Ouch… that might be an issue if his bill doesn’t show the exact address… It might be a traveler or a gypsy which means he may not have one 
Does his bill display a SIRET number? If so could you provide it here so I’ll have a look?
If it’s a small village, that’s probably all the address you need 
the postie will know him and so will everyone else.
Dear Fabian thanks for advice as I am just about to start a claim under decinnale ,1 I write first to builder ,2 report to police Main COurante 3 then go to chamber des meteors ,4 employ an advocate ,if no action ,which I am expecting can you confirm the action to be taken as I have had different advice, my main concern is paying for work done my self and no getting reimbursed. I estimate costs repair 20000 euros on orig overall cost 125000 thanks Chris
Harold, if you live in France you may have protection juridique/legal cover included in your home insurance, many household policies include this (maybe second home insurance do as well, I don’t know). If you have this cover, your insurers would (hopefully) handle it for you. Worth a try.
Hi Fabien - this sounds like a marathon … And sadly it sounds like I’m in good company and not the only one… It’s all a little bit daunting as newcomers. I’m hoping there is some reasonable solution we can manage before winter sets in. My partner is also French so the communication should at least be easier. Not looking forward to any kind of confrontation as I’ve escaped to the country for peace and relaxation not headaches! I do sincerely appreciate the French authorities striving to protect people and their homes though at least…
I understand, hopefully you’ll find a way to fix the issue… Don’t hesitate to ask for my assistance shall you need anything or have any question.
In the mean time, I wish you have a great day 
Merci encore Fabien. It is a bit of a challenge to be sure but your knowledge has been a good place to start and it seems discussing it here may have also been helpful to others in a similar situation. We of course hope for a gentle resolution and will do everything in our power to achieve it. We are fully aware there is of course idiosyncrasies with older character properties and appreciate that context but we also want to be secure in knowing we are not unsuspectingly subjecting ourselves to unforseen future health issues and we wish to be dry and cozy this winter! It’s good to know we can touch base with you again as needed as we are quite alone in this situation. Bonne journée aussi.
Thanks for coming back Fabian ,I sent my question to Anna rather than you self ,as I have only just joined this site, Anna said to claim on my juristique insurance which I would only use if builder refuses to cont,act his decinalle can you read my orig note to Anna and confirm the procedure I have outlined. Thanks so much chris ( Harold) is my first name but not used
When I suggested claiming on your assurance juridique - you wouldn’t actually be claiming money from that insurance, they won’t cover this risk. Assurance juridique is legal cover, like you often get with motor insurance in the UK. What it does is fight your corner for you with third parties, and get any settlement that you are due to from other individuals or their insurance. So in effect, you would say to your assurance juridique (if you have it) ‘I had this work done, there is a problem with it, here are the details of the artisan and his insurance’, and if you are lucky they’ll say ‘OK leave it with us’ and they will get in touch with the builder and his insurance company and negotiate on your behalf. It saves you the trouble, and also they have more expertise and more clout so may get a better result.
1 Like
Hi Chris, sorry I didn’t saw your first message. Well, as Anna said this is not really a claim you make to the Protection Juridique but rather you seeking advise with them. It’s clearly a good idea and can set you up on tracks.
But it depends how you want to play it, if you want to play it hard ball from the start then you can send the registered letter upfront, note that the legal protection usually take some time to process your requests so I would highly advise you to call on them ASAP to start the procedure. Alternatively you can of course try to reach out for the builders stating clearly that you’ll file a complaint to their ‘Décenale’ if they don’t fix it or start a legal procedure against them (personally) if they were not covered.
To be honest if you’ve already done some reparation work that doesn’t smell good as it will be difficult to prouve the prejudice.
Anyway I hope this is helpful,
Kind regards,
Thank you Fabian for coming back ,I have not done , any repairs ,I have just sent letter 'recorded to firm,.my rough estimate repairs to my satisfaction about 20,000 euros original total job was 125,000. I can foresee problems with builder. So I am trying to ascertain exact procedure as to avoid problems .you say if he has not responded go to the police to record complaint ,and finally go to chambre des meatier . There will be a need for an expert report who is presumably appointed by decinalle insurer. I would probably want one of my own to agree with theirs I do have juristique insurance which I will see for advice at this stage ,can you confirm I I have got the procedure correct or if there is anything I have missed ,I had there 3rd party insurance but I was not aware of the decinalle insurance thanks so much for your help and guidance chris
Dear Fabian I am concerned about the process for getting work corrected by a builder my insurer agent says 3 stages 1 agree amcally 2compulsory arbitrAtion 3 then if no solution tribunal where there are 3 levels 1000 -4000. 4000- 10000and above 10000 no mention of Decinalle insurance. So like so many things in france no clear advice except the advice you gave. Have you used this procedure or did you get info from advocar or online if you could respond it would be very help full to me thanks chris
Hi Harold, sorry I didn’t answer before I meant to but was caught up by last week’s work and forgot to get back to the topic, my bad. Actually there is no proper procedure in your case, I’ve been through some sinister many times with my customers but being insured there wasn’t any particular issues (and I like to think I do my job properly on top of that ;)).
From my perspective there are indeed 3 steps you can take to try getting something done:
- Friendly settlement with the builders (if they are insured you can ‘threaten’ to call the insurer if they don’t and they are not insured you can remind them of the article L.243-3 of the insurance code which will grant them 75.000€ fine + entitle you to ask for a compensation on top of the work to be done for the prejudice of not being insured).
- The arbitration / mediation as the agent proposed is a good idea, it can be done by asking to the mayor or local town hall => This is probably the best option at first as getting an intermediary involved may solve the issue.
- The court mentioned by the agent is not the way it goes however… well it is but again it depends on the situation. If the builders are insured you don’t go to court you just reach to the insurance company (and if the builders don’t want to comply just go through the arbitration / mediation process first and you’ll have the insurer’s details). The issue being if they are not insured. In that case a friendly settlement is probably the best solution otherwise you’ll have to go through a long legal procedure (might be free for you if you have a legal protection) but the procedure itself might take 18 months + 18 months for the decenale to pay out…
Before going through the 3rd option I would recommend you have an expert opinion first on the price of the prejudice (might be almost for free as well if you have the ‘honoraires d’expert’ included in your house insurance… almost because you’ll still have the excess of course).
Thanks for reading me so far, I know I don’t give much answers but hopefully the guidance is still useful?
Dear Fabien thank you so much for your advice ,I can’t see this contractor not having decinalle
as most of his work is for the dept of the lot. All his work is generally on the river lot as he has a barge with a backactor which not many contractors have thanks again for your help and if I can come back to to as things proceed chris
Well if he is insured it will probably be easier to ‘complain’ as he might not expect you to know about French laws but if you start asking for the proper informations he’ll understand and will have to comply… and again, as soon as you know the company that’s insuring him you can just call them to declare the sinister you voila the claim will start
Good luck on that endeavor,
I’ve read a lot of optimistic ideas of how to clain against the decennale insurance, I thought I should share my experience;
I’ve read a lot of optimistic ideas of how to clain against the decennale insurance, I thought I should share my experience;
I had a house built by a national company – I’ll call them XX - who provided me with a 10-year warranty from an international insurer. Within weeks of moving in, September 2011, we saw cracks appearing across the front. XX rejected my requests to remedy the cracks, saying it was my fault for not putting land drains in. (The house is on a sloping site, with bedrock not far below the surface.) Briefly, it took us until November 2016 to get an interim decision from the court for about 80% of the repair costs; we have started another action to claim the remaining 20% plus most of the court costs, and all of the compensation. The whole action has cost me around 20 000€ so far.
I would strongly recommend that you buy an existing house, and have a full survey done before you buy!
The full timeline was:
- 24/09/2012 XX had a report from a reputable engineer, stating that the foundations of the house were insufficiently supported, and recommended underpinning. At the time, XX didn’t share this document with me, nor later with the court expert, when she asked all parties to disclose relevant documents.
(XX’s lawyer sent it to us on 27/02/2015 - perhaps by mistake.) - 22/11/2012 XX sent us a report from a different company of geologists, stating that the fissures were my fault, for not putting land drains in. They rejected my claim.
- 17/04/2013 I obtained a constat from a local huissier, and engaged a lawyer.
- 20/06/2013 I obtained a report from an independent geologist who stated that the constructors, XX, had not surveyed the ground before construction, and so were responsible.
- 31/07/2013 I obtained a report from a civil engineer who rejected the findings of 3G, and confirmed that the cause of the fissures was inadequately seated foundations.
- 11/10/2013 Their insurer - who provided the 10-year warranty insurance - rejected our claim, using the same reason as XX.
- 02/04/2014 The court appointed expert convened a meeting at my house, with all the interested parties, and their lawyers and experts.
- 27/01/2015 The court expert issued her 1st draft report, confirming the fault clearly was in XX’s construction.
- 25/02/2016 after a second draft, and further comments, the court expert issued her final report, with the same conclusions. The submissions before the court case included a statement from XX’s sub-contractor, who said that he warned the project manager that the foundations were inadequate, because of the nature of the soil - mixed clay and rocks. The project manager rejected his advice.
- 06/12/2016 The court issued an interim decision, awarding a lesser amount, based on a devis obtained by the insurer, which the court expert had rejected because it did not include all the specified repairs.
I now have to go through another court case to get the rest of the repair cost, the court expert’s cost (11 600 including her engineer’s fee) and some compensation for loss of use over 5 years.
@Anna
Heartily concur…after watching the Expert-for-the-agrieved go for the jugular of the Expert-for-the-other-side…I went out and purchased just such an Assurance… phew… now feel very relaxed and confident. I am prepared to fight my own corner most of the time, but with just such a guy on my side…I could take on the world…
Hi Les. So sorry for your nightmare. How is it possible when this program is in place to protect people that a thing like that could happen - especially when you had the house build BRAND NEW by supposedly a reputable company?? God bless you for not losing faith in humanity. This thread started by me being grumbly about a bit of mould behind one panel of wallpaper whose likely cause was a bit of unfinished business in a valley on the roof outside - a fairly straightforward fix. Hearing other folks stories especially yours has really humbled me to the kind of things that can go majorly sideways simply trying to create hearth and home. I sure hope that when your situation finally gets sorted, that you will be able to put your feet up at some point, have a wee apero and say <>~£#%^ the bastards. Did I say that out loud??
@Lison_McCullough
Did you ever have that quiet work with the Notaire… as I suggested some time ago…??
Thanks for your kind thoughts Lison,
I am certainly looking forward to the day it’s all over.
By the way, apologies for the stuttering start and the typos in my message - you’ll understand that it’s difficult to stay rational and focussed when I start to think about it !