What if the house leaks? Who's to blame, landlord or tenant?

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To live and study in France, the most important thing is to live comfortably. If something goes wrong with the rented house, it is inevitable that you will have to work hard and lose money. This article will share with you the basic information you need to know if your rented house is leaking.

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Found leakage situation, strongly recommend: do not directly to contact the repairman! Contact the landlord first!

Because the landlord most likely already has an ideal repairman. This person may have been in the apartment before, and the landlord is familiar with him and finds his services reasonably priced and guaranteed. So in this case, the repairman invited by the landlord is far more reliable than the person you find on the website, and a lot of trouble caused by the repair cost with the landlord is saved.

In addition, as tenants, we need to keep in mind that large and small renovation works in the house must be informed of the landlord in advance. Even if it is an emergency and the landlord is unable to come to the rescue, the tenant must inform the landlord.

If urgent repairs are carried out without notifying the landlord, the landlord has the right to refuse reimbursement of the repair costs according to the relevant law.

What's the law about water leaks?

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If the water leaks because the house is old and in disrepair, then the landlord needs to bear the related repair costs.

Tenants, however, are not entirely immune. According to the law, in addition to force majeure factors, the tenant must respond to the deterioration and theft of the premises in which he lives during the validity of his housing contract.

LOI n° 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 – art. 10:
c) De répondre des dégradations et pertes quisurviennent pendant la durée du contrat dans les locaux dont il a la jouissanceexclusive, à moins qu’il ne prouve qu’elles ont eu lieu par cas de forcemajeure, par la faute du bailleur ou par le fait d’un tiers qu’il n’a pasintroduit dans le logement
La loi 89 462 du 6 Juillet 1989，

The legal document defines the relationship between a tenant and a landlord, stating that the landlord and tenant have certain rights and obligations to each other. The law also spells out who should pay compensation under what circumstances. For more details, please visit:

https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006069108

Under normal circumstances, if the leakage is caused by the aging of the pipe, the landlord should be responsible for the repair cost. What is relatively difficult is how to prove that it is the normal aging of the pipe and not because of other external factors.

Abnormal aging cases include: improper use of tenants, the use of chemical products and so on to cause damage to the pipeline.

It is the duty and responsibility of the tenant to maintain the good condition of the facilities in his/her residence, including toilets, sinks, washing machines, etc. Tenants should be able to do regular cleaning of the house facilities, especially the need to pay attention to small details, such as: tile joints, sink gaps, faucet cleaning.

In short, identify the responsible party, and whoever is responsible pays.

Next up is the leak insurance declaration.

In addition to contacting your landlord, contact your insurance company to report the damage（Déclarer un Sinistre）。

It may take a long time for someone to answer the accident call, but you must be patient, after reporting the damage to the insurance company, there will be a specialist responsible for handling the accident. You will then receive an accident number (Numero Du Sinistre) to fill out a damage report (Constat Amiable Degat Des Eaux).

In order to get repaired as soon as possible and receive compensation from the insurance company, you must complete a damage report (pictured below), describe the damage and send it to the insurance company within five business days (after five days, the insurance company will dismiss the incident or reduce the coverage).

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If you have limited time and energy, you can also rest assured that the problem to the service network. The service network provides professional solutions for water leakage insurance.