How long do I have to make a claim?

A deadline that runs in silence

Unlike almost everything else in insurance, limitation gives no warning. No letter arrives saying six months are left. One day the action simply can no longer be brought.

It is a one-sentence article, but one of the most consequential.

What the law says

Actions arising from an insurance contract lapse after two years for damage insurance and five years for personal insurance. The provision adds no further nuance: the distinction is by type of policy.

Damage insurance covers assets: home, motor, commercial, liability, legal expenses, residents’ communities. Personal insurance relates to the life, bodily integrity or health of the insured: life, accident, health.

It is worth not confusing this with the other deadlines in the same file. Reporting the claim is seven days. Challenging an expert report is thirty or one hundred and eighty. Limitation is the outer boundary: the time available to bring the action under the contract.

An example

Water damage in a home is damage insurance: the period is two years. A file that gets stuck, is set aside and picked up three years later may find the action has lapsed.

A benefit under a life policy is personal insurance: the period is five years. That is a meaningful difference where a beneficiary takes time to find out or to gather documents.

What it means in practice

That leaving a file “on hold” is not neutral. As long as the action is not brought, the clock keeps running.

And that when a matter drags on, it is worth knowing which of the two periods applies, because the margin is not the same on a home policy as on a life one.