers

The time limits.

6 yearsTo start a court claim for an unpaid invoice, usually from the day it fell due.1

12 yearsIf the contract was made as a deed.2

6 yearsFrom a judgment, before you need the court's permission to send enforcement agents.7

What you can add

A £3,000 invoice, due 1 March 2021, still unpaid

Say you invoiced another business £3,000, due on 1 March 2021, and they have paid nothing. Counting from the due date, the safe last day to start a claim is 1 March 2027: 144 days from 8 October 2026. Interest starts the day after the due date, at 8% over the Bank Rate8 in force on 31 December 2020. That was 0.10%9, so 8.10% a year. By 8 October 2026 it is 2047 days late.

£3,000.00The invoice

£1,362.80Interest: £3,000 × 8.10% ÷ 365 × 2047 days9

£70.00Fixed sum (invoices from £1,000 to £9,999.99)10

£4,432.80Owed on 8 October 2026

Then it grows by £0.67 a day. Unless something restarts the six years, a claim for all of it must be started by 1 March 2027. Had they paid even £500 on 10 January 2024, the six years would have started again that day3 and run to 10 January 2030.

The road ahead

Five steps. One court fee, only if you need it.

Step 1: Find the day it fell due
Use the payment date you agreed, not the invoice date: under the Limitation Act 1980 the six years run from when the right to sue arose1, usually the day payment fell due. Add six years, or twelve for a deed2, and write that date on the file.
No date agreed? Count from the day you finished the work. Money for finished work is not usually due any sooner, so that is the safe count.
Cost: FreeTime: 5 minutes
Step 2: Look for a restart
Search your bank statements and emails for any payment from them towards it, of any size, and for anything they signed and sent you that admits the debt. Either one starts the six years again3 from that day, if it came before the six years were up.
The admission must be in writing and signed4, so a phone call does not count. Your own reminders do not count either.
Cost: FreeTime: 30 minutes
Step 3: Ask them to sign the balance
Send the letter below with a statement of account, and ask them to sign, date and return it. A signed copy starts the six years again from the day they sign.
Send it with at least 2 months left. A restart only works while time is still running: once the six years are up, a later payment or signature cannot revive the claim3.
Cost: FreeTime: Same day, then 14 days
Step 4: Still unpaid? Send a letter before action
If nothing is signed or paid by the reply-by date, send a letter before action, the last letter before a claim. A company usually gets 14 days to reply6.
A sole trader comes under the debt protocol instead, with more time to reply and its own forms. The page on letters before action covers both.
Cost: FreeTime: 14 days, longer for a sole trader
Step 5: Start the claim with time to spare
A claim starts when the court issues the claim form5, on the date the court enters on it, so a reminder you send, or a reply you wait for, stops nothing.
Claim online or by post12. The fee11 is £205 for a claim of £3,000.01 to £5,000, interest included.
Near the last day, start the claim without waiting out the letter before action: the pre-action steps do not change the time limit6, and you can ask the court to pause the claim.
Cost: £205 on this sumTime: 20 minutes online

A letter you can copy

Letter asking them to sign the balance

Send it when the six years end more than 2 months from now. If they end sooner, start the claim first.

New email

SubjectInvoice : please confirm the balance

Dear , I am writing about invoice , dated , for . It was due on , and my records show it has not been paid in full. Statement of account as at : Invoice , due : Payments received: Balance owed: Please confirm the balance is correct by signing and dating the line at the bottom of this letter and sending a copy back to me by . Could you also confirm the date on which the balance will be paid? If you believe any of this is wrong, please tell me before that date and say why. If I have not heard from you by then, I will send a letter before action, the last step before a claim in the County Court. Kind regards, ---------- To be signed by the customer: I confirm that is owed to on invoice . Signed: ______________________ Name: ______________________ Position: ______________________ Date: ______________________

Tap a highlighted gap to see what goes in it.

Send it by email and by post, so there is a dated record, and ask for the signed copy back as a scan or in the post. A phone call does not count. For a company, ask someone who can sign for it, such as a director or the finance manager, and ask them to add their position and the date.

When not to bother

When it isn't worth it

It is time-barred (statute-barred): six years passed, nothing restarted it. Check step 2 first. If there was no payment or signature, they can use the time limit as a defence6. You can still ask them to pay.
You already have a judgment. Enforcement has its own rule: six years after the judgment you need the court's permission7 to send enforcement agents, and must say why you waited.
They say they don't owe it. Then a signed balance is unlikely, and a letter restarts nothing. If the date is near, start the claim and let the court decide. See what happens when a client disputes an invoice.
The company was dissolved long ago. The time limit is the smaller problem: a dissolved company must be restored by a court before you can claim from it.
The claim would be heard in Scotland or Northern Ireland. The Limitation Act 1980 covers England and Wales1. Those courts have their own time limits, so ask a solicitor there before you rely on these dates.

The Wolf's note

Asking changes nothing on the calendar. A payment from them, their signature or a claim you have started does. Proof fades and companies can close well before the date arrives, so pick the day you stop waiting.

Mr. Wolf · the AI inside WolfX

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