Garantie Décennale Explained: France's 10-Year Builder's Warranty

The garantie décennale (decennial liability, or ten-year builder's warranty) is France's mandatory ten-year cover for builders. Created by the loi Spinetta of 1978 and set out in Code civil article 1792, it makes a builder answerable for defects that threaten a structure's soundness or make it unfit to live in, for ten years after the works are accepted.

You'll see it written four ways: garantie décennale, decennial liability, ten-year builder's warranty, and assurance décennale (the policy itself). They mean the same thing. The rule dates back to the loi Spinetta of 1978, the law that built France's whole construction-insurance system.

Two tests decide whether a defect falls under it, and both come from Code civil article 1792. The first is "solidité", the structural soundness of the building. The second is "impropriété à destination", meaning the building can no longer be used for its purpose. Fail either test, and the builder is on the hook. The duty falls on the constructor: the entrepreneur, architect, engineer, or artisan who did the work. You can read the official summary on France's public-service site, service-public.gouv.fr. Internationally, this kind of cover is also called Inherent Defect Insurance.

Yes, it applies to foreign builders. Any builder working on French soil must carry decennial insurance, whatever their nationality or where their business is registered. The duty covers contractors, architects, engineers, artisans, and auto-entrepreneurs (self-employed micro-businesses). There's no exemption for small operators, and the cover must be active before the first day on site.

1. 1Building firms and contractors of any size
2. 2Architects and engineers who design or oversee the work
3. 3Artisans such as masons, roofers, and electricians
4. 4Auto-entrepreneurs and micro-entrepreneurs in the building trades, with no small-business exemption
5. 5Foreign and expat builders carrying out works in France, regardless of where the company is based

The rule comes from Code des assurances article L241-1: anyone whose decennial liability can be engaged must be insured, and must prove it when the site opens. Subcontractors are a special case. A subcontractor generally isn't bound directly, because they have no direct contract with the client, but the main contractor's ten-year liability still runs. French-speaking builders can also read our garantie décennale French guide. If you're an English-speaking artisan setting up in France, here's the point I'd underline. The cover applies to works carried out in France, and it must be in force before your first chantier (building site). Not after the deposit clears. Before.

Decennial liability covers damage that undermines a building's structure or makes it unfit for its purpose. That includes foundations, load-bearing walls, the frame, and a roof that no longer keeps water out. It doesn't cover cosmetic flaws, normal wear, poor upkeep, or damage that someone else caused.

The scope of covered damage is set out on service-public.gouv.fr. One grey area is worth flagging. Recent rulings from the Cour de cassation have narrowed cover for equipment simply added to an existing building, such as a heat pump that isn't built into the structure. Those items can fall to ordinary contractual liability, with a shorter limitation period, instead of the ten-year guarantee.

France gives an owner three separate guarantees after the works are accepted. They start on the same day but run for different lengths and cover different problems. Owners often claim under the wrong one.

All three run from the same réception date, the day the works are formally accepted. The routing question is simple. A cracked tile a few weeks after handover is usually a biennial or manufacturer matter. A structural crack in a wall is a décennale matter.

The garantie décennale lasts ten years. The clock starts the day after the procès-verbal de réception (the acceptance report) is signed, under Code civil article 1792-4-1. A defect has to appear within those ten years to be claimable. Without a formal réception, there's no clean start date.

That last point is a common trap. If you never sign a proper acceptance report, the ten-year window has no firm beginning, which makes a later claim harder to pin down. So the réception isn't paperwork to skip. It's the moment that starts your protection. The official duration is confirmed on service-public.gouv.fr. And here's one thing owners rarely expect to hear as good news: the policy generally survives the builder's bankruptcy, so you can usually still claim on it if the firm has closed.

A builder who works without decennial insurance faces up to €75,000 and/or up to six months in prison, under Code des assurances article L243-3. For the owner, the bigger danger is financial. Hire an uninsured builder, and you could end up paying for structural repairs yourself.

There's one gap worth knowing. Self-builders (auto-constructeurs) putting up a building for their own family to live in are exempt from that criminal penalty, as the service-public.gouv.fr guidance confirms. They still carry the underlying civil liability, though, so the ten-year exposure doesn't disappear. And in practice, enforcement of the penalty can be uneven. That's a reason to protect yourself rather than lean on the threat of a fine.

The attestation d'assurance décennale is the builder's insurance certificate. Before you sign a quote, check six things on it: the insurer, the policy number, the validity dates, the scope of cover, the geographic area, and the exact activities listed. Only the activities named on the certificate are actually covered.

1. 1Insurer identity a named, real insurance company
2. 2Policy number present and legible
3. 3Validity period it must cover the dates of your works
4. 4Scope of guarantee it says décennale, not just general liability
5. 5Geographic area France, and ideally your region
6. 6Declared activities your exact type of work is listed by name

That scope check catches the mistake I see expat owners make most. A builder hands over a smart-looking certificate, everyone relaxes, and nobody notices it's an RC pro (public liability) certificate, not a décennale one. The two are not interchangeable. RC pro covers day-to-day accidents on site; only the décennale covers a structural defect ten years later. Read the scope line, not just the letterhead.

The declared-activities line matters just as much. If your project is a roof and the certificate lists only tiling, the roof work may not be covered. The certificate must be handed over before the chantier opens, and under rules in force since 2016 it's attached to quotes (devis) and invoices. When you buy a property with an unexpired ten-year guarantee, the attestation is annexed to the deed of sale, which is useful for expat buyers checking what protection they inherit. You'll find the official rule on providing the certificate before works at service-public.gouv.fr.

These three covers protect different people. The garantie décennale is the builder's ten-year cover for structural defects. Dommages-ouvrage is the owner's policy that pays for repairs fast, before blame is settled. RC pro (professional indemnity) covers a professional's everyday third-party liability, and never replaces décennale.

The décennale and dommages-ouvrage together form France's "double-trigger" system. The owner's policy pays for the repair straight away, then claims back from the builder's decennial insurer, so you aren't left waiting years for a court to decide who's at fault. RC pro is a different animal, and so is the personal "responsabilité civile" bundled into home insurance. Neither one stands in for décennale.

If a structural defect appears within the ten years, you activate the guarantee ("faire jouer la garantie"). The process is procedural, and doing it in order protects your claim.

1. 1Document the defect. Take dated photos, keep the acceptance report, and note when the problem appeared.
2. 2Write a registered letter. Send a lettre recommandée (formal registered notice) to the builder and to their insurer, naming the décennale.
3. 3The insurer opens a claim. They register it and appoint an expert.
4. 4The expert assesses. They examine the damage and decide whether it falls under the guarantee.
5. 5Repair or compensation follows. If the claim is accepted, the insurer funds the fix. If it's refused, try mediation through the Médiateur de l'assurance before going to court.

If the builder has closed (entreprise fermée), contact the insurer directly using the attestation you kept. That's one more reason to file that certificate somewhere safe on day one. Owners who took out dommages-ouvrage can usually claim on that first for speed, and the insurer then recovers from the builder's décennale.

Decennial insurance in France typically runs from a few hundred euros to around €8,000 a year, depending on the trade. A drywall installer might pay near €1,200, while a new-build construction SME can reach €8,000. These are indicative public figures, not DigiCare rates.

Four things move the price: the risk band of the trade, annual turnover, the type of work, and claims history. A widely quoted international rule-of-thumb puts construction cover at around 1.5% of the structure's value, including the technical inspections France requires. The figures above are drawn from publicly available guides and are illustrative only.

The takeaway splits by who you are. If you build in France, carry decennial insurance before your first chantier, and list every activity on the certificate. If you own or buy, check the builder's attestation and think about dommages-ouvrage.

When you're ready, get a décennale quote, or read our dommages-ouvrage and professional indemnity guides. DigiCare is an independent broker; the French insurers behind these policies are supervised by the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR).