Comprehensive ten-year liability insurance

The contractor, engineer and architect have a 10-year liability pursuant to articles 1792 and 2270 of the civil code. However, not every building partner used to take out insurance against this liability. The architect used to be the only building partner who was legally required to take out insurance, the other building actors were not. When faced with a non-insured and/or insolvent building partner, there was never any certainty about the compensation of damages.

The new Peeters Act of 31/05/2017 now partially solves this problem and also requires contractors, architects and other construction service providers to take out an insurance policy to cover their ten-year liability. However, this is only for the construction of housing (>50% of the surface area intended for residential purposes). To this end a comprehensive 10-year liability insurance can be taken out together with all the parties involved. Insuring all construction partners with a 10-year liability in a single policy will avoid lengthy discussions about the distribution of the claim.
For the construction of housing it is a legal requirement, for other buildings not a requirement, but a necessity.

 

Comprehensive ten-year liability insurance for non-residential construction

WHAT IS INSURED?

BASIC GUARANTEES:
The policy insures repair costs to the building for the period of ten years which starts on the day of provisional acceptance or final acceptance for damage which can be classified under the ten-year liability of the insured parties.

ADDITIONAL GUARANTEES:
The policy also standard provides an intervention for repairs costs of parts which do not belong to the rough structure (finishing, installations ..) as a result of a covered claim. This intervention will depend on the value of the closed rough structure up to a certain amount.
In second rank, the policy also intervenes for damage to third parties which is the result of an insured claim governed by the above-mentioned basic guarantee. Strictly speaking this is damage which can be recovered from the liable architect, contractor or engineer on the basis of article 1382 Civil Code.
Any consequential loss with neighbours due to a claim covered by the basic guarantee is also a possible extension. The neighbours can also address the project developer directly on the basis of article 544 Civil Code.
The basic guarantee can be further extended with a coverage for immaterial consequential loss stemming from a claim covered by the basic guarantee.

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Comprehensive ten-year housing liability insurance (compulsory)

The Peeters Act of 31/05/2017 obliges contractors, architects and other construction service providers to take out an insurance policy to cover their ten-year liability. This was already the case for architects, but has now been extended to other actors in the housing construction trade. To this end, you can conclude a comprehensive construction site policy together with all parties involved. It will protect you during 10 years against serious defects after the final acceptance of the project.

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