RCD: TEN-YEAR CIVIL LIABILITY
What does the contract cover?
The contract guarantees the repair of damage occurring to structures built by the contractor or in which they participated. This includes damage affecting the structural integrity of the building and rendering it unfit for its intended purpose.
It fulfills the insurance obligation and the presumption of liability incumbent upon contractors, in accordance with the so-called "SPINETTA" law of January 4, 1978.
The insurance contract thus allows contractors to cover their ten-year liability towards the project owner and subsequent owners for a period of ten years after the acceptance of the structure in which they participated.
Who should subscribe?
This applies to all construction companies (Art. L241-1 of the Insurance Code):
- Building tradespeople, contractors, self-employed individuals, and other service providers
- Construction company
- General Building Contractor
- General Contractor
- Timber frame house builder
Scenarios in which we can intervene by taking out a ten-year liability insurance policy, regardless of the field of activity (intellectual or non-intellectual profession).
- Acceptance of business start-ups
- Without insurance since the company's creation
- Self-Employed
- Micro-enterprise accepted
- Cancelled due to disaster
- Cancelled for non-payment
- In receivership
Why subscribe?
To comply with the legal obligation for builders to take out this insurance as soon as they undertake any construction work (except for that defined in Article L243-1-1 of the French Insurance Code).
To protect themselves against any claim for damages covered by the ten-year warranty. This claim can be made within 10 years of the completion of the work by:
- the project owner or successive purchasers;
- the structural damage insurer who is exercising a right of recourse against the liability insurer, in order to
to obtain reimbursement of what he paid to the project owner.
When to subscribe?
Ten-year liability insurance must be taken out from the start of the company's, craftsman's, or business's activity, or failing that, before the start of the work on behalf of third parties (generally before the Declaration of Commencement of Works (DOC))
What does the mandatory warranty cover?
It covers, over a period of 10 years, the defects which compromise the solidity of the structure, make it unfit for its purpose, affect the solidity of the equipment elements which are integral with the infrastructure, foundation, framework, enclosure and roofing works.
What do the additional guarantees cover?
The collapse guarantee before acceptance:
This covers material damage resulting from a collapse or threat of collapse affecting the insured's work.
The operational guarantee:
This is the two-year guarantee owed to the project owner for equipment components.
The existing structure guarantee:
This covers damage that may occur to rehabilitated pre-existing structures during the ten-year warranty period.
The consequential damage guarantee:
This covers the financial consequences suffered by purchasers or occupants of the structure following material defects covered by the contract.