Peeters Act: what changes in the area of insurance?

Some things will change for architects from 1 July 2018 with regard to the obligation to insure professional liability. Since the 2007 Laruelle Act you have been legally required to take out an insurance against full professional liability. This Laruelle Act will be replaced by two new regulations. The Peeters Act (Belgian Official Gazette, 9 June 2017) and the Ducarme Act, which is still in the pipeline.

The new Peeters Act now makes the legal mandatory insurance for architects again a mere ethical obligation and adds another mandatory insurance. From now on each new housing project immediately requires a 10 year-insurance.

In addition, a Ducarme Act is being drafted which will again impose a mandatory civil liability insurance “with the exception of ten-year liability" for architects, but also for surveyors and all other construction service providers. This Act will not take effect in the near future. It is still important to know what is changing in the meantime.

For which houses does the new obligation apply?

For houses for which the final building permit will be issued after 1 July 2018, the new Peeters Act will require you to also take out a 10-year liability insurance. Immediately for the full ten years and without possibility to cancel. But what are the consequences of this law? Which solutions should you choose in order to be correctly insured? And do you need to change your existing policy or not?

What insurance solutions are available?

Because the new Act also applies to contractors and other service providers in the construction industry, you can insure yourself both individually and in groups. Protect offers 3 possible solutions, depending on the form of collaboration.

  1. TPL policy Annual formula (your current professional liability insurance): this is a policy that insures your full professional liability on an annual basis. Protect now extends this policy with an adapted solution: an additional guarantee that immediately insures your houses for 10 years, on an individual basis. This is the simplest, safest and most economical solution for you.

  2. TPL Single Site policy: this is a policy which insures the full liability of all designers together on a project basis. Not only during the design phase and the construction period, but also for the 10-year period. The policy is already occasionally taken out for large sites and joint ventures. This formula, which allows you to insure yourself together with the other designers for 10 years in the same policy, will continue to exit.

  3. Comprehensive 10-year housing construction policy: this is a policy which, on a project basis, only insures the ten-year liability of all construction partners. An insurance formula that allows you to insure yourself not only with the other designers, but also with the contractors in the same policy. Protect can even offer this formula for your contractors separately, in addition to the two previous formulas which is rather practical when you want to take out insurance securely and with one company.

What is the best solution for you?

We recommend the individual TPL Annual Policy Formula as it offers most benefits to you as an architect. In a nutshell:

  • guarantees full liability (i.e. no disputes in the case of damage, e.g. minor hidden defects)
  • 1 integrated solution for you with a smooth transfer of certificates
  • cheaper than a TPL single site or a comprehensive 10-year policy.
  • no fragmentation, i.e. less administration
  • one insurer - one defence - one point of contact

What will actually change if you are already a client of Protect and opt for the individual TPL policy Annual Policy Formula?

In your professional liability policy - which is now slightly adjusted by the new law - Protect has added an additional guarantee for the 10-year liability for house construction. You will be immediately compliant with this. You can then register any new housing project yourself online as from 01/07/2018.

  • You can simply apply for your insurance certificate yourself using the MyProtect4Architects digital declaration tool.
  • You should do this at the latest on the day of commencement of the work.
  • The premium will be paid at the time of the annual settlement in January of the following year.
  • The tool also facilitates the verification of the certificates of other construction partners, an additional obligation set out in the new law.
  • The insurance certificate is valid for 10 years without the possibility of cancellation, as from the acceptance of the work.

You will soon receive the rider to your professional liability insurance policy.

Would you like to make an appointment with your insurance specialist to discuss the rider to your professional liability insurance? Click here

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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