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Debt Advice Handbook Scotland 1st ed - with new material

2. Short negative prescription (five years)

• Debts covered by the five-year prescription period
• What the law says
• When does prescription start running
• What is a relevant claim
• What is a relevant acknowledgement

Short negative prescription lasts five years. It usually covers most unsecured debts.

Schedule 1 of the Prescription and Limitation Act 1973 Act details which debts are covered by short negative prescription, and which are not. So, unless the creditor protects its claim by taking action or the client makes a payment or writes to the creditor to acknowledge the debt, it prescribes after five years have passed, meaning it is ‘extinguished’ (see here).