# Garantie Décennale

> France's ten-year builder liability for serious defects, set by the 1978 Spinetta law, with compulsory insurance for builders and owners.

- URL: https://roof.wiki/garantie-decennale/
- Topic: Standards, Codes & Testing
- Also known as: decennial liability; responsabilité décennale; assurance décennale; ten-year liability; Spinetta law
- Regions: Europe
- First published: 2026-11-02 · Last reviewed: 2026-11-02
- Cite as: "Garantie Décennale." roof.wiki. https://roof.wiki/garantie-decennale/

## Key facts

- **Country:** France
- **Duration:** 10 years from acceptance of the works
- **Legal basis:** Spinetta law (1978); Civil Code Art. 1792 et seq.
- **Builder insurance:** Compulsory (Insurance Code L 241-1)
- **Owner insurance:** Dommages-ouvrage (L 242-1)
- **Penalty for no insurance:** Up to 6 months' prison and/or EUR 75,000 fine

The **garantie décennale** (ten-year liability, often translated as decennial liability) is the French legal rule that makes builders responsible, for ten years after the works are accepted, for serious defects in what they build. It applies to roofers as to other trades, and it is one reason French roofing contracts, insurers and courts refer so closely to the NF DTU technical rules.

## Legal basis

The modern regime comes from the Spinetta law of 1978, reflected in Article 1792 and following articles of the French Civil Code. Article 1792-1 defines who counts as a builder: architects, contractors and technicians bound to the owner by a contract for works, anyone who sells a building they built or had built, and certain agents with similar duties. Article 1792-6 defines acceptance (*réception*) of the works, which starts the ten-year period.

## What it covers

Liability is presumed: the owner does not have to prove fault. It covers damage of a certain seriousness, meaning damage that endangers the strength of the building or makes it unfit for its intended use. A collapsed wall would qualify; visible cracking or discolouration alone would not. Only hidden defects, those not observable at acceptance, can support a claim. Acceptance may be formal or tacit, for example through payment or taking possession.

The rule is a matter of public order. It cannot be excluded by contract, and it passes to each later owner of the building.

## Compulsory insurance

The 1978 law pairs liability with two insurance obligations:

- **Builders' liability insurance** (*assurance de responsabilité obligatoire*, Insurance Code Article L 241-1): every builder, including roofing contractors, must be insured for decennial liability.
- **Owner's damage insurance** (*assurance dommages-ouvrage*, Article L 242-1): the owner commissioning the work must take out insurance that pays for repairs quickly, after which that insurer recovers the cost from the builders' insurers.

Failing to take out the required insurance can be punished by up to six months' imprisonment and a fine of up to EUR 75,000. On larger projects architects normally check contractors' insurance certificates, and notaries are expected to check the insurance position when a property with recent works is sold.

## Relevance to roofing

Insurers and courts refer to the NF DTU documents when judging whether roofing work follows accepted practice, and products or methods outside them are usually covered by a CSTB *Avis Technique*. The word "décennale" in a roofer's paperwork in France refers to this statutory liability and its insurance, not to a manufacturer's product warranty.

## Sources and gaps

Details of the shorter French warranties that run alongside it, for completion defects and for equipment: published information is limited.

## Sources

1. French construction law: make sure you are insured — Squire Patton Boggs. https://larevue.squirepattonboggs.com/french-construction-law-make-sure-you-are-insured_a1800.html
2. La garantie décennale — Magnolia.fr. https://www.magnolia.fr/garantie-decennale/lois/spinetta
3. Responsabilité civile décennale — SMABTP. https://www.smabtp.fr/sma/upload/docs/application/pdf/2022-09/responsabilite_civile_decennale_v2_1021.pdf