Decennial liability
The builder's automatic ten-year liability after acceptance, for defects compromising the soundness or the intended use of the works.
French law imposes on every builder an automatic liability toward the client and successive owners. It runs for ten years from acceptance of the works and covers defects that compromise the soundness of the structure or make it unfit for its intended purpose. Three features make it a regime apart. It is strict: the claimant has to prove neither fault nor causation, only the defect and its gravity, and the builder escapes only through an external cause. It attaches to the works and follows successive owners, which makes it an asset transmitted with the property. And insuring it is compulsory: every builder must evidence cover before work starts, on pain of criminal sanction. The unfitness-for-purpose criterion is the source of most of the litigation, since it brings within the regime defects that threaten the structure in no way, such as inadequate acoustic insulation or persistent water ingress.
Law no. 78-12 of 4 January 1978, known as the Spinetta Act, organized the French decennial liability regime and made its insurance compulsory. It added damage-to-works insurance, taken out by the client.
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