Manufacturers' ten-year guarantee

Verified 31 January 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Manufacturers are required to take out ten-year civil liability insurance. It guarantees the repair of the damage that appears after the receipt of the work. We present you with the information you need to know.

Every manufacturer shall ensure that: lThe ten-year guarantee is mandatory for professional manufacturers and individuals who build for themselves.

It concerns new construction, extension and renovation of an existing building.

The professional builder may be an entrepreneur, a developer, a developer, a builder, an architect, a technician, a design office, a consulting engineer, a craftsman, a self-contractor.

It shall be linked to the contracting authority by a contract for the hiring of works.

The foreigner manufacturers must justify that their guarantee covers ten-year liability under French law for contracts executed in France.

The subcontractors are excluded from the scope of the ten-year guarantee, because they have no direct link with the developer. However, they shall be responsible for the obligations they have undertaken towards the manufacturer.

Warning  

The developer has the obligation to subscribe to a property damage insurance. It makes it possible to reimburse or carry out repairs covered by the ten-year guarantee without seeking the responsibilities of each of them.

The ten-year guarantee shall apply only to works which have been the subject of a construction site opening during the period of validity of the contract.

She's subscribed front the start of work.

Insurance covers faults which were not not detectable when the work is received.

The trader commits his liability in respect of developer and successive owners good.

He is responsible for disturbances affecting the solidity of the structure and render it uninhabitable or unsuitable for its intended use.

He is responsible for the faults that compromise the strength of the inseparable equipment of the works viability, foundation, framework, fence and canopy.

Only work declared in the manufacturer's insurance contract is covered.

Manufacturers' ten-year insurance covers damage to:

  • Foundation and framework works
  • Sustainability works (networks, sanitation)
  • Road (path)
  • Work with foundations (veranda, terrace, buried swimming pool...)
  • Inseparable equipment elements of the building (piping, ceiling, floor, central heating, door frames, built-in electrical installation...)

Before the construction site opens, the trader shall be obliged to contracting authority a ten-year civil liability insurance certificate.

Ten-year liability: model insurance certificate (individual contract)

In case of sale of a house in the 10 years according to its construction, a reference to the existence or absence of compulsory insurance must be annexed to the contract of sale.

The ten-year guarantee covers damage occurring after the work has been received by the developer for 10 years.

The timeout starts the day after the minutes of receipt of the work have been signed.

Warning  

Legal action against the manufacturer may not be brought more than 10 years after the works have been approved.

The ten-year guarantee shall not be affected by the insured person's bankruptcy.

It can be mobilized by developer which contains the insurer's contact details on the insurance certificate submitted by the manufacturer.

The name of the insurer can also be obtained from the liquidator responsible for collective proceedings open against the manufacturer.

Any builder who does not subscribe to a ten-year guarantee shall be punished by 6 months' imprisonment and/or a fine of €75,000.

This penalty shall not apply to a natural person constructing a dwelling to occupy itself or to occupy it by her spouse, ascendants, its descendants or her husband's.

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