Two distinct regimes
| Architects | Contractors | |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | 2006 act | 2017 act |
| Object | professional liability, including ten-year | ten-year liability |
| Scope | the whole activity | works relating to housing |
The architects' regime is broader. It covers professional liability as a whole, which includes ten-year liability without being limited to it.
The contractors' regime is narrower. It bears on ten-year liability, for works relating to housing.
The 2006 act also permitted practising as an architect through a company, which explains why the obligation covers architects as natural and legal persons alike.
What ten-year cover includes
The scope is narrower than assumed.
It bears on soundness and stability, and on weathertightness problems where they endanger the stability and soundness of the building.
It therefore does not cover defects that do not affect soundness, whatever their economic seriousness for the client.
A weathertightness defect without consequence for stability falls outside the ten-year insurance obligation, consistent with the logic of the liability regime, covered in the article on the layered regimes.
What remains outside compulsory cover
Four areas, ignorance of which produces unpleasant surprises. They fall outside the compulsory cover.
Minor latent defects, which fall under a distinct contractual regime.
Finishing and conformity defects without effect on soundness.
Non-material loss, such as loss of use, absent specific cover.
Works not relating to housing, for the obligation on contractors.
Those areas can be covered voluntarily, by extension or a separate policy, but they are not covered automatically.
Why lack of insurance does not exonerate
A simple and often misunderstood principle. Insurance covers the risk, it does not create the liability.
An uninsured professional remains liable under ten-year liability, from their own resources.
The insurance obligation therefore protects the client against insolvency, not against fault. It creates no new liability and removes none.
For the client the consequence is financial: against an uninsured and insolvent professional, a recognised right is worth nothing.
For the professional it is personal: absence of cover exposes their assets.
How to check cover
Four checks, to be made before construction and not after a loss. They bear on the certificates and their validity.
Ask for the insurance certificate, not merely the mention of an insurer in the contract.
Check the period of validity, a certificate being issued for a defined period.
Check the object covered, ensuring it matches the works entrusted, notably as to residential character.
Check that the professional is the one designated, particularly where they practise through a company or operate under another name.
Those checks fall within the architect's duty to advise the client, as the article on the architect and mandatory involvement explains.
The case of other participants
A gap worth knowing.
Not all participants in the act of building are subject to a ten-year insurance obligation. Consulting engineers and inspection bodies may be so under their own regime or by contractual requirement, but not necessarily under the 2017 act.
Requiring a certificate by contract is therefore useful for participants not covered by a statutory obligation, and it is one of the clauses covered in the article on the clauses that protect.
What this means for a professional
Four rules.
Distinguish the two regimes rather than speaking of ten-year insurance in general.
Check certificates before works begin, checking after a loss being ineffective.
Require by contract the cover not imposed by statute, for the participants concerned.
Tell the client what is not covered, notably defects not affecting soundness.
This article reflects the position of the rules at the date of checking and serves professional orientation. It does not constitute legal advice and does not replace consulting the applicable policies.