Construction defects, abandoned sites, acceptance of works, perfect completion, two-year and ten-year guarantees, structural damage insurance, court-ordered expertise in France.
You are facing:
- defects appearing after acceptance of your works
- an abandoned site or a contractor in liquidation
- a builder or insurer refusing to intervene
- an acceptance to organise or reserves to have remedied
- a claim against you as a builder or design professional
French construction law rests on the acceptance of the works (Article 1792-6 of the Civil Code), which starts the statutory guarantees: perfect completion for one year, proper functioning for two years (Article 1792-3), and ten-year liability for defects compromising the structure or rendering the building unfit for its purpose (Articles 1792 and 1792-4-1). The structural damage insurance of Article L. 242-1 of the Insurance Code pre-finances repairs without waiting for liability to be determined.
The firm acts for project owners, private individuals, co-ownerships and companies, and for builders and design professionals who are sued.
The risk: defects worsening while those responsible blame each other
Faced with a defect, the project owner confronts a chain of participants: main contractor, subcontractors, architect, engineering firm, technical inspector, and their respective insurers. Each disputes its share, and time passes. The statutory guarantees are subject to strict time limits that are interrupted only by legal proceedings or an admission of liability.
An abandoned site or the liquidation of the contractor adds a financial risk: advance payments are lost if the contract provided no guarantee, and resumption of works by another contractor requires the state of the site to be recorded in a binding manner. Without acceptance, the statutory guarantees do not run and the structural damage insurance applies only in limited cases.
Are defects appearing or is your site at a standstill? A first conversation secures the evidence and identifies the guarantees available.
The legal solution: acceptance, insurance claim and adversarial expert appraisal
The strategy depends on when the defect appeared and how serious it is. Within a year of acceptance, the perfect completion guarantee obliges the contractor to remedy all defects reserved or notified. Beyond, the ten-year liability applies as of right, without proof of fault, to serious defects; others fall under ordinary contractual liability.
The claim to the structural damage insurer opens a sixty-day period for the insurer’s position and ninety days for a compensation offer. In parallel, the court-ordered expert appraisal obtained in summary proceedings under Article 145 of the Code of Civil Procedure establishes causes, liabilities and the cost of repairs in a manner binding on all.
How the firm assists you
The firm organises the evidence as soon as defects appear: report, formal notice, insurance claim, summons of all participants and their insurers to an expert appraisal. It follows the appraisal, submits observations, then negotiates compensation or sues on the merits.
Where a site is abandoned, it has the state of the works recorded, serves formal notice on the contractor, terminates the contract and organises completion by another contractor at the defaulting party’s expense. It also advises project owners at acceptance, the decisive moment when reserves and guarantees crystallise, and defends builders and their insurers in proceedings brought against them.
Typical matters
The situations below are illustrative scenarios drawn from the firm’s practice and anonymised.
Widespread infiltration through a flat roof
A co-ownership suffers recurring infiltration three years after acceptance. The firm files a claim with the structural damage insurer, obtains a court-ordered appraisal and funding for the complete renewal of the waterproofing.
Individual house, contractor in liquidation mid-works
A private owner’s builder is placed in liquidation with 60 % of the works completed. The firm has the state of the site recorded, calls upon the delivery guarantee and organises completion by another builder.
Architect sued for a design defect
An architect is sued over a structural defect. The firm shows that the defect results from a change in execution decided by the contractor and obtains the architect’s dismissal from the case.
Is your project facing one of these difficulties? Describe the situation and we will indicate the guarantees to mobilise and the timetable.
The same facts sometimes give rise to a different claim: against the seller rather than the builder, under hidden defects after purchase, or against the developer when the property was bought off-plan, under off-plan purchase and late delivery.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What does the ten year guarantee cover?
Damage that compromises the solidity of the structure, damage affecting one of its constituent elements or its equipment so as to render the work unfit for its purpose, and defects affecting the solidity of equipment that cannot be separated from the structure. The liability is automatic: once the damage falls within that definition the builder answers without the owner having to prove fault, and only an external cause relieves it. That presumption is what makes the guarantee so effective for owners.
Who can claim, and against whom?
The owner of the works and every subsequent owner, since the guarantee runs with the property. The claim lies against everyone bound to the owner by a contract of works: the contractor, the architect, the project manager, the technical inspector in certain conditions, and the manufacturer of an item of equipment designed for the works. A developer selling in a future state of completion is liable as well. Suing every participant and letting them apportion responsibility among themselves is standard practice.
What is damage insurance, and why does it matter?
It is the insurance the owner must take out before the works begin, which finances the repairs without waiting for liability to be determined and then takes over the owner’s claims against the builders by subrogation. Its value is time: the insurer pays and argues afterwards. Failing to take it out is a frequent and costly omission for private owners, and it affects resale too, since the buyer inherits a property without that protection for the remainder of the period.
What are the shorter guarantees?
The one year guarantee of perfect completion, under which the contractor repairs the defects reserved at acceptance and those notified during the following year, and the two year guarantee of proper functioning covering items of equipment that can be separated from the structure. Below those, ordinary contractual liability remains available for damage falling outside all of them. Identifying which guarantee applies determines both the defendant and the deadline, so the point is settled before anything is sent.
How is the claim proved?
By an expert report, almost always. Acceptance of the works is the pivotal act, since the guarantees run from it, and the reservations recorded at that moment shape what can still be claimed. Where the parties disagree, a court appointed expert is obtained in summary proceedings, and the report determines the nature of the damage, its cause, the apportionment between participants and the cost of repair. The case is generally decided by that document rather than at the hearing.
What are the deadlines?
Ten years from acceptance for the decennial guarantee, two years for the guarantee of proper functioning, one year for perfect completion, and the general limitation period for other claims. These periods are extinguished rather than merely suspended by inaction, and an amicable exchange with the builder does not stop them running. Where the deadline approaches and the expert’s report is not ready, proceedings are issued to preserve the right, which is a routine and necessary precaution.