InsuoraHow French home insurance works
French home insurance is called assurance multirisque habitation (MRH). A standard MRH policy bundles multiple coverages in one contract: fire and explosion, water damage (dégâts des eaux), theft and vandalism, glass breakage, personal liability (responsabilité civile), weather events (storms, hail, snow load), and the mandatory catastrophes naturelles (CatNat) surcharge.
The MRH covers the rebuild cost of your home (not its market value) and the replacement value of your belongings. Liability coverage protects you if you accidentally cause damage to a third party — a neighbour's flooded apartment from your leaking pipes, a guest injured on your property, etc.
Who must have home insurance in France?
- Tenants (locataires)
- Legally required since the law of 6 July 1989. Every tenant must hold at minimum a responsabilité civile locative policy covering fire, water damage, and explosion. Landlords can request an annual insurance certificate (attestation d'assurance). If a tenant refuses, the landlord may obtain a policy and charge the cost back to the tenant, or use it as grounds for lease termination after due process.
- Condo owners (copropriétaires)
- Most condo corporation bylaws (règlements de copropriété) require each owner to hold MRH covering their unit and personal liability. Even without a bylaw requirement, coverage is essential: you are responsible for damage you cause to neighbours or common areas (a leaking washing machine, a burst pipe in your bathroom).
- Owner-occupiers (propriétaires occupants)
- No general legal obligation, but your mortgage lender will require it as a loan condition in virtually all cases. Without a mortgage, you are technically free not to insure — though bearing the full rebuild risk of your home is inadvisable.
- Non-occupying landlords (propriétaires non-occupants — PNO)
- The Loi ALUR (2014) made PNO insurance mandatory for all condo unit owners who do not occupy their property (whether rented out or vacant). PNO covers the landlord's civil liability, damage to the unit when it is vacant between tenants, and situations where the tenant has no insurance or is insolvent.
CatNat: France's unique natural disaster scheme
The catastrophes naturelles (CatNat) scheme, created by the law of 13 July 1982, is a French state-backed reinsurance system with no equivalent in most other countries. Every home insurance policy automatically includes CatNat coverage, funded by a mandatory 12% surcharge on the base premium (rate set by government decree, not by insurers).
CatNat covers: flooding, river overflow, mudslides, earthquakes, avalanches, and retrait-gonflement des argiles (RGA) — the shrinking and swelling of clay-rich soils during droughts, which causes structural cracks and foundation damage. RGA has become one of the largest CatNat claim categories in France as droughts intensify.
To trigger a CatNat claim, a ministerial decree recognising a state of natural disaster must be published in the Journal officiel. Once published, you have 10 days to file your claim. The mandatory CatNat deductible is set by the state: €380 for material damage, €1,520 for drought/RGA damage — these cannot be waived or bought down.
Water damage: France's most common claim
Water damage (dégâts des eaux) accounts for roughly 1.5 million claims per year in France — the single most frequent home insurance event. It is covered by all standard MRH policies. In multi-unit buildings, the Convention CIDRE / IRSI (in force since 2018) simplifies settlement between insurers for claims under €5,000: each insurer pays their own policyholder directly without seeking recourse from the other party's insurer. This eliminates the lengthy inter-insurer disputes that used to follow every minor pipe leak in a Haussmann building.
Rebuild cost vs. market value
Your MRH insures the coût de reconstruction (rebuild cost) — what it would take to demolish and rebuild your home from scratch — not its market price. In France, where land in Paris can represent 80–90% of an apartment's market value, insuring for market value would mean paying to insure land that cannot burn or flood. Rebuild costs in Paris are high due to labour and regulations, but still well below market prices.
Underinsurance is a real risk: if your declared rebuild value is less than the actual cost, insurers can apply the règle proportionnelle, reducing your payout proportionally. Review your sum insured every 2–3 years, especially after renovation.
Cancelling your policy: Loi Hamon
Since the Loi Hamon (2014), you can cancel any home insurance contract at any time after the first year, with one month's notice and no fees. Your new insurer typically handles the cancellation paperwork. This makes it easy to switch to a better deal — worth doing at renewal, as loyalty rarely pays in French home insurance.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this calculator free?
- Yes — completely free, no account needed. It runs in your browser and nothing you enter is saved.
- I am moving to France. How quickly do I need home insurance?
- If renting, you need to provide proof of insurance on the day you sign your lease. Many landlords check this at key handover. You can get a policy and certificate within hours from online insurers (Luko, Lovys, Maif) or the next business day from traditional ones. Bring the certificate to the key handover.
- Does French home insurance cover flood damage?
- Yes — through the mandatory CatNat scheme, but only after a ministerial decree recognises a natural disaster. Standard storm damage (rain through a broken window, a damaged roof from wind) is covered under the weather events guarantee without needing a CatNat decree. Pure overland flooding from heavy rain without a recognised natural disaster declaration may not be covered — unlike in Canada where overland water is a specific endorsement.
- Does my policy cover a home office or work equipment?
- Standard MRH contents coverage typically has sub-limits for professional equipment used at home. If you work from home and have significant office equipment (computers, servers, professional cameras), check your policy's professional equipment limit — many standard policies cap this at €2,000–€5,000. You may need a specific rider or a professional policy to cover higher-value equipment.
- What is the difference between PNO and GLI?
- PNO (propriétaire non-occupant) insures the landlord's civil liability and the property itself against damage. GLI (garantie loyers impayés) covers unpaid rent, legal fees to evict a non-paying tenant, and sometimes tenant-caused damage beyond the security deposit. They are separate products — a landlord with tenants typically needs both. GLI is not available as part of a standard MRH.