11. Building Guarantees in France

1. 11.1. Ten Year Building Guarantee
2. 11.2. Builders Ten Year Insurance
3. 11.3. Householder Defects Insurance

11.1. Ten Year Building Guarantee - Assurance Décennale

If you engage a building contractor to undertake construction work then their work is guaranteed for a period of up to ten years.

The responsibility is referred to as la responsabilité décennale, with minor work guaranteed for a year, and major building work guaranteed for the full period.

In order to improve the enforceability of this rule, and reduce litigation between client and building contractor, the law requires both client and building contractor to take out insurance cover.

The policies provide a ten year guarantee against defects in the workmanship.

The builders insurance is called assurance décennale whilst the insurance taken out by the client is called assurance dommages-ouvrage.

These policies are similar to latents defects guarantees that operate in the United Kingdom and many other countries.