Ten-year warranty renewal: anticipate, don't react<\/p>\n
For a building contractor, the ten-year warranty is not just another administrative formality. It's a legal obligation, and above all, a condition of employment. Even a brief interruption in coverage can have lasting consequences for ongoing projects and the contractor's personal liability. It's best to understand how it works before suffering the consequences.<\/p>\n
**Notice period: a shorter window than you might think**<\/p>\n
Most ten-year warranty contracts stipulate a two-month notice period before the annual renewal date for termination. After this period, the contract is automatically renewed for another year. This two-month notice period is often underestimated, particularly during periods of high activity.<\/p>\n
Planning ahead therefore begins six to eight weeks before the policy's expiry date. This is the time needed to obtain comparative quotes, gather the documents required by insurers, and avoid signing in a rush. A hasty change of insurer, without a thorough comparison of coverage terms, exposes you to gaps in your guarantees or exclusions that were misunderstood.<\/p>\n
**The parts to gather immediately**<\/p>\n
When renewing or changing insurers, the documents usually required include:<\/p>\n
\u2014 The accounting statements for the last two or three financial years, which allow the insurer to assess the volume of turnover and the nature of the work carried out.<\/p>\n
\u2014 The claims history statement for the last five years, prepared by the outgoing insurer. This document details the claims filed and their settlement. Obtaining it can take several weeks: do not wait until the last minute.<\/p>\n
\u2014 A list of current or recently completed projects, including their nature and cost. Some insurers also require a detailed description of the trades involved.<\/p>\n
An incomplete file delays pricing and may force the craftsman to accept the conditions of his current insurer due to a lack of alternatives available in time.<\/p>\n
**What happens in case of warranty interruption**<\/p>\n
This is the point that many ignore until it becomes a problem.<\/p>\n
The ten-year warranty covers damage that appears within ten years of the completion of the work, regardless of when the damage is discovered. However, it operates on the principle of "coverage of the construction period": the policy in effect at the time the work was carried out is the one that applies, not the one in effect when the damage is reported.<\/p>\n
In the event of a break between two contracts, even of just a few days, the work carried out during that period is not covered by any insurance policy. If a defect of a ten-year nature is subsequently discovered in a structure built during this interval, the contractor is personally liable, without insurance to defend them or compensate the client.<\/p>\n
This situation is not theoretical. It occurs every year, particularly during poorly coordinated changes of insurer or terminations due to non-payment of premiums.<\/p>\n
**Organize the renewal like a construction project**<\/p>\n
The best approach is simple: treat the ten-year renewal as a planned task, with a file opening date written in the diary, not as a response to a letter from an insurer.<\/p>\n
An insurance broker can facilitate this process: they gather the necessary documents, contact several companies, verify continuity of coverage, and ensure that the general terms and conditions accurately reflect the activities carried out. This point deserves attention, as a contract that doesn't precisely cover the work performed offers only partial protection.<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
*This article provides general information on how the ten-year warranty works.*<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Renouvellement de d\u00e9cennale : anticiper, pas subir Pour un artisan du b\u00e2timent, la garantie d\u00e9cennale n’est pas une formalit\u00e9 administrative parmi d’autres. C’est une obligation l\u00e9gale, et surtout une condition de travail. [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-patrimoine"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/balmontconseil.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/balmontconseil.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/balmontconseil.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balmontconseil.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balmontconseil.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/balmontconseil.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6789\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/balmontconseil.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balmontconseil.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balmontconseil.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}