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Someone cashed a cheque I wrote 17 months ago - don't they expire after 6 months?
Comments
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You seem to have conveniently ignored the part that says "In other words, cheques don’t have an expiry date"Manxman_in_exile said:
This is one response I got to a thread I started some years ago about my bank not accepting a cheque after six months. I have formatted in bold the bits that seem to be relevant to the six years question:Jumblebumble said:
...I struggle to understand why you think a cheque will become invalid after 6 years. It is as i understand an unconditional promise to pay...macman said:Cheque guarantee cards were scrapped a decade ago (2011) and even then they were limited to £100: not much use for buying a car.
...I still understand that the validity of a cheque is not relevant to they validity of the debt
Cheques and Cheque Clearing | Cheque & Credit Clearing Company (chequeandcredit.co.uk)No. A cheque is valid for as long as the debt between the two parties (i.e. the person writing the cheque and the person they give it to) exists. In other words, cheques don’t have an expiry date. However, it is common banking practice to reject cheques that are over six months old to protect the person who has written the cheque, in case the payment has been made another way or the cheque has been lost or stolen. This six-month timeframe is at the discretion of individual banks. It should not be assumed that cheques older than six months would automatically be rejected as the only definite way to cancel a cheque is for the person who wrote it to request that a stop be placed on it. If you have a cheque that you want to pay in that is more than six months old, your best course of action is to not pay it in and instead obtain a replacement from the person who gave it to you. Where there is a dispute, a cheque remains legally valid in order to provide proof of the existence of a debt for a period of six years, which is the Statute of Limitations"
That appears - to me at least - to say that cheques remain valid for a period of six years. If they in fact remained valid indefinitely, I would expect them to mention that fact as it would seem directly relevant to answering any question about whether cheques are only valid for six months. Wouldn't you agree?
Out of date cheques — MoneySavingExpert Forum
...After all the Bank of England could say that if you produce a withdrawn £10.00 note that has been out of circulation for more than 6 years that they wont pay but they dont...Are you sure that point is relevant to this question?
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I would interpret that as meaning "an expiry date any earlier than the usual rules of prescription", given we're starting from the belief that they automatically expire after six months.p3ncilsharpener said:
You seem to have conveniently ignored the part that says "In other words, cheques don’t have an expiry date"Manxman_in_exile said:
This is one response I got to a thread I started some years ago about my bank not accepting a cheque after six months. I have formatted in bold the bits that seem to be relevant to the six years question:Jumblebumble said:
...I struggle to understand why you think a cheque will become invalid after 6 years. It is as i understand an unconditional promise to pay...macman said:Cheque guarantee cards were scrapped a decade ago (2011) and even then they were limited to £100: not much use for buying a car.
...I still understand that the validity of a cheque is not relevant to they validity of the debt
Cheques and Cheque Clearing | Cheque & Credit Clearing Company (chequeandcredit.co.uk)No. A cheque is valid for as long as the debt between the two parties (i.e. the person writing the cheque and the person they give it to) exists. In other words, cheques don’t have an expiry date. However, it is common banking practice to reject cheques that are over six months old to protect the person who has written the cheque, in case the payment has been made another way or the cheque has been lost or stolen. This six-month timeframe is at the discretion of individual banks. It should not be assumed that cheques older than six months would automatically be rejected as the only definite way to cancel a cheque is for the person who wrote it to request that a stop be placed on it. If you have a cheque that you want to pay in that is more than six months old, your best course of action is to not pay it in and instead obtain a replacement from the person who gave it to you. Where there is a dispute, a cheque remains legally valid in order to provide proof of the existence of a debt for a period of six years, which is the Statute of Limitations"
That appears - to me at least - to say that cheques remain valid for a period of six years. If they in fact remained valid indefinitely, I would expect them to mention that fact as it would seem directly relevant to answering any question about whether cheques are only valid for six months. Wouldn't you agree?
Out of date cheques — MoneySavingExpert Forum
...After all the Bank of England could say that if you produce a withdrawn £10.00 note that has been out of circulation for more than 6 years that they wont pay but they dont...Are you sure that point is relevant to this question?
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No, it means exactly what it says. They don't have an expiry date. Because they don't.user1977 said:
I would interpret that as meaning "an expiry date any earlier than the usual rules of prescription", given we're starting from the belief that they automatically expire after six months.p3ncilsharpener said:
You seem to have conveniently ignored the part that says "In other words, cheques don’t have an expiry date"Manxman_in_exile said:
This is one response I got to a thread I started some years ago about my bank not accepting a cheque after six months. I have formatted in bold the bits that seem to be relevant to the six years question:Jumblebumble said:
...I struggle to understand why you think a cheque will become invalid after 6 years. It is as i understand an unconditional promise to pay...macman said:Cheque guarantee cards were scrapped a decade ago (2011) and even then they were limited to £100: not much use for buying a car.
...I still understand that the validity of a cheque is not relevant to they validity of the debt
Cheques and Cheque Clearing | Cheque & Credit Clearing Company (chequeandcredit.co.uk)No. A cheque is valid for as long as the debt between the two parties (i.e. the person writing the cheque and the person they give it to) exists. In other words, cheques don’t have an expiry date. However, it is common banking practice to reject cheques that are over six months old to protect the person who has written the cheque, in case the payment has been made another way or the cheque has been lost or stolen. This six-month timeframe is at the discretion of individual banks. It should not be assumed that cheques older than six months would automatically be rejected as the only definite way to cancel a cheque is for the person who wrote it to request that a stop be placed on it. If you have a cheque that you want to pay in that is more than six months old, your best course of action is to not pay it in and instead obtain a replacement from the person who gave it to you. Where there is a dispute, a cheque remains legally valid in order to provide proof of the existence of a debt for a period of six years, which is the Statute of Limitations"
That appears - to me at least - to say that cheques remain valid for a period of six years. If they in fact remained valid indefinitely, I would expect them to mention that fact as it would seem directly relevant to answering any question about whether cheques are only valid for six months. Wouldn't you agree?
Out of date cheques — MoneySavingExpert Forum
...After all the Bank of England could say that if you produce a withdrawn £10.00 note that has been out of circulation for more than 6 years that they wont pay but they dont...Are you sure that point is relevant to this question?
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But they're still only "valid for as long as the debt between the two parties exists".p3ncilsharpener said:
No, it means exactly what it says. They don't have an expiry date. Because they don't.user1977 said:
I would interpret that as meaning "an expiry date any earlier than the usual rules of prescription", given we're starting from the belief that they automatically expire after six months.p3ncilsharpener said:
You seem to have conveniently ignored the part that says "In other words, cheques don’t have an expiry date"Manxman_in_exile said:
This is one response I got to a thread I started some years ago about my bank not accepting a cheque after six months. I have formatted in bold the bits that seem to be relevant to the six years question:Jumblebumble said:
...I struggle to understand why you think a cheque will become invalid after 6 years. It is as i understand an unconditional promise to pay...macman said:Cheque guarantee cards were scrapped a decade ago (2011) and even then they were limited to £100: not much use for buying a car.
...I still understand that the validity of a cheque is not relevant to they validity of the debt
Cheques and Cheque Clearing | Cheque & Credit Clearing Company (chequeandcredit.co.uk)No. A cheque is valid for as long as the debt between the two parties (i.e. the person writing the cheque and the person they give it to) exists. In other words, cheques don’t have an expiry date. However, it is common banking practice to reject cheques that are over six months old to protect the person who has written the cheque, in case the payment has been made another way or the cheque has been lost or stolen. This six-month timeframe is at the discretion of individual banks. It should not be assumed that cheques older than six months would automatically be rejected as the only definite way to cancel a cheque is for the person who wrote it to request that a stop be placed on it. If you have a cheque that you want to pay in that is more than six months old, your best course of action is to not pay it in and instead obtain a replacement from the person who gave it to you. Where there is a dispute, a cheque remains legally valid in order to provide proof of the existence of a debt for a period of six years, which is the Statute of Limitations"
That appears - to me at least - to say that cheques remain valid for a period of six years. If they in fact remained valid indefinitely, I would expect them to mention that fact as it would seem directly relevant to answering any question about whether cheques are only valid for six months. Wouldn't you agree?
Out of date cheques — MoneySavingExpert Forum
...After all the Bank of England could say that if you produce a withdrawn £10.00 note that has been out of circulation for more than 6 years that they wont pay but they dont...Are you sure that point is relevant to this question?
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p3ncilsharpener said:
You seem to have conveniently ignored the part that says "In other words, cheques don’t have an expiry date"Manxman_in_exile said:
This is one response I got to a thread I started some years ago about my bank not accepting a cheque after six months. I have formatted in bold the bits that seem to be relevant to the six years question:Jumblebumble said:
...I struggle to understand why you think a cheque will become invalid after 6 years. It is as i understand an unconditional promise to pay...macman said:Cheque guarantee cards were scrapped a decade ago (2011) and even then they were limited to £100: not much use for buying a car.
...I still understand that the validity of a cheque is not relevant to they validity of the debt
Cheques and Cheque Clearing | Cheque & Credit Clearing Company (chequeandcredit.co.uk)No. A cheque is valid for as long as the debt between the two parties (i.e. the person writing the cheque and the person they give it to) exists. In other words, cheques don’t have an expiry date. However, it is common banking practice to reject cheques that are over six months old to protect the person who has written the cheque, in case the payment has been made another way or the cheque has been lost or stolen. This six-month timeframe is at the discretion of individual banks. It should not be assumed that cheques older than six months would automatically be rejected as the only definite way to cancel a cheque is for the person who wrote it to request that a stop be placed on it. If you have a cheque that you want to pay in that is more than six months old, your best course of action is to not pay it in and instead obtain a replacement from the person who gave it to you. Where there is a dispute, a cheque remains legally valid in order to provide proof of the existence of a debt for a period of six years, which is the Statute of Limitations"
That appears - to me at least - to say that cheques remain valid for a period of six years. If they in fact remained valid indefinitely, I would expect them to mention that fact as it would seem directly relevant to answering any question about whether cheques are only valid for six months. Wouldn't you agree?
Out of date cheques — MoneySavingExpert Forum
...After all the Bank of England could say that if you produce a withdrawn £10.00 note that has been out of circulation for more than 6 years that they wont pay but they dont...Are you sure that point is relevant to this question?
But doesn't that phrase you quote need to be read in the context of the immediately preceding phrase: "A cheque is valid for as long as the debt between the two parties ... exists"? .
The part you are quoting carries straight on from that phrase to say "In other words,... " [in respect of the debt between the two parties already referred to in the preceding phrase] " ...cheques don’t have an expiry date".
No doubt you will say I am wrong, but I would have thought the obvious meaning of that is that cheques don't have an expiry date so long as the underlying debt continues to exist. It follows that if the debt no longer exists because it is staute barred then that means the cheque is no longer valid.
I will be more than happy to be shown to be wrong on this as I still have the two cheques I referred to in the other thread. They are not over six years old yet, but presumably I could safely delay banking them for another four years as they will never expire?
(It was also discussed in the thread below. Cheques are said to be valid for up to six years but nothing is said about after six years - I presume because they no longer are valid after six years.
Halifax - depositing cheques - Page 2 — MoneySavingExpert Forum
They may be wrong of course)0 -
Cheques don't have an expiry date. By that I mean there is no law, or rule, that states a cheque cannot be cashed after a certain period of time. It can be cashed as long as the bank is willing to cash it. That may typically be 6 months, but nowhere is it said that it has to be that time period. If a bank chooses to allow a cheque to be cashed after 10 years, that's fine (perhaps not if you're the one who wrote it but anyway...)Manxman_in_exile said:p3ncilsharpener said:
You seem to have conveniently ignored the part that says "In other words, cheques don’t have an expiry date"Manxman_in_exile said:
This is one response I got to a thread I started some years ago about my bank not accepting a cheque after six months. I have formatted in bold the bits that seem to be relevant to the six years question:Jumblebumble said:
...I struggle to understand why you think a cheque will become invalid after 6 years. It is as i understand an unconditional promise to pay...macman said:Cheque guarantee cards were scrapped a decade ago (2011) and even then they were limited to £100: not much use for buying a car.
...I still understand that the validity of a cheque is not relevant to they validity of the debt
Cheques and Cheque Clearing | Cheque & Credit Clearing Company (chequeandcredit.co.uk)No. A cheque is valid for as long as the debt between the two parties (i.e. the person writing the cheque and the person they give it to) exists. In other words, cheques don’t have an expiry date. However, it is common banking practice to reject cheques that are over six months old to protect the person who has written the cheque, in case the payment has been made another way or the cheque has been lost or stolen. This six-month timeframe is at the discretion of individual banks. It should not be assumed that cheques older than six months would automatically be rejected as the only definite way to cancel a cheque is for the person who wrote it to request that a stop be placed on it. If you have a cheque that you want to pay in that is more than six months old, your best course of action is to not pay it in and instead obtain a replacement from the person who gave it to you. Where there is a dispute, a cheque remains legally valid in order to provide proof of the existence of a debt for a period of six years, which is the Statute of Limitations"
That appears - to me at least - to say that cheques remain valid for a period of six years. If they in fact remained valid indefinitely, I would expect them to mention that fact as it would seem directly relevant to answering any question about whether cheques are only valid for six months. Wouldn't you agree?
Out of date cheques — MoneySavingExpert Forum
...After all the Bank of England could say that if you produce a withdrawn £10.00 note that has been out of circulation for more than 6 years that they wont pay but they dont...Are you sure that point is relevant to this question?
But doesn't that phrase you quote need to be read in the context of the immediately preceding phrase: "A cheque is valid for as long as the debt between the two parties ... exists"? .
The part you are quoting carries straight on from that phrase to say "In other words,... " [in respect of the debt between the two parties already referred to in the preceding phrase] " ...cheques don’t have an expiry date".
No doubt you will say I am wrong, but I would have thought the obvious meaning of that is that cheques don't have an expiry date so long as the underlying debt continues to exist. It follows that if the debt no longer exists because it is staute barred then that means the cheque is no longer valid.
I will be more than happy to be shown to be wrong on this as I still have the two cheques I referred to in the other thread. They are not over six years old yet, but presumably I could safely delay banking them for another four years as they will never expire?
I'm not sure why you've brought debt into it as not every cheque is used as payment for a debt.
Obviously it won't be sensible to hold onto cheques for longer than 6 months as many banks will choose not to honour them (and I did say this in my initial reply.)0 -
I think you must be missing the point because nothing you have said in the above post is relevant to my question which was: "Surely cheques aren't still valid and legally binding after six years, are they?" to which Jumblebumble replied: "Why not ?... I once gave someone a cheque ... They lost it. My bank told me that they would pay out on it however long it took to be presented. In case anyone does not know if someone bounces a cheque then they can be sued for the value of the cheque with no consideration why the cheque was stopped and the court will find in their favour [my bold]"
I replied: "But after six years wouldn't any underlying debt be statute-barred? If the debt is barred, are you saying that a court would still declare a cheque over six years old valid? That seems a bit counter-intuitive to me and doesn't it render the limitation period rather meaningless? [Edit: I'm referring to cheques in general, not bounced cheques specifically]. If so, I didn't realise".
I also said: "... are you saying that if A owes B a debt, and A gives B a cheque in payment of that debt, but B mislays it for over six years (so that the original debt is statute-barred), that a court would still enforce payment of the cheque in those circumstances? As I suggested previously, would that not defeat the whole purpose of the Limitation Act?"p3ncilsharpener said:
Cheques don't have an expiry date. By that I mean there is no law, or rule, that states a cheque cannot be cashed after a certain period of time. ...Manxman_in_exile said:p3ncilsharpener said:
You seem to have conveniently ignored the part that says "In other words, cheques don’t have an expiry date"Manxman_in_exile said:
This is one response I got to a thread I started some years ago about my bank not accepting a cheque after six months. I have formatted in bold the bits that seem to be relevant to the six years question:Jumblebumble said:
...I struggle to understand why you think a cheque will become invalid after 6 years. It is as i understand an unconditional promise to pay...macman said:Cheque guarantee cards were scrapped a decade ago (2011) and even then they were limited to £100: not much use for buying a car.
...I still understand that the validity of a cheque is not relevant to they validity of the debt
Cheques and Cheque Clearing | Cheque & Credit Clearing Company (chequeandcredit.co.uk)No. A cheque is valid for as long as the debt between the two parties (i.e. the person writing the cheque and the person they give it to) exists. In other words, cheques don’t have an expiry date. However, it is common banking practice to reject cheques that are over six months old to protect the person who has written the cheque, in case the payment has been made another way or the cheque has been lost or stolen. This six-month timeframe is at the discretion of individual banks. It should not be assumed that cheques older than six months would automatically be rejected as the only definite way to cancel a cheque is for the person who wrote it to request that a stop be placed on it. If you have a cheque that you want to pay in that is more than six months old, your best course of action is to not pay it in and instead obtain a replacement from the person who gave it to you. Where there is a dispute, a cheque remains legally valid in order to provide proof of the existence of a debt for a period of six years, which is the Statute of Limitations"
That appears - to me at least - to say that cheques remain valid for a period of six years. If they in fact remained valid indefinitely, I would expect them to mention that fact as it would seem directly relevant to answering any question about whether cheques are only valid for six months. Wouldn't you agree?
Out of date cheques — MoneySavingExpert Forum
...After all the Bank of England could say that if you produce a withdrawn £10.00 note that has been out of circulation for more than 6 years that they wont pay but they dont...Are you sure that point is relevant to this question?
But doesn't that phrase you quote need to be read in the context of the immediately preceding phrase: "A cheque is valid for as long as the debt between the two parties ... exists"? .
The part you are quoting carries straight on from that phrase to say "In other words,... " [in respect of the debt between the two parties already referred to in the preceding phrase] " ...cheques don’t have an expiry date".
No doubt you will say I am wrong, but I would have thought the obvious meaning of that is that cheques don't have an expiry date so long as the underlying debt continues to exist. It follows that if the debt no longer exists because it is staute barred then that means the cheque is no longer valid.
I will be more than happy to be shown to be wrong on this as I still have the two cheques I referred to in the other thread. They are not over six years old yet, but presumably I could safely delay banking them for another four years as they will never expire?
I'm not saying there is such a law. I'm asking what the law is that says a cheque is still enforceable by a court more than six years after it has been drawn. I am not saying that no such law exists - I am asking what it is and where it is to be found.p3ncilsharpener said:
...It can be cashed as long as the bank is willing to cash it. That may typically be 6 months, but nowhere is it said that it has to be that time period. ...Manxman_in_exile said:p3ncilsharpener said:
You seem to have conveniently ignored the part that says "In other words, cheques don’t have an expiry date"Manxman_in_exile said:
This is one response I got to a thread I started some years ago about my bank not accepting a cheque after six months. I have formatted in bold the bits that seem to be relevant to the six years question:Jumblebumble said:
...I struggle to understand why you think a cheque will become invalid after 6 years. It is as i understand an unconditional promise to pay...macman said:Cheque guarantee cards were scrapped a decade ago (2011) and even then they were limited to £100: not much use for buying a car.
...I still understand that the validity of a cheque is not relevant to they validity of the debt
Cheques and Cheque Clearing | Cheque & Credit Clearing Company (chequeandcredit.co.uk)No. A cheque is valid for as long as the debt between the two parties (i.e. the person writing the cheque and the person they give it to) exists. In other words, cheques don’t have an expiry date. However, it is common banking practice to reject cheques that are over six months old to protect the person who has written the cheque, in case the payment has been made another way or the cheque has been lost or stolen. This six-month timeframe is at the discretion of individual banks. It should not be assumed that cheques older than six months would automatically be rejected as the only definite way to cancel a cheque is for the person who wrote it to request that a stop be placed on it. If you have a cheque that you want to pay in that is more than six months old, your best course of action is to not pay it in and instead obtain a replacement from the person who gave it to you. Where there is a dispute, a cheque remains legally valid in order to provide proof of the existence of a debt for a period of six years, which is the Statute of Limitations"
That appears - to me at least - to say that cheques remain valid for a period of six years. If they in fact remained valid indefinitely, I would expect them to mention that fact as it would seem directly relevant to answering any question about whether cheques are only valid for six months. Wouldn't you agree?
Out of date cheques — MoneySavingExpert Forum
...After all the Bank of England could say that if you produce a withdrawn £10.00 note that has been out of circulation for more than 6 years that they wont pay but they dont...Are you sure that point is relevant to this question?
But doesn't that phrase you quote need to be read in the context of the immediately preceding phrase: "A cheque is valid for as long as the debt between the two parties ... exists"? .
The part you are quoting carries straight on from that phrase to say "In other words,... " [in respect of the debt between the two parties already referred to in the preceding phrase] " ...cheques don’t have an expiry date".
No doubt you will say I am wrong, but I would have thought the obvious meaning of that is that cheques don't have an expiry date so long as the underlying debt continues to exist. It follows that if the debt no longer exists because it is staute barred then that means the cheque is no longer valid.
I will be more than happy to be shown to be wrong on this as I still have the two cheques I referred to in the other thread. They are not over six years old yet, but presumably I could safely delay banking them for another four years as they will never expire?
Obviously it won't be sensible to hold onto cheques for longer than 6 months as many banks will choose not to honour them (and I did say this in my initial reply.)
None of this is at all relevant to my question. I have not suggested anywhere that a bank is actually prevented from voluntarily honouring a cheque that has been drawn on it. What I'm asking is: "Where is the law that says a cheque remains legally enforceable after more than six years?". Please note again, I am not stating that there is no such law, I'm simply asking where the law is to be found that cheques remain payable after more than six years.
So, for the avoidance of doubt, what is the legal position regarding the following purely hypothetical scenario? A gives B a cheque in payment for "something". B mislays the cheque for, let's say seven years. B finds the cheque and tries to pay it in to his bank. The bank either says "No" because it's over six months old, or they accept it but the drawer's bank bounces it back "Refer to drawer" because it is over six years old, let alone six months. B asks A to issue a replacement cheque but A politely tells them to go away as the cheque has "expired" and they refuse to draw a new one.
What, if anything, can B do in that situation? (Let's say the cheque is for a significant amount of money and B does not want to let it go).
I don't want to put words into Jumblebumble's mouth, but I think their reponse would simply be that B sues A for the money and that a court would in some way direct A and/or the bank to honour the cheque because Jumblebumble believes that cheques never expire and that they can be enforced by the courts forever - or at least after over six years. [Edit: But see my post following this one.] I am not so certain that that is the case.
So my question is: Do you think that because there is no law saying that cheques definitely expire after a certain date, that a court would unquestionably enforce payment of a cheque that is more than six years old, even if any underlying legal obligation for A to pay B has long ago expired?
I'm not claiming that there is a law somewhere that says cheques expire after six years, I'm asking where the law is that says they do not expire and that courts would definitely enforce the payment of a cheque older than six years. I don't believe there is such a law but I am more than happy to be shown a judgment or a statutory provision that demonstrates that there is. I'd even be happy with the answer that there is no definite law one way or the other - but somehow I doubt that a court has never been asked to decide this question.
Just to clarify again - I am doubting the blanket proposition that, if called upon to do so, a court would simply enforce payment of a cheque more than six years old. I'm not saying they wouldn't - I'm saying that I doubt they would do so and I'd be interested to know what the legal basis for any decision enforcing payment would be.
I am not saying that cheques become invalid or unenforceable after six years - I'm asking why wouldn't they given that any underlying obligation to pay would be statute-barred after six years. (Because that still seems rather relevant to me).
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Just to add that Jumblebumble subsequently clarified after our exchange of views that their assertion that their bank had said they would honour a cheque "forever" was in respect only of a cheque backed by an old-style cheque guarantee card. (ie I'm not sure Jumblebumble was actually saying ALL cheques remain valid forever and not just guaranteed ones).
Such cards and guarantees no longer exist, of course, and I'm not making any claim at all as to how long such a guaranteed cheque would remain valid for.0 -
I'm not particularly interested in what Jumblebundle has to say about cheques being enforceable forever, as I said nothing at all about that.
For some reason though you decided to quote me saying cheques are valid indefinitely, and they are. They don't have an expiry date so they will be honoured for as long as the bank is willing to honour them.0 -
p3ncilsharpener said:
...For some reason though you decided to quote me saying cheques are valid indefinitely, and they are. They don't have an expiry date so they will be honoured for as long as the bank is willing to honour them.
Yes - I did quote you saying (as you did in the very first reponse to this thread) that cheques are valid indefinitely. And the reason for me quoting it was because I wanted to know what the legal basis for that assertion was. That was why I then asked: "Surely cheques aren't still valid and legally binding after six years, are they?"
In asking that question I am not making a statement that cheques definitely do expire after six years - rather I am asking why they would not expire after six years given that any underlying debt would be statute barred after six years.
The reason I am asking the question is not because I am accusing you of being wrong (which from the tone of your responses I suspect you do think) but because it seems to me to be an odd proposition that cheques have no expiry date - but I admit I do not know if that is the case or not. As I don't possess that knowledge I was asking the question in the hope of getting a definite answer from somebody who knew and could share that knowledge. And by a definite answer I was expecting a reference to something like a Court of Appeal decision or reference to some stautory provision that established that cheques have indefinite validity. Not just an unsupported statement that they do.
So, to try a different approach: I assume we can agree that after a cheque has been drawn there is a minimum period of time during which the drawer's bank cannot refuse to honour a cheque provided that the drawer's account holds sufficient funds. (Can we agree that point? I'm not entirely certain myself but I'd be very unhappy if my bank started bouncing cheques I had drawn for no reason when I had more than adequate funds in my account to cover those cheques. Can we agree it or not?)
Assuming we can agree on the preceding paragraph, can you tell me what the minimum period is after a cheque has been drawn that a bank could safely refuse to honour that cheque, without in some way being legally compelled to do so?
It seems to me that so far your answers have simply said that the length of "validity" of a cheque is decided solely at the whim of the bank, and that a cheque is valid for as long as the drawer's bank decides it is. But this seems an equally odd proposition to me, because surely there must be some minimum period of time after a cheque has been drawn during which the bank has no choice but to honour it? ie the cheque can be enforced. (NB - my use of the word "surely" does not necessarily signify a position that I am certain of - its use signifies that I am uncertain and am asking for confirmation, and a legal authority).
If (and I stress "if") I am correct that there is such a minimum period, then what is it? It seems extremely unlikely to me that that period would exceed six years, and for all I know that minimum period might be considerably less than that - I admit I don't know, but I feel it's unlikely to go beyond six years. Hence my original question. Can you enlighten me with an answer that provides some legal basis for what you have said? I honestly and sincerely want to know! I'm curious!
It might be that you disagree with all I've put above - which would be fair enough and an acceptable answer. But only acceptable if you can also explain in words of one syllable the reason(s) why you disagree with me or why I am completely wrong. The other answer that "It's only my opinion because there is no legal authority that decides this issue one way or another" would also be an acceptable and transparent answer.
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