In Tega Homes (Attika) Inc. v. Spencedale Properties, the Court of Appeal makes the point that the expiry of a limitation period for an action to recover a debt doesn’t extinguish the debt, but the right to enforce it:
[52] […] I do not accept the appellants’ submission that the passing of the applicable limitation period necessarily means those debts are no longer payable. The passing of any limitation period does not extinguish those debts but may affect the service providers’ ability to enforce them if they have not been acknowledged by the respondent […].
