Accueil - Building survey in France
Independent building survey in France
In a French property purchase, everyone is selling you something. We are the only party who isn’t: we verify. The agent sells the house, the seller sells its story, the builder sells the works. AEB 360 sells nothing. We examine the building as it stands and put what we find in a report that belongs to you.
We are an independent building expertise firm based in Lyon, and we act for international buyers and owners anywhere in France at two moments: before you sign, and when a property you already own suffers cracks, water damage, an insurance dispute or defective work. Alpine chalet, Paris apartment, Riviera villa, château, lakefront house: one method, adapted to each structure.
The essentials in 60 seconds
- AEB 360 is an independent building expertise firm based in Lyon, France, serving private, professional and institutional clients.
- We carry out pre-purchase building surveys and defect inspections on residential property anywhere in France.
- We act only for the buyer or the owner, never for an agency, an insurer or a contractor.
- The survey is conducted under French standards, the full report is written in French, and you receive an English executive summary of the findings.
- An English-speaking expert handles the whole assignment, from first call to final report.
- The site visit takes place within 72 business hours anywhere in France, once the engagement letter is signed and the deposit paid.
- No assignment is ever published or cited, and a written confidentiality agreement is signed on request.
Buy with confidence: the pre-purchase building survey
On the French market, viewings are short, decisions are quick and the sales file looks complete. The mandatory diagnostics provided by the seller cover what the law requires: energy rating, asbestos, lead, termites, electrical and gas installations, natural risks. They say nothing about the structure, the roof timbers, the basements or the grounds. That is where the expensive surprises live.
Our pre-purchase survey sits between the viewing and the preliminary contract, or inside the ten-day cooling-off period if the calendar leaves no other option. In France a sale is rarely made subject to survey, so the inspection has to happen before you commit, not after.
What we inspect
Foundations and basements, load-bearing walls and floors, roof structure and covering, façades and joinery, then the external works: retaining walls, terraces, swimming pools, outbuildings. The installations that drive the cost of a large property are listed and examined for their effect on the building:
- heating, air conditioning and ventilation, and the ducts that run through old floors and walls;
- indoor pools, spas and infinity pools, and their watertightness towards the structure;
- climate-controlled wine cellars and underground rooms, and the condensation they generate;
- home automation, networks and plant rooms, and the visible condition of their installations.
Every finding is dated, located and photographed. Where a point needs further investigation (a probe, a measurement, an opening), we say so and we say why.
The report as a negotiating instrument
The report ranks what is acceptable, what should be negotiated and what should make you walk away. It gives an order of magnitude for the repairs when we can establish one, and says so when we cannot. Delivered before the preliminary contract, it becomes the technical basis of the negotiation; delivered after, it supports a reservation or a condition precedent for works.
It is written to be challenged: a third party can read it, dispute it and respond to it. That is what gives it weight in front of a seller, a notaire or a court.
New builds and snagging
For an off-plan purchase (VEFA) or a newly completed house, we attend the handover with you and record the snagging items (réserves) in the handover report.
In France, apparent defects on a new build must be notified within a strict window after you take possession, so the inspection has to be done on the day, not weeks later.
Defend your property: cracks, water damage, insurance claims, defective work
Cracks and subsidence. A crack that widens, a door that starts to stick, a terrace that pulls away from the house: in France these are read against ground movement, clay shrinkage, timber decay and structural alterations. We identify the cause, measure the movement and say whether it is stable, active or urgent.
Water damage, fire, storm and insurance claims. After a loss, your French insurer appoints its own expert, instructed and paid by the company. You are entitled to appoint your own expert (what French law calls an expert d’assuré), independent of the insurer, to re-examine the damage, document its true extent and argue your position at the joint inspection. We act only for the owner, never for an insurance company.
Defective work, builder disputes and court proceedings
A renovation delivered with defects, damage that appears after completion, a disagreement with a contractor, an architect or a seller: in France a dispute is won on dated technical facts, not on impressions. We record, measure and analyse the causes, and we qualify each defect against the rules of the art and the statutory guarantees (one-year completion guarantee, two-year equipment guarantee, ten-year structural guarantee).
The report is designed to be produced in adversarial proceedings and before a court-appointed expert. For the lawyer or the notaire who instructs us, we stay within the technical remit and frame our conclusions so that they fit the strategy of counsel.
How the French system works
The independent building expert (no RICS in France)
France has no chartered surveyor profession and no equivalent of the RICS. The professional who examines a building for a buyer or an owner is the expert en bâtiment, an independent building expert who works for one party only. The title is not regulated, so what matters is independence, a written method and reports that can stand up to challenge.
The ten-year structural guarantee (garantie décennale)
Every builder in France is liable for ten years from completion for damage that compromises the solidity of the building or makes it unfit for its purpose (Civil Code, article 1792). The guarantee follows the building: it protects successive owners, so a house completed six years ago still carries four years of cover for the buyer.
Structural damage insurance (assurance dommages-ouvrage)
 The owner who commissions works must take out this policy before the site opens. It pays for repairs covered by the ten-year guarantee without waiting for a court to decide who is at fault, and it too passes to successive owners. When you buy, ask for it: its absence or its expiry is a fact we put in the report.
What the notaire does not check
 In France you buy the building as it stands. The survey is the only step in the process that looks at the building itself.
Five property types, five technical readings
A large property is not simply a large house: its structure, its site or its history sit outside the usual patterns. Each type has its own weak points, and that is where our reading starts.
French Alps chalets: roof structure, supports and snow load
Snow, frost, thaw cycles and structural timber: a chalet is read through its roof frame, its joints, its bearing points and its coverings.
We examine the load-bearing timbers, post feet and their connection to the masonry, roofs under snow load, exposed terraces and balconies, sloping basements and meltwater ingress.
Recent extensions on old chalets and heavy renovations are checked for compatibility with the original structure. From Chamonix to Megève, Courchevel and the Portes du Soleil, this is our most frequent international assignment.
Paris apartments in Haussmannian buildings: structure and timber floors
Dressed stone, timber floors on joists or steel beams, party walls, cantilevered balconies: a Paris apartment is judged by its nineteenth-century structure and by what successive renovations have done to it.
We check the floors (deflection, vibration, damp at the base), load-bearing walls that have been cut or moved, balconies and cornices, and the boundary between what belongs to your lot and what belongs to the co-ownership (copropriété), whose rules and decisions bind the buyer.
Riviera and Provence villas: retaining walls, concrete and pools
Salt air, wind and sloping plots: a villa on the Côte d’Azur or in Provence wears out its metalwork, renders and concrete faster than an inland house, and it often stands on works you cannot see.
We examine retaining walls and earthworks, foundations on fill or on slopes, exposed concrete (carbonation, corrosion of reinforcement), terraces, infinity pools and indoor pools (structure, watertightness, leaks towards the foundations), joinery and ironwork.
Châteaux and country estates: roof timbers, coverings and outbuildings
A château or a country estate is read first through its roof structure and coverings, then through its outbuildings, which are often in worse condition than the main house.
We examine large-span timber frames (joints, deflection, insect and fungal attack), slate and old tile roofs, thick masonry and its damp, floors and vaults, then the service buildings, boundary walls and water features. Where the property is a listed building or sits in a protected area, we flag what the protection will impose on materials, techniques and timing: it is part of the real cost of the property.
Lakefront house on an Alpine lake, survey of basements, foundations and shoreline works)
On the shores of Lake Geneva, Lake Annecy or Lake Bourget, a waterfront property combines a high water table, soft ground, bank erosion and wind exposure.
We examine basements and below-ground levels (water ingress, pressure), foundations and their settlement, shoreline works and jetties where they belong to the property, exposed terraces and façades.
Private driveway and gate of a large property in France, discreet building survey by AEB 360)
Private banks, family offices, wealth managers, relocation consultants, lawyers and estate managers instruct us on behalf of their clients. What they expect is simple: a quick answer, a written scope, a report a third party can read, and silence on everything else. The scope is fixed in an engagement letter before any visit.
We coordinate with your notaire so that the survey fits the timetable of the sale, and we can point you towards English-speaking French lawyers when a dispute needs legal handling; we have no formal arrangement with any of them and we receive nothing for the introduction. The report is written to be forwarded as it is, to a client, to counsel or to an insurer.
Method, deliverables and about AEB 360
The two documents you receive
The full report in French, the legally usable document, follows the same plan every time: scope of the assignment, dated and photographed findings, analysis of causes, qualification against the statutory guarantees, recommended actions, limits of the inspection. The English executive summary gives you the findings, their severity and the actions we recommend, so that you can decide without a translator. The same English-speaking expert follows the file from the first call to the report and signs it.
About AEB 360
AEB 360 is an independent building expertise firm based in Lyon, France, serving private, professional and institutional clients. The firm is operated by SAS Altum Expertise Bâtiment, 131 Rue de Créqui, 69006 Lyon. We work under a duty of care: what we could not verify is stated, with the reason, and the useful further investigation is named.
Your questions about building surveys in France
Do I need a survey when buying a house in France?
Réponse:
Nothing in French law requires it, and most French buyers do without. The seller’s mandatory diagnostics cover energy, asbestos, lead, termites, installations and risks; they do not look at the structure, the roof, the foundations or the grounds. A pre-purchase survey examines exactly what the diagnostics leave out, and it has to be done before the preliminary contract, since a French sale is rarely made subject to survey.
Is there a RICS equivalent in France?
Réponse:
No. France has no chartered surveyor profession, and RICS titles are not part of the French regulatory framework. The French professional who inspects a building for a buyer or an owner is the independent building expert (expert en bâtiment). What replaces the RICS badge is the method: a written scope, dated and photographed findings, references to the French standards, and a report that a third party can challenge.
Will the report be in English?
Réponse:
The full report is written in French, because that is the document a notaire, an insurer or a French court will use. You receive with it an English executive summary of the findings, their severity and the recommended actions, and the expert who visited the property speaks English throughout the assignment.
Who do I call about cracks in my house in France?
Réponse:
An independent building expert, before a contractor. Cracks in France are read against ground movement, clay shrinkage, timber decay and structural alterations, and the cause decides both the repair and who pays for it. We measure the movement, identify the cause and say whether the situation is stable, active or urgent.
Can I challenge my French insurer's assessment after a claim?
Réponse:
Yes. Your insurer’s expert works for the insurer. French practice allows you to appoint your own expert, independent of the company, to re-examine the damage and argue your position at the joint inspection. If the disagreement persists, the file can go to a joint amicable expertise or to a court-appointed expert, with your lawyer.
What does the ten-year guarantee cover when I buy an existing house?
Réponse:
Every builder in France is liable for ten years from completion for damage that compromises the solidity of the building or makes it unfit for its purpose. The guarantee follows the property, so a buyer inherits the years that remain. Our report identifies which defects may fall under it and which documents to ask the seller for.
How quickly can you visit a property, and where?
Réponse:
Anywhere in France, within 72 business hours once the engagement letter is signed and the deposit paid. Travel is included in the engagement letter, with no surcharge after the visit. The delivery time of the report depends on the size of the property and the investigations needed; it is fixed in the engagement letter.
Can my bank, lawyer or estate manager instruct you on my behalf?
Réponse:
Yes. The engagement letter states who the client is, who receives the report and who we speak to during the assignment. No assignment is published or cited, and a written confidentiality agreement is signed on request before the visit.
One firm, one expert, anywhere in France
We travel to the property wherever it is in France. Travel is included in the engagement letter; no surcharge appears after the visit. Our assignments are limited to French territory.
Le cabinet AEB 360
Have it checked before you decide
Before you sign, after a loss, or at the start of a dispute, an independent report replaces impressions with facts.
Contact AEB 360 for a first conversation in English, directly or through your adviser.
Contact form
Contact details
 Monday to Friday, 9 am to 6 pm (Paris time), by phone, email or the form on this page
- 04. 82. 83. 97. 00
- 131 Rue de Créqui, 69006 Lyon
- contact@aeb360.fr