French Insurance Code
In forceAny natural or legal person who, acting in the capacity of owner, vendor or agent of the owner of the building, has building work carried out, must take out insurance before the start of the worksite, on its own behalf or on behalf of successive owners, guaranteeing, without any search for liability, payment of all the work required to repair damage of the kind for which builders within the meaning of article 1792-1, manufacturers and importers or the technical inspector are responsible on the basis of article 1792 of the Civil Code.
However, the obligation set out in the first paragraph above does not apply to legal entities governed by public law, or to legal entities acting as project managers under a partnership contract concluded in application of article 1 of order no. 2004-559 of 17 June 2004 on partnership contracts, or to legal entities carrying out an activity the size of which exceeds the thresholds mentioned in the last paragraph of article L. 111-6, when these entities have construction work carried out on their behalf for a purpose other than residential use.
The insurer has a maximum of sixty days from receipt of the claim to notify the insured of its decision as to whether or not the cover provided under the contract should be invoked.
If the insurer accepts that the cover provided by the contract should be invoked, it shall, within a maximum period of ninety days from receipt of the notice of loss, make an offer of compensation, which may be provisional and intended to pay for work to repair the damage. If the insured accepts the offer, the insurer will pay the compensation within fifteen days.
If the insurer fails to comply with one of the time limits set out in the two paragraphs above, or makes a manifestly inadequate offer of compensation, the insured may, after notifying the insurer, incur the expenses necessary to repair the damage, in which case the compensation paid by the insurer is automatically increased by interest equal to double the legal interest rate.
In the event of exceptional difficulties due to the nature or size of the claim, the insurer may, at the same time as notifying its agreement to the principle of invoking cover, propose to the insured that an additional period be set for drawing up its offer of compensation. The proposal must be based exclusively on technical considerations and must state the reasons on which it is based.
The additional period provided for in the preceding paragraph is subject to the express acceptance of the insured and may not exceed one hundred and thirty-five days.
The insurance referred to in the first paragraph of this article takes effect after the expiry of the guarantee period for perfect completion referred to in article 1792-6 of the French Civil Code. However, it guarantees payment of the necessary repairs when :
Before acceptance, after formal notice has been given but not yet received, the works contract with the contractor is terminated due to the contractor's failure to fulfil his obligations;
After acceptance, after formal notice has been served without success, the contractor has failed to perform his obligations.
Any insurance company approved under the conditions set out in article L. 321-1, even if it does not manage the risks governed by articles L. 241-1 and L. 241-2 above, is authorised to take on the risks provided for in this article.
