QCAT Limitation Period — Six Years for Queensland Simple-Contract Debts

You are owed money and you have been meaning to file a QCAT claim for months — maybe years. The debt is real, the evidence is clear, but life got in the way. The question is whether you have waited too long.

Under the Limitation of Actions Act 1974 (Qld), the standard limitation period for a debt arising from a simple contract or agreement is six years. Miss that deadline by even a single day and the respondent has a complete defence to your claim.

When the Clock Starts

The six-year period begins on the date the cause of action accrued — the legal way of saying the date the breach happened or the debt became payable. For common claim types:

• Unpaid invoice: the clock starts the day after the payment due date on the invoice. If your invoice said "payment within 30 days" and it was issued on 1 March 2020, the limitation period started on 1 April 2020 and expires on 1 April 2026.
• Loan repayment: the clock starts on the agreed repayment date — or on the date demand was made, if the loan was repayable on demand.
• Breach of contract: the clock starts on the date the breach occurred, not the date you discovered it. If a contractor walked off the job on 15 June 2020, your claim is statute-barred after 15 June 2026.
• Consumer guarantee breach: the clock starts when the goods or services failed to meet the guarantee.

What Resets the Clock

Two things can restart the limitation period:

A written acknowledgment of the debt. If the debtor sends an email saying "I know I owe you $5,000 and I'll pay next month," that written acknowledgment resets the six-year clock from the date of the email. The acknowledgment must be in writing — a verbal promise does not count.

A part payment. If the debtor pays any amount toward the outstanding debt, the limitation period resets from the date of that payment. A $50 bank transfer on a $10,000 debt restarts the entire six-year window.

This is why some debtors go silent and refuse to make any payment or acknowledge the debt — they are waiting for the limitation period to expire. And it is why sending a letter of demand early in the process, while the debtor might still respond in writing acknowledging what they owe, has strategic value beyond just proving you tried to collect.

What Happens If You File Late

If you file a QCAT application after the limitation period has expired, the respondent can raise the statute of limitations as a defence. It is a complete defence — meaning the tribunal must dismiss the claim regardless of the merits. You could have a perfect evidence trail, a signed contract, and a written confession from the debtor, and it would not matter.

The tribunal does not check the limitation period on its own. It is the respondent's defence to raise. In practice, this means a late claim could technically proceed if the respondent does not raise the defence — but relying on the other side's ignorance is not a strategy.

Other Claim-Specific Time Rules and Pre-Filing Steps

Some claim types have separate limitation periods or pre-filing requirements:

• Residential tenancy breach: General tenancy breach applications must generally be lodged within six months of becoming aware of the breach under the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 (Qld). For rental-bond disputes, lodge Form 2 within 26 weeks of the Notice of Unresolved Dispute (NUD) date.
• Dividing fence disputes: serve a formal Notice to Fence and allow one month before lodging Form 53.
• Personal injury: three years (but these rarely fall within QCAT's minor civil dispute jurisdiction)

These claim-specific rules apply separately from the six-year period for simple-contract debts. Always check whether your specific dispute type has its own limitation window or pre-filing step.

Practical Implications

If you are approaching year five of a six-year limitation period, file now. The QCAT process — demand letter, filing, service, the 28-day response window, mediation, hearing — takes months from start to finish. Starting late leaves no buffer for delays in service, adjournments, or scheduling.

If you are past the six-year mark, seek legal advice before filing. A solicitor or community legal centre can assess whether any acknowledgment or part payment reset the clock.

Our QCAT filing guide includes a Procedural Deadline Calendar and an Interest Calculation Worksheet — helping you track every critical date from the moment the debt became overdue through to enforcement.

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