How long can someone claim against a landlord, and how long must you keep the records?

In England, limitation is usually a court-enforcement deadline, not a record-retention rule. Scotland and Northern Ireland diverge in important ways, so the safest answer is to separate claim deadlines from how long you keep evidence.

How long can someone chase you for an old debt?

In England, Wales and NI a debt doesn't vanish after six years, it just becomes unenforceable in court — creditors can still ask you to pay. Only in Scotland does it cease to exist. For an old letting-agent invoice, checkout fee, rent balance or ordinary Housing Benefit overpayment demand against a landlord, the usual England and Wales rule is six years for a simple contract because “An action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued.” Rent arrears have the same six-year court limit: “No action shall be brought…to recover arrears of rent…after the expiration of six years from the date on which the arrears became due.” Northern Ireland also uses six years for simple-contract claims. Scotland is different: after five years without the required claim or acknowledgement, the obligation is “extinguished.” Tax and duty debts are the major exception, because HMRC says “there is no time limit for those debts.”

How long does a tenant have to bring a disrepair claim?

In England and Wales, a tenant normally has six years to bring a contractual disrepair claim, three years for a personal-injury element, and a 15-year longstop only for negligence claims. The six-year disrepair answer comes from the ordinary contract rule: “An action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued.” If the claim includes injury from damp, mould, defective stairs or other disrepair, the personal-injury period is three years because the Limitation Act says “the period applicable is three years from—”. The often-repeated 15-year disrepair point is narrower than many guides suggest: Shelter’s cited sections 25A and 25B do not exist, and the real longstop is section 14B, which says “An action for damages for negligence…shall not be brought after the expiration of fifteen years” from the act or omission. In Scotland, damages obligations generally prescribe after five years.

Can a tenant still claim for disrepair on a property you have sold?

In England and Wales, a tenant can still claim against you after you have sold the property for disrepair breaches that happened while you were the landlord. Selling the flat does not transfer your past liability to the buyer, because the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 says: “Any release of a person from a covenant by virtue of this Act does not affect any liability of his arising from a breach of the covenant occurring before the release.” The buyer is not automatically liable for the earlier period either, because on assignment “he shall not by virtue of this Act have any liability or rights under the covenant in relation to any time falling before the assignment.” That means a tenant who complained about mould before sale may still pursue the former landlord for the period before completion, while later disrepair is normally a matter for the new landlord. The 1995 Act “extends to England and Wales only”; Northern Ireland does not have that statutory protection for sellers after sale.

What is the time limit for a property misrepresentation claim?

In England and Wales, the usual time limit for a property misrepresentation claim is six years from exchange of contracts, not six years from completion. The general limitation rule is that “An action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued,” and Green v Eadie held that a Misrepresentation Act 1967 damages claim is “six years from the accrual of the cause of action and not 12 years.” The important property-specific correction is when that cause of action accrues: the High Court said the buyer suffered more than trivial loss “at the time that she entered into the Contract,” so the clock starts at exchange. Fraud, concealment or mistake can postpone that start date, because “the period of limitation shall not begin to run until the plaintiff has discovered the fraud, concealment or mistake…or could with reasonable diligence have discovered it.” Northern Ireland keeps the six-year simple-contract rule; Scotland generally uses five-year prescription.

How long should a landlord keep records?

A landlord in England should normally keep core tenancy, repair, rent, deposit and tax records for at least six to seven years, but gas safety and right-to-rent records have their own specific rules. There is no single landlord-records retention period: tax law treats letting as a business because “a person engaged in the letting of property shall be treated as carrying on a trade,” and HMRC says “You must keep your records for at least 5 years after the 31 January tax return deadline for each tax year.” Company landlords keep corporation-tax records to “the sixth anniversary of the end of the period” for the company return. Gas safety is not a flat two-year rule in Great Britain: the regulation requires the record to be “retained until there have been two further checks,” or two years after the last check for a removed appliance. In Northern Ireland, gas records are still kept for two years. Abodient can hold certificates against each property and show expiry and overdue compliance, which matters because the legal retention periods are not all the same.

How long do letting and estate agents have to keep files?

Estate agents and high-rent letting agents must keep anti-money-laundering files for at least five years, but ordinary lettings below £10,000 per month are not brought into AML file retention by the letting-agent rule. The AML regulations set a five-year period “beginning on the date on which the relevant person knows, or has reasonable grounds to believe” the transaction is complete or the business relationship has ended, and then say the firm “must delete any personal data obtained for the purposes of these Regulations” unless another legal basis or proceedings justify keeping it. The £10,000 point is the common trap: letting agency work is AML-regulated only where the property is let “at a rent which during at least part of the term is, or is equivalent to, a monthly rent of £10,000 or more.” Separate ombudsman and trade-body rules can be longer: The Property Ombudsman requires written records for “at least six years,” while Propertymark client-money records must be preserved for “six years” from the relevant accounting period or nil balance.

Last reviewed August 2026.

Sources

• Limitation Act 1980 s.5 — “An action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued.” Source
• Limitation Act 1980 s.19 — “No action shall be brought, and the power conferred by section 72(1) of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 shall not be exercisable, to recover arrears of rent, or damages in respect of arrears of rent, after the expiration of six years from the date on which the arrears became due.” Source
• Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 s.6 — “then as from the expiration of that period the obligation shall be extinguished:” Source
• Limitation (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 art.4 — “Subject to Articles 5, 7 and 9, the following actions may not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued—” Source
• HMRC Debt Management and Banking Manual DMBM595080 — “But Section 37(2) of the Act excludes proceedings for recovery of tax or duty and interest on tax or duty thus there is no time limit for those debts.” Source
• Limitation Act 1980 s.11 — “Except where subsection (5) below applies, the period applicable is three years from—” Source
• Limitation Act 1980 s.14B — “An action for damages for negligence, other than one to which section 11 or 11ZA of this Act applies, shall not be brought after the expiration of fifteen years from the date (or, if more than one, from the last of the dates) on which there occurred any act or omission—” Source
• Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 sch.1 — “(d)to any obligation to pay damages (whatever the source of the obligation);” Source
• Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 s.24 — “Any release of a person from a covenant by virtue of this Act does not affect any liability of his arising from a breach of the covenant occurring before the release.” Source
• Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 s.23 — “Where as a result of an assignment a person becomes, by virtue of this Act, bound by or entitled to the benefit of a covenant, he shall not by virtue of this Act have any liability or rights under the covenant in relation to any time falling before the assignment.” Source
• Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 s.32 — “This Act extends to England and Wales only.” Source
• Green v Eadie [2011] EWHC B24 (Ch) — “I therefore hold that the appropriate time period for a claim for damages under Section 2(1) of the Misrepresentation Act 1967 to become statute barred is six years from the accrual of the cause of action and not 12 years.” Source
• Green v Eadie [2011] EWHC B24 (Ch) — “However the facts are analysed, I cannot escape the conclusion that Mrs Green suffered more than trivial loss at the time that she entered into the Contract, and that is when, in my judgment the causes of action under Section 2(1) of the Misrepresentation Act 1967, and those in respect of the common law misrepresentation and breach of duty claims accrued.” Source
• Limitation Act 1980 s.32 — “the period of limitation shall not begin to run until the plaintiff has discovered the fraud, concealment or mistake (as the case may be) or could with reasonable diligence have discovered it.” Source
• Taxes Management Act 1970 s.12B — “(a)a person engaged in the letting of property shall be treated as carrying on a trade;” Source
• GOV.UK landlord income-tax guidance — “You must keep your records for at least 5 years after the 31 January tax return deadline for each tax year.” Source
• Finance Act 1998 sch.18 para.21 — “(a)the sixth anniversary of the end of the period for which the company may be required to deliver a company tax return, or” Source
• Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 reg.36 — “(c)ensure that a record in respect of any appliance or flue so checked is made and retained until there have been two further checks of the appliance or flue under this paragraph or, in respect of an appliance or flue that is removed from the premises, for a period of 2 years from the date of the last check of that appliance or flue, which record shall include the following information—” Source
• Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004 reg.36 — “(c)ensure that a record in respect of any appliance or flue so checked is made and retained for a period of two years from the date of that check, which record shall include the following information –” Source
• Right to rent code of practice — “You must retain a clear copy of the check for the duration of the tenancy and for one year after the tenancy has come to an end.” Source
• Money Laundering Regulations 2017 reg.40 — “Subject to paragraph (4), the period is five years beginning on the date on which the relevant person knows, or has reasonable grounds to believe—” Source
• Money Laundering Regulations 2017 reg.40 — “Once the period referred to in paragraph (3), or if applicable paragraph (4), has expired, the relevant person must delete any personal data obtained for the purposes of these Regulations unless—” Source
• Money Laundering Regulations 2017 reg.13 — “(ii)at a rent which during at least part of the term is, or is equivalent to, a monthly rent of £10,000 or more.” Source
• The Property Ombudsman general membership obligations — “Save where you are required to delete such records sooner under applicable law, you must keep clear and full written records for at least six years and produce them when required by the Ombudsman and/or any enforcement authority, such as Trading Standards.” Source
• Propertymark conduct and membership rules — “The records kept for the purpose of complying with this Rule must be preserved for six years from the end of the accounting period to which they relate, or from when the account shows a nil balance following a cessation of the contractual relationship between the parties, whichever is the later.” Source