Do the time limits for contractual liability expire this 7 October?

Do all contractual liability actions arising from purchases made in recent years expire on 7 October 2020?

With the amendment of article 1964 of the Civil Code in the 2015 reform of the Civil Procedure Act (LEC), the limitation period for personal actions, including actions for contractual liability, was reduced from 15 to 5 years.

The first final provision stated that the reform would come into force on 7 October 2015 and, as a “transitional regime” for purchases or any other legal relationship arising between 7 October 2005 and 7 October 2015, it set a limitation period for those actions ending on 7 October 2020.

We lawyers had that date marked in bold in our calendars, because from then on all limitation periods for personal actions would be standardised: from that point, there would be 5 years to bring an action rather than 15, and all earlier ones would “die” on that day.

However, with the declaration of the state of alarm by Royal Decree 463/2020 of 14 March, all limitation and expiry periods for any actions and rights were suspended, a suspension that was lifted on 4 June by Royal Decree 537/2020.

As a result, all time limits (including, for example, the time limits for bringing an action for contractual liability against a developer) are extended by a further two and a half months. Even so, it is better not to leave it until the last minute. If you have any questions, contact us. DPcon Reclamación daños constructivos.