Section 3: Estimates and contracts.

Any natural or legal person who may be held liable under articles 1792 to 1792-4 of this code is discharged from the liabilities and guarantees incumbent on it, pursuant to articles 1792 to 1792-2, after ten years from acceptance of the works or, pursuant to Article 1792-3, on expiry of the period referred to in that article.

Liability actions brought against a subcontractor due to damage affecting a work or items of equipment of a work mentioned in articles 1792 and 1792-2 are prescribed by ten years from acceptance of the work and, for damage affecting those items of equipment of the work mentioned in article 1792-3, by two years from that same acceptance.

In addition to actions governed by articles 1792-3, 1792-4-1 and 1792-4-2, liability actions directed against builders designated in articles 1792 and 1792-1 and their subcontractors lapse after ten years from acceptance of the works.

Any clause in a contract whose purpose is either to exclude or limit the liability provided for in articles 1792, 1792-1 and 1792-2, or to exclude the guarantees provided for in articles 1792-3 and 1792-6 or to limit its scope, or to exclude or limit the joint and several liability provided for in article 1792-4, is deemed unwritten.

Acceptance is the act by which the client declares acceptance of the work, with or without reservations. It takes place at the request of the most diligent party, either amicably or, failing that, judicially. It is, in any event, pronounced by both parties. The guarantee of perfect completion, to which the contractor is bound for a period of one year, from acceptance, extends to the repair of all defects indicated…

The following are not considered to be items of equipment of a structure within the meaning of articles 1792, 1792-2, 1792-3 and 1792-4 items of equipment, including their accessories, whose sole function is to enable a professional activity to be carried out in the structure.

Where an architect or contractor has undertaken the fixed-price construction of a building, according to a plan drawn up and agreed with the owner of the land, he may not demand any increase in price, either under the pretext of an increase in labour or materials, or under that of changes or increases made to that plan, if such changes or increases have not been authorised in writing, and the…

The master may terminate, by his sole will, the fixed-price contract, even though the work has already begun, by compensating the contractor for all his expenses, all his work, and all that he could have gained in this undertaking.

The contract for the hire of work is dissolved by the death of the workman, architect or contractor.

But the owner is bound to pay in proportion to the price carried by the agreement, to their estate, the value of the works made and that of the materials prepared, only when such works or materials can be useful to him.