Decennial Warranty in France: 10-Year Building Guarantee

When you sign off on your completed home at the handover meeting, you might think the adventure is over. In reality, a new one begins: ten years of decennial warranty coverage. It’s the cornerstone of French construction law — the best-known insurance and yet the most widely misunderstood. Who must take it out? What does it actually cover? And crucially, how does it work when you’re a self-builder who can’t issue yourself a decennial policy? This guide untangles how the decennial warranty works, its limits, and the strategy to get through those ten years with complete peace of mind.

What is the decennial warranty?

The decennial warranty (garantie décennale), codified in Articles 1792 to 1792-7 of the French Civil Code, is a statutory liability that applies to every builder of a property for 10 years from the date of handover. It compels the builder to repair at their own expense any damage that:

1. Compromises the structural integrity of the building, OR
2. Affects a core structural element or permanently integrated equipment, OR
3. Renders it unfit for its intended purpose (uninhabitable or not usable normally)

This is a presumed liability: you do not have to prove fault on the builder’s part. You only need to prove the damage and its structural nature. It is up to the insurer to demonstrate an external cause (force majeure, owner negligence, etc.).

The three post-handover warranties

The decennial warranty doesn’t operate alone. It sits within a trio of complementary warranties:

What the decennial warranty actually covers

This is where many self-builders and project owners get it wrong. The decennial warranty is not a catch-all insurance policy. It only covers serious, structural defects.

Classic defects covered by the decennial warranty

• Collapse or risk of collapse: roof structure, roofing, load-bearing walls, floors
• Structural cracks in load-bearing walls or foundations (width > 2 mm, through-cracks)
• Differential settlement of foundations causing deformation of the structure
• Persistent water ingress through the roof, façade, or foundations
• Waterproofing failure of a terrace, a buried wall, or a flat roof
• Serious thermal insulation defect leaving the home non-compliant with energy standards and unliveable
• Subsidence of a concrete slab on grade or a structural floor
• Widespread tile delamination where tiles are bedded to the structural floor (not laid on a floating screed)

Permanently integrated equipment

Article 1792-2 of the Civil Code extends the decennial warranty to permanently integrated equipment — that is, components whose removal or replacement would damage the structure itself. Typical examples:

• Frames and sills set into masonry (not simply screwed into removable frames)
• Tiles bedded in mortar, embedded in the screed
• Underfloor heating cast into the concrete slab
• Heating systems integrated into the structural shell (a stone mass heater, for example)
• Chimneys that form an integral part of the building

What the decennial warranty does NOT cover

This is a trap that catches many self-builders: the decennial warranty doesn’t cover everything. Key exclusions to know:

• Detachable equipment: roller shutters, radiators, taps, ventilation units, intercoms, alarms → covered by the 2-year warranty of good working order
• Cosmetic defects: peeling paint, creaking parquet, hairline cracks in partition walls → covered by the 1-year snag-list warranty
• Damage caused by poor maintenance (blocked gutters, water ingress worsened by neglect)
• Damage caused by an external event: storm, lightning, natural disaster (covered by home insurance)
• Subsequent modifications carried out by another party that aggravate an existing defect
• Normal wear and tear beyond the 10-year period
• Visible defects at handover that were not reserved (deemed accepted without objection)

Who must take it out?

The law (Article L241-1 of the Insurance Code) requires every builder to take out decennial insurance before the building work begins. The definition of “builder” is broad and includes:

• The main contractor and subcontractors
• The architect and project manager (maître d’œuvre)
• The property developer or house-builder under a CCMI contract
• The manufacturer of prefabricated elements who installs them personally
• The seller of a property they built themselves (if sold within 10 years of completion)

The self-builder’s special situation

This is where it gets interesting. A self-builder who builds for their own occupation (not for resale) is not required to take out a decennial policy — simply because they cannot insure themselves against their own liability.

However — and this is a significant caveat — that does not mean they are free from all liability:

1. If you sell your home within 10 years, you become a “seller after construction” within the meaning of the Civil Code. You are then jointly liable for structural defects vis-à-vis the buyer, without any insurance to cover you.
2. If you bring in tradespeople for certain work, those tradespeople must provide their own decennial certificate for their scope of work. You are not covered for what you did yourself, but you are covered for their work.
3. If you rent out your home, you are also liable to the tenant in the event of serious structural defects.

Is there a “self-builder decennial policy”?

Officially, no. No French insurer offers a decennial warranty to a private individual building their own home without holding a registered construction company status. The rare “private construction” policies you come across on the market are in reality simplified structural damage insurance (dommages-ouvrage) policies, covering only a limited range of risks.

A few options do exist for informed self-builders:

• Simplified structural damage insurance (dommages-ouvrage): 2 to 4% of the cost of materials, covers structural damage but often with low ceilings
• “Owner-builder” insurance from providers like CAA Suisse, AAPC, or certain specialist mutuals: a very niche market with strong technical requirements (sign-off from a structural engineer)
• Bringing in a project manager (maître d’œuvre) for structural works (groundwork, foundations, load-bearing walls, roof structure) to benefit from their decennial cover

The decennial certificate: your key document

Every time you bring a professional onto your site, you must demand their current, valid decennial certificate. This is the foundation of your legal protection for the next 10 years.

What the certificate must include

How to verify authenticity

A falsified certificate is a real risk. To protect yourself:

1. Call the insurance company directly to confirm the policy (use their professional helpline)
2. Verify the company’s SIRET number on societe.com and check that the registration date makes sense
3. Be wary of certificates with no stamp or no policy number

How to make a claim

Step 1: document and notify

As soon as you notice a defect you suspect is decennial in nature:

1. Take extensive photographs (with visible date stamp)
2. Keep physical evidence (a tile fragment, a sample)
3. Notify the builder by recorded delivery (lettre recommandée avec AR), describing the defect precisely
4. Send a copy to your structural damage insurer if you have one

Step 2: file a claim with your structural damage insurance

This is where dommages-ouvrage insurance earns its place: it pre-finances repairs without waiting for liability to be established. Without it, you must launch legal proceedings against the builder, which can take 3 to 5 years before you see any compensation.

Step 3: amicable or judicial expert assessment

The insurer appoints an expert who determines the decennial nature of the defect, its cause, and the cost of repair. If there is disagreement, a court-ordered expert assessment can be requested from the tribunal.

Step 4: compensation and repair works

Once the decennial liability is established, the builder’s insurer pays out (directly or via the dommages-ouvrage) and repair works can begin.

The decennial warranty and selling your home

The trap of the first 10 years

If you sell your home before the decennial warranty expires, two things happen:

1. The notary will require decennial certificates from all contractors for the remaining period. No certificates = the sale is blocked or you face a significant price reduction.
2. The warranty transfers automatically to the buyer for the remaining period. This is a strong selling point.

For a self-builder without a decennial policy, selling within 10 years is still possible, but:

• The buyer may demand a 5 to 15% discount to compensate for the absence of a warranty
• You remain personally liable for structural defects for up to 10 years after handover
• The notary will add a self-build disclosure clause informing the buyer of the circumstances

Going further

To fully understand the complete insurance and warranty landscape around a new build, see our guides on structural damage insurance (dommages-ouvrage), the completion declaration (DAACT) and displaying your planning permit on site.

Official resources

• Service-public.fr — Garantie décennale : official comprehensive fact sheet (French)
• Civil Code — Articles 1792 to 1792-7 : the statutory text on decennial liability (French)
• Insurance Code — Article L241-1 : the statutory obligation for builders to insure (French)
• Agence Qualité Construction : technical resources on building pathologies

Checklist

The decennial warranty is the most powerful long-term protection in French construction law. Properly understood and activated when needed, it shields you for ten years against the worst defects. Misunderstood, it leaves the self-builder with a false sense of security — facing risks they are actually carrying alone. The golden rule: demand every certificate, archive everything, and never underestimate the importance of the handover meeting — it’s what starts the ten-year clock you’ve earned after all those months of hard work.