You bought a house in the Dordogne, the Luberon or the Paris suburbs, the building work started well, and then everything stalled. The builder answers less and less, the scaffolding stays up, the bathroom is half tiled, rain comes through the new roof, or the cracks that were supposed to be repaired have widened. You are in London or already settled in France, you paid a deposit and several interim bills, and you wonder whether French law leaves you without options because you live abroad or because the contract is in French. It does not. Where your house stands decides the law, and French construction law gives the project owner, known in French as the maître de l’ouvrage, a set of guarantees that apply whether you are British, French or any other nationality, and whether you live in the house full time or visit for the holidays. This guide explains which guarantee covers your situation, why the formal acceptance of the works, called réception in French, decides almost everything, what to send before going to court, which insurance should pay even when responsibilities are disputed, and how to challenge a refusal from the builder or an insurer. It reflects the law as it stands on 8 October 2026, with the exact statutory wording and three recent Court of Cassation decisions quoted word for word.
I. My French Builder Walked Away or Left Defects: Which French Guarantee Covers My Works?
A. Is My Defect Covered by the Ten-Year, Two-Year or One-Year Guarantee?
French law organises builders’ liability around the seriousness of the defect and the date the works were formally accepted. Three time-bound guarantees exist side by side, and identifying the right one is the first practical step because each has its own duration, its own trigger and its own insurer.
The heaviest protection is the ten-year guarantee, the garantie décennale. Article 1792 of the Civil Code provides: “Tout constructeur d’un ouvrage est responsable de plein droit, envers le maître ou l’acquéreur de l’ouvrage, des dommages, même résultant d’un vice du sol, qui compromettent la solidité de l’ouvrage ou qui, l’affectant dans l’un de ses éléments constitutifs ou l’un de ses éléments d’équipement, le rendent impropre à sa destination. Une telle responsabilité n’a point lieu si le constructeur prouve que les dommages proviennent d’une cause étrangère.” In plain English, any builder is automatically liable to you for damage that threatens the solidity of the building or makes it unfit for its purpose, whether the damage affects a structural element or an item of equipment, even where the origin lies in the ground itself. The only escape for the builder is proof of an outside cause, and that proof is hard to bring. Cracks through load-bearing walls, a roof that lets water in, failed foundations, a collapsed terrace or a heating system that leaves the house uninhabitable in winter are typical examples that courts attach to this guarantee.
Who counts as a builder is deliberately wide. Article 1792-1 of the Civil Code states: “Est réputé constructeur de l’ouvrage : 1° Tout architecte, entrepreneur, technicien ou autre personne liée au maître de l’ouvrage par un contrat de louage d’ouvrage ; 2° Toute personne qui vend, après achèvement, un ouvrage qu’elle a construit ou fait construire ; 3° Toute personne qui, bien qu’agissant en qualité de mandataire du propriétaire de l’ouvrage, accomplit une mission assimilable à celle d’un locateur d’ouvrage.” Your mason, your roofer, your architect and the developer who sold you a newly built house are therefore all within the same regime. Where several firms worked on the site, each answers for its own part, and you do not have to sort out which trade is truly at fault before acting: the guarantee is described by statute as liability “de plein droit”, which means you do not have to prove negligence, only the damage and its seriousness.
Equipment gets a refined treatment. Article 1792-2 of the Civil Code explains: “La présomption de responsabilité établie par l’article 1792 s’étend également aux dommages qui affectent la solidité des éléments d’équipement d’un ouvrage, mais seulement lorsque ceux-ci font indissociablement corps avec les ouvrages de viabilité, de fondation, d’ossature, de clos ou de couvert. Un élément d’équipement est considéré comme formant indissociablement corps avec l’un des ouvrages de viabilité, de fondation, d’ossature, de clos ou de couvert lorsque sa dépose, son démontage ou son remplacement ne peut s’effectuer sans détérioration ou enlèvement de matière de cet ouvrage.” Fitted pipework buried in the slab, underfloor heating embedded in concrete or wiring chased into structural walls can therefore fall under the ten-year umbrella, because removing them would damage the structure itself. By contrast, freestanding equipment that can be lifted out and replaced without harming the building falls under the shorter guarantee below.
That shorter guarantee is the two-year proper-functioning warranty, the garantie de bon fonctionnement. Article 1792-3 of the Civil Code provides: “Les autres éléments d’équipement de l’ouvrage font l’objet d’une garantie de bon fonctionnement d’une durée minimale de deux ans à compter de sa réception.” A boiler that stops working, shutters that jam, a ventilation unit that never worked or taps and sanitary fittings that fail within two years of acceptance belong here. The period is a minimum of two years running from acceptance, and it covers proper functioning rather than solidity or fitness for purpose.
The third layer is the one-year completion warranty, the garantie de parfait achèvement. Article 1792-6 of the Civil Code states: “La réception est l’acte par lequel le maître de l’ouvrage déclare accepter l’ouvrage avec ou sans réserves. Elle intervient à la demande de la partie la plus diligente, soit à l’amiable, soit à défaut judiciairement. Elle est, en tout état de cause, prononcée contradictoirement.” The same article continues: “La garantie de parfait achèvement, à laquelle l’entrepreneur est tenu pendant un délai d’un an, à compter de la réception, s’étend à la réparation de tous les désordres signalés par le maître de l’ouvrage, soit au moyen de réserves mentionnées au procès-verbal de réception, soit par voie de notification écrite pour ceux révélés postérieurement à la réception.” Every visible defect you list in the written acceptance record, the procès-verbal de réception, and every disorder you notify in writing during the year after acceptance must be put right by the contractor. The Court of Cassation confirmed the strength of this duty on 30 June 2009, holding that “la garantie de parfait achèvement due par l’entrepreneur laisse subsister la responsabilité de droit commun des constructeurs”, which means the one-year repair duty sits on top of, and does not replace, the ordinary liability of builders (Cass., 3rd civ., 30 June 2009, appeal no. 08-18.410). In that case the court recalled the statutory formula word for word: “La garantie de parfait achèvement, à laquelle l’entrepreneur est tenu pendant un délai d’un an, à compter de la réception, s’étend à la réparation de tous les désordres signalés par le maître de l’ouvrage, soit au moyen de réserves mentionnées au procès verbal de réception, soit par voie de notification écrite pour ceux révélés postérieurement à la réception”.
Time limits run from acceptance, so keep that date in mind from the start. Article 1792-4-1 of the Civil Code provides: “Toute personne physique ou morale dont la responsabilité peut être engagée en vertu des articles 1792 à 1792-4 du présent code est déchargée des responsabilités et garanties pesant sur elle, en application des articles 1792 à 1792-2, après dix ans à compter de la réception des travaux ou, en application de l’article 1792-3 , à l’expiration du délai visé à cet article.” Ten years from acceptance for the heaviest defects, two years for equipment functioning, one year for completion snags: those are the three clocks. A separate ten-year long-stop in Article 1792-4-3 of the Civil Code adds that other liability claims against the builders and their subcontractors are time-barred ten years after acceptance, so even arguments framed outside the statutory guarantees eventually expire on the same anniversary.
B. Was My Building Work Ever Formally Accepted, and Why Does the Acceptance Record Decide Everything?
Acceptance is the hinge of the whole system. Without it, the ten-year, two-year and one-year clocks have no starting point, and with it, everything you wrote or failed to write shapes what you can still demand. British owners often discover this too late, because on many French renovation sites there is no tidy handover meeting: the builder slows down, stops coming, sends a final bill by email, and you move back into the house because the lease on your rental has ended. French law still asks a precise question: did you, by words or by behaviour, show that you accepted the works as they stood?
Acceptance can be organised or ordered by a court, but it can also be tacit. Courts infer tacit acceptance from two facts taken together: you took possession of the building and you paid the price, provided those facts reveal a clear intention to accept with or without reservations. Taking the keys and paying the balance while complaining loudly in writing about unfinished work points the other way, and the Court of Cassation protects owners who protest. On 5 March 2020 the Third Civil Chamber approved judges who had refused to find tacit acceptance where the owners had sent a formal notice ordering the builder to resume immediately, had a bailiff record the defects, wrote a detailed complaint about works paid for but not carried out, asked in vain for the name of the damage-to-works insurer, and then had the remaining work finished after a court-ordered expert report before moving in. The court summarised: “La cour d’appel, qui a ainsi caractérisé la volonté des maîtres de l’ouvrage de ne pas recevoir les travaux, a pu en déduire l’absence de réception tacite.” (Cass., 3rd civ., 5 March 2020, appeal no. 19-13.024). The lesson for a British owner is direct: if the site is abandoned or full of defects, do not simply move in and pay the last invoice without writing anything. Take possession only while recording in dated letters that you do not accept the works in their current state, list what is missing or defective, and keep copies of everything you send.
The written acceptance record deserves the same care as a contract. Walk the site with the builder, test the heating, the hot water, the windows, the electrics and the drainage, and write every reservation into the record before signing: unpainted surfaces, cracked tiles, a door that does not close, a slope that sends water towards the house. Photograph each item next to a dated newspaper or with metadata preserved, and keep the record, the plans, the itemised quote, the invoices and the proof of every payment in one file. Where the builder refuses to attend the walk-through, send a formal invitation by recorded delivery and, if there is still no answer, ask the court for acceptance through a judge rather than signing a one-sided document. An acceptance pronounced by a court starts the clocks just as an agreed one does, and it prevents the builder from later arguing that nothing was ever finished and therefore nothing is yet due.
Abandonment before any acceptance calls for a different sequence. As long as nothing has been accepted, the ordinary law of contracts still protects you. Article 1217 of the Civil Code lists your options: “La partie envers laquelle l’engagement n’a pas été exécuté, ou l’a été imparfaitement, peut : – refuser d’exécuter ou suspendre l’exécution de sa propre obligation ; – poursuivre l’exécution forcée en nature de l’obligation ; – obtenir une réduction du prix ; – provoquer la résolution du contrat ; – demander réparation des conséquences de l’inexécution. Les sanctions qui ne sont pas incompatibles peuvent être cumulées ; des dommages et intérêts peuvent toujours s’y ajouter.” You may therefore stop paying further instalments while the builder does nothing, seek enforced performance, ask for a price reduction, terminate the contract or claim damages, and combine compatible remedies. Delay alone can already ground damages: Article 1231-1 of the Civil Code provides that “Le débiteur est condamné, s’il y a lieu, au paiement de dommages et intérêts soit à raison de l’inexécution de l’obligation, soit à raison du retard dans l’exécution, s’il ne justifie pas que l’exécution a été empêchée par la force majeure.” A builder who pleads supply problems or staff shortages must show genuine force majeure, which French courts interpret narrowly, and ordinary price rises or a busy order book do not qualify.
Where the builder will neither return nor repair, you do not have to wait for a judge before securing the site. Article 1222 of the Civil Code allows self-help after warning: “Après mise en demeure, le créancier peut aussi, dans un délai et à un coût raisonnables, faire exécuter lui-même l’obligation ou, sur autorisation préalable du juge, détruire ce qui a été fait en violation de celle-ci. Il peut demander au débiteur le remboursement des sommes engagées à cette fin. Il peut aussi demander en justice que le débiteur avance les sommes nécessaires à cette exécution ou à cette destruction.” A formal notice, the mise en demeure, followed by a replacement contractor engaged within a sensible time and at a sensible cost, lets you claim reimbursement of what you spent, and you can even ask the court to order the original builder to advance the funds. Keep competing quotes to show the cost was reasonable, photograph the state of the site before the new firm starts, and keep every invoice.
II. How Do I Get My French House Fixed or My Money Back, and How Do I Challenge a Refusal?
A. What Should I Send First: Formal Notice, Replacement Builder and the Insurers?
The order of your letters matters as much as their content. Insurers and judges read the file chronologically, and a tidy sequence of dated warnings turns a story of frustration into a documented claim. Start with the builder, then the insurers, then, if needed, the court-appointed expert, and keep each step separate so that no one can say your demands were unclear.
First, the builder. Send a recorded letter, in French, that identifies the contract and the site, lists each defect or missing item with dates and photographs, sets a reasonable deadline for return or repair, and states that after that date you will have the work done by another firm at the defaulting builder’s expense under Article 1222 and will claim damages for delay under Article 1231-1. State the deadline in days, not in vague language, and send it to the registered office shown on the quote as well as to any email address used during the works. If the builder holds retention money or a performance guarantee from your bank, copy the bank so it preserves its position. From this point, stop making further payments beyond what corresponds to work properly done, relying on your right to suspend your own performance while the other side performs nothing, and note expressly that you do not accept the works.
Second, the ten-year liability insurer. Every builder whose ten-year liability can arise must be insured, and must prove it when the site opens. Article L241-1 of the Insurance Code states: “Toute personne physique ou morale, dont la responsabilité décennale peut être engagée sur le fondement de la présomption établie par les articles 1792 et suivants du code civil, doit être couverte par une assurance. A l’ouverture de tout chantier, elle doit justifier qu’elle a souscrit un contrat d’assurance la couvrant pour cette responsabilité.” Ask for the ten-year insurance certificate before the site starts, check that the policy period covers your site dates and that the activities listed include the trades actually carried out, and keep the certificate with the contract. The Court of Cassation gave this duty full weight on 30 April 2025: “la justification par un constructeur, à l’ouverture du chantier, de la souscription d’une assurance décennale, était une obligation d’ordre public, et que son défaut constituait un manquement de gravité suffisante pour justifier la résolution du contrat aux torts de celui-ci” (Cass., 3rd civ., 30 April 2025, appeal no. 23-21.574). In that case the project owner had asked in a reasoned letter for the certificate covering all planned activities, received nothing, and terminated; the court approved termination at the builder’s fault. For a British owner this is a practical shield: a builder who cannot show a valid certificate at opening should not be allowed to start, and if work has started, the missing certificate alone can justify ending the contract at the builder’s expense rather than yours.
Third, your own damage-to-works insurer if you took one out, and this is the step British buyers most often miss because the product has no equivalent in England and Wales. Article L242-1 of the Insurance Code describes the owner-side policy: “Toute personne physique ou morale qui, agissant en qualité de propriétaire de l’ouvrage, de vendeur ou de mandataire du propriétaire de l’ouvrage, fait réaliser des travaux de construction, doit souscrire avant l’ouverture du chantier, pour son compte ou pour celui des propriétaires successifs, une assurance garantissant, en dehors de toute recherche des responsabilités, le paiement de la totalité des travaux de réparation des dommages de la nature de ceux dont sont responsables les constructeurs au sens de l’article 1792-1 , les fabricants et importateurs ou le contrôleur technique sur le fondement de l’article 1792 du code civil.” This assurance dommages-ouvrage pays for the repairs first, without waiting for the argument about who is responsible, and then pursues the liable parties itself. It is compulsory for most private building work, it must be taken out before the site opens, and its absence slows everything down because each party then argues about fault before any money moves. The statute sets a strict timetable once you declare a claim: the insurer has sixty days to say whether the cover applies and ninety days to offer compensation, with payment within fifteen days of your acceptance, failing which you may fund the repairs yourself after notifying the insurer and the sums due carry interest at twice the legal rate. Declare in writing as soon as serious damage appears, describe the damage factually, attach the acceptance record or your letters recording non-acceptance, the contracts, the ten-year certificates and the photographs, and keep proof of posting.
The French consumer administration publishes a practical abandonment-of-site guide that follows the same sequence of formal notice, evidence gathering and court-appointed expertise, and the economics ministry maintains a general ten-year guarantee page; both confirm that owners should first put the builder on notice, preserve evidence through a bailiff report where the facts are disputed, and use urgent court proceedings to appoint an independent expert rather than commissioning a purely private opinion that the other side will dismiss. A bailiff report, now drawn up by a commissaire de justice, costs a few hundred euros and fixes the visible state of the site on a given date. A court-ordered expert report costs more but carries far greater weight, because the expert is neutral, visits with both sides present, and answers questions set by the judge. Ask the urgent-applications judge, the juge des référés, for an expert as soon as the builder disputes the facts or the damage may worsen over winter, and ask at the same hearing for permission to carry out urgent protective work so the leaking roof does not destroy the rooms below while the case continues. Owners who already hold a second home in France and follow costs closely, including British second-home owners facing the 60% surcharge, often find that early spending on a bailiff report and an expert saves far larger sums later by preventing arguments about what the site looked like when the dispute began.
B. Where Do I Sue, What Will It Cost From London or Paris, and What Are the Deadlines?
Construction disputes belong to the civil courts of the place where the building stands, so a house in the Dordogne is litigated in the Dordogne and a flat in Paris is litigated in Paris. The court with general jurisdiction is the tribunal judiciaire, and the urgent-applications judge within it can appoint the expert, authorise urgent works and order interim payments while the main case on liability and final compensation continues. Start the expert application where the property is, even if you live in London, because the expert must visit the site and the local court holds the lists of qualified construction experts. Correspondence and evidence in English should be translated by a sworn translator, a traducteur assermenté, before they are filed, and you should budget for that translation alongside the expert’s deposit, which the judge fixes at the outset and which the parties usually advance in shares.
Paris and the inner suburbs deserve a special note because many British owners hold property there and the practical rhythm differs from rural courts. The Tribunal judiciaire de Paris sits at Porte de Clichy and handles a heavy construction caseload, with neighbouring courts at Nanterre, Bobigny and Créteil covering Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne. Expert appointments in the Paris region are routine but diaries are full, so file the référé application as soon as the builder’s position is clear rather than waiting for the damage to stabilise. Bring to the first meeting with your file a complete bundle: the signed quote and any general conditions, all amendments and additional-work orders, the ten-year certificate of each firm, your damage-to-works policy if you subscribed one, the written acceptance record or, where there was none, your letters recording non-acceptance, the formal notice with proof of delivery, dated photographs, the bailiff report and a schedule of payments made with bank proofs. Paris experts expect numbered exhibits and a short chronology; a file organised this way shortens the expert process by months. If you live in London, give a French address for service where possible, allow extra days for cross-Channel delivery of formal documents, and plan one trip to attend the expert’s site visit, because your presence while the expert walks the property with both builders present carries real weight.
Costs divide into predictable parts. Court filing itself is inexpensive in France, and most of the spending goes to the expert deposit, translations, the bailiff report and legal representation. Check any household, second-home or premium-bank insurance for protection juridique cover, which often funds construction disputes up to a stated ceiling and sometimes requires you to notify the insurer before appointing lawyers. Agree fees in a written fee agreement before work starts and ask for staged billing tied to the expert phase and then the trial phase. Where the builder is insolvent, direct your energy towards the solvent insurers: the ten-year liability insurer of the firm and your own damage-to-works insurer remain reachable even when the company itself has vanished, which is exactly why collecting the certificates at the start matters so much.
Deadlines decide outcomes more often than the merits. The one-year completion warranty runs for twelve months from acceptance, the equipment warranty for a minimum of two years, and the ten-year guarantee for ten years, with a parallel ten-year long-stop for related builder claims under Article 1792-4-3. Treat every anniversary as final: issue protective proceedings before it expires and do not rely on reminder letters alone to preserve your rights. Courts can temper enforcement where a debtor faces genuine hardship, since Article 1343-5 of the Civil Code opens: “Le juge peut, compte tenu de la situation du débiteur et en considération des besoins du créancier, reporter ou échelonner, dans la limite de deux années, le paiement des sommes dues.” That power helps a struggling payer, not a builder who simply walked away, and it never extends the time you have to bring the claim itself. Where an insurer refuses cover, answer in writing point by point, enclose the missing exhibit if the refusal pleads an incomplete file, use the insurer’s internal complaints route and then insurance mediation, and keep the limitation clock in mind throughout: mediation pauses nothing by itself, so file the court claim in parallel if the anniversary is near. Every refusal letter should be treated as the start of the next deadline, not the end of the story.
Conclusion
A builder who stalls or leaves defects does not leave you without options under French law. Identify the right guarantee for each defect, protect the acceptance stage by writing reservations or recording non-acceptance, send a dated formal notice before spending on a replacement firm, call on both the builder’s compulsory ten-year insurance and your own damage-to-works policy where one exists, and secure the evidence through a bailiff report and a court-appointed expert before memories fade and winter worsens the damage. The statutes give you the tools, from automatic ten-year liability through ordered repair duties to reimbursement of reasonable replacement costs, and the Court of Cassation enforces them strictly, including termination at the builder’s fault where the compulsory insurance certificate was never produced. Act in the right order, keep every document, watch each anniversary from acceptance, and challenge each refusal with the next procedural step rather than accepting it as final.