Week of 5 to 12 October 2026
Legislative, regulatory and case-law review
I. Legislation and regulation
Energy renovation: precautionary suspension of quality labels and approvals
Decree No. 2026-935 of 7 October 2026, published in the Journal officiel on 9 October, came into force the following day. Implementing the Law of 30 June 2025 against fraud in public aid, it sets the conditions under which the French consumer protection and anti-fraud authority (DGCCRF) may suspend, as a precautionary measure, the quality label on which public aid for energy-saving or renewable-energy works depends. The same measure may apply to the approval provided for in Article L. 232-3 of the Energy Code. The suspension lasts six months and may be renewed once.
The decree protects homeowners: a household that has already been granted aid keeps it, even if the contractor later loses its label. For construction firms the risk changes in kind, since a suspension can now be imposed before any final decision and immediately dry up their subsidised order book.
II. Case law
Co-ownership provisional administrator: no notice to the prosecutor for a replacement
Cass. 3e civ., 1 October 2026, No. 25-13.593.
Hearing an appeal against a judgment of the Nancy Court of Appeal, the Cour de cassation draws a distinction. An application to appoint a provisional administrator under Article 29-1 of the Law of 10 July 1965 must be communicated to the public prosecutor; an application to replace that administrator need not be. The appeal is dismissed.
The ruling lightens the procedure once the measure is under way: failure to notify the prosecutor can no longer be raised as a ground of nullity at the replacement stage, while it remains required for the initial appointment.
Water damage and common parts under exclusive use: the co-ownership rules cannot exclude the syndicate’s liability
Cass. 3e civ., 17 September 2026, No. 24-20.973, published in the Bulletin.
The Court quashes a Lyon Court of Appeal judgment that had dismissed a tenant’s claim against the syndicate of co-owners. The co-ownership rules may make the co-owner who enjoys exclusive use of a common part responsible for its upkeep; they cannot, however, relieve the syndicate of its strict liability, without prejudice to its recourse actions. The judgment, handed down in September, was first commented on early this month.
In practice, an occupant, tenant or shopkeeper suffering water ingress may sue the syndicate directly. It is then for the syndicate to turn against the holder of the exclusive-use right: the contractual allocation of maintenance has no effect on third parties.
The firm advises on French real estate and construction law.
Previous edition: Weekly Digest: Real Estate and Construction Law (28 September-5 October 2026)
Our practice: lawyer in French real estate law