Tenant's liability
The tenant's liability to the landlord for damage caused to the leased property by fire or water damage, presumed by the French Civil Code, which residential tenants are required to insure.
The French Civil Code sets a strict presumption: the tenant is liable for a fire in the leased property unless it proves the fire occurred by fortuitous event or force majeure, through a construction defect, or spread from a neighboring house. More broadly, it is liable for damage and losses during its occupancy unless it proves they occurred through no fault of its own. For the landlord this presumption is an important protection, since it need not prove the tenant's fault. For the tenant it represents a considerable risk, unrelated to the value of its own belongings: a fire starting in its apartment can destroy the building. The July 6, 1989 residential lease law therefore requires the tenant to insure against tenant's risks and prove it each year, failing which the landlord may take out insurance on its behalf and recover the cost. The cover pays for physical damage to the leased building caused by a fire, explosion or water damage for which the tenant is liable. It is almost always included in home multiperil contracts, and commercial leases provide comparable obligations, often with mutual waivers of recourse.
Textbook case: a fire starting from a deep fryer in a rented apartment destroys the unit and damages common areas, for 180,000 euros. The tenant cannot prove any of the exonerating causes: his tenant's liability cover, included in his home multiperil policy, indemnifies the owner, whereas his own furniture was worth only 15,000 euros.
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