The limitation period for a BC unpaid invoice is two years from the date the claim was discovered, with a separate ultimate limitation period of 15 years from the act or omission the claim is based on. Whichever expires first governs. Expiry does not automatically erase what you are owed, though it does remove your ability to pursue it through the courts, which is why the date matters more than most creditors realize until it has passed.
Key Takeaways
- BC’s basic limitation period is two years from discovery of the claim.
- A separate ultimate limitation period runs 15 years from the act or omission.
- The clock runs from discovery, not from the date on the invoice.
- A written, signed acknowledgment of liability can renew both periods.
- An acknowledgment counts even where the person refuses to promise payment.
- Certain claims follow different rules, so confirm before assuming the two years applies.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Limitation questions turn on the specific facts of each account and should be confirmed with a lawyer.
The Two-Year Basic Limitation Period
British Columbia’s Limitation Act came into force on June 1, 2013 and replaced a framework that used several different periods depending on the type of claim, some of them considerably longer than two years. The current Act sets a single basic period of two years for most civil claims, including ordinary claims for unpaid invoices.
When the Clock Starts
The period runs from discovery of the claim rather than from the invoice date. For a straightforward unpaid invoice, discovery usually aligns with the date payment became due and it became apparent the customer was not going to pay.
Discovery is where timing disputes arise. A customer who makes partial payments, sends reassuring emails, or negotiates in apparent good faith can genuinely obscure the point at which a reasonable creditor should have recognized the account was in trouble. Treating the payment due date as your working start date is the conservative approach and the one that protects you.
Why the Change Still Catches Businesses Out
More than a decade on, the single two-year period continues to surprise people, particularly anyone whose expectations were formed under the previous framework.
Businesses handling Vancouver debt collection files on assumptions predating the current Act are working from numbers that have not applied since 2013. Two years passes quickly on an account that was invoiced, chased intermittently, and then set aside while someone decided what to do with it.
The 15-Year Ultimate Limitation Period
Alongside the basic period, section 21 of the Act sets an ultimate limitation period. A court proceeding must not be commenced more than 15 years after the day on which the act or omission the claim is based on took place, even where the basic period has not expired.
That period was reduced from 30 years when the current Act came into force. The Province of British Columbia’s guidance on the Limitation Act sets out the change alongside the shift to measuring from the act or omission rather than from accrual.
For most commercial invoices the two-year period is the binding constraint, so the ultimate period rarely decides an ordinary account on its own. It matters where a claim was genuinely undiscoverable for an extended time, and it matters because the Act’s renewal mechanism reaches it.
What Renews the Clock in British Columbia
This is the most useful thing in this article, and most creditors never check for it.
Acknowledgment of Liability
Under section 24 of the Act, where a person acknowledges liability in respect of a claim before either limitation period has expired, the claim is not considered to have been discovered any earlier than the day the acknowledgment was made, and the act or omission the claim is based on is deemed to have taken place on that day.
Read that carefully, because it does two things at once. It resets the basic two-year period, and by deeming the act or omission to have occurred on the acknowledgment date, it also renews the 15-year ultimate period. An acknowledgment restarts both clocks rather than just the near one.
The Act also addresses a situation creditors run into constantly. An acknowledgment of liability for payment of a liquidated sum counts even where the person making it refuses to pay, or does not promise to pay, the sum or the balance still owing. A customer who confirms the amount while declining to commit to a payment date has still acknowledged the liability.
The Conditions That Apply
Two conditions govern. The acknowledgment must occur before the relevant limitation period has expired, since nothing in section 24 revives a claim that has already run out. It must also meet the Act’s requirements as to form, which generally means an acknowledgment in writing, signed by the person making it.
Whether a payment on account has the same effect, and on what terms, is addressed separately in the Act. What is clear is that your correspondence file may be worth considerably more than the invoice date suggests. Checking it before writing off an aged account is a short exercise with real upside, and it belongs in your accounts receivable management routine rather than in a scramble at year end.
What Expiry Actually Means
When a limitation period expires, what the Act addresses is the commencement of a court proceeding. The Supreme Court of British Columbia’s guidance on limitation periods puts it plainly: miss the period and you may be unable to bring the dispute to court at all.
That is not the same as the obligation vanishing. A limitation defence generally has to be raised by the defendant rather than applied automatically, and voluntary payment of an old debt remains proper.
The practical consequence is that an aged account has lost one specific remedy rather than all of them. Continuing to pursue payment through third-party collections can still produce recovery where litigation no longer can, which is why assessing an old file is worth more than assuming it is dead.
Claims That Follow Different Rules
The two-year period covers most civil claims, and the Act carves out others.
Some claims are exempted from the basic limitation period, and some carry periods set by other statutes entirely. Enforcing a claim is also a different exercise from bringing one, so the period that applies to a judgment you already hold is not necessarily the period that applied to the invoice behind it.
Before concluding that any particular account is inside or outside its window, confirm which rule applies to that type of claim. This matters most on larger commercial debt collection files, where being wrong in either direction is expensive.
Protecting Your Position on BC Accounts
Five steps keep accounts inside their window:
- Record a limitation date on every open account, calculated from when the claim was discovered rather than from the invoice.
- Flag accounts entering their final year for a decision rather than another reminder.
- Keep the correspondence trail, since an acknowledgment may have renewed both periods without anyone noticing.
- Escalate well before expiry, because a file handed over with weeks remaining severely limits what can be done with it.
- Review aged accounts on a schedule, since the files most likely to expire quietly are the ones nobody is looking at.
For smaller operators without a dedicated credit function, building this into a monthly review is usually more realistic than a formal policy, and it is where most small business debt collection exposure quietly accumulates.
Common Questions About BC Limitation Periods
The questions below come up constantly, and several of the answers surprise people.
Is my debt too old to collect in BC?
Possibly too old to sue on, which is a narrower question than whether it is collectable. The answer depends on when the claim was discovered and whether any acknowledgment occurred before expiry.
Does a partial payment reset the limitation period?
Payment on account is dealt with in the Act alongside acknowledgment, and the effect depends on the circumstances. Have it confirmed for your specific file, because the difference decides whether the account is actionable.
Does an email from the customer count as an acknowledgment?
It may, depending on what it says and how it is signed. An email confirming the balance is a stronger candidate than one apologizing for a delay without referencing an amount. Keep both, and have anything that might qualify reviewed before you treat an account as expired.
Does placing an account for collection stop the clock?
No. Only a qualifying acknowledgment or the commencement of a proceeding affects the period. Placing an account helps because it acts sooner, not because it extends anything.
What about an account that predates the current Act?
Transitional rules apply to claims discovered before June 1, 2013, and which framework governs turns on that discovery date. Very few ordinary trade receivables still sit in that category, though it is worth checking before dismissing a long-dormant file.
Find Out Which Accounts Are Still Actionable
Limitation periods are unforgiving, and the accounts most likely to expire quietly are the ones that have been sitting longest with the least attention.
Any receivable outstanding longer than a year deserves a straight answer to one question: how much time is left, and is it worth escalating before that time runs out. Bison Credit Solutions has been recovering receivables since 1992 and works commercial and consumer debt collection accounts on a contingency basis, with no charge where nothing is collected.
Contact Bison Credit Solutions to have your aged accounts assessed while options remain open.
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