Ins.on Paris Apt. Rental Mandatory?
 

Does French law require manadatory insurance
on short term villa or apt. rentals?

For the owner or the renter? (Not that I know - but just curious which you are?)

For a renter

Hi Corky,

Is the owner trying to get you to purchase his insurance for him?

((I))

This makes no sense. But I can assure you there is no law in France that requires anyone renting an apartment to buy any kind of insurance if that's what you're asking.

No Ira, but it is mentioned in his Rental Agreement and another segment of our trip where we will rent a villa in Provence from another non French owner does not require this , so I was curious if French law stipulated this in rentals.
Thanks

Patrick, pasted this for your input.
Insurance
French law requires all parties to be covered by comprehensive Travel Insurance, including coverage for personal liability, while occupying a rental property. The client is therefore strongly recommended to arrange a comprehensive travel insurance policy (which can include cancellation coverage, such as www.travelex-insurance.com) and to have full coverage for the party’s personal belongings, public liability etc, since these are not otherwise covered .

This seems to be saying two different things. Most of us have homeowner's insurance which provides personal liability in such cases. Others of us have further liability insurance.

But it sounds like this is suggesting that taking out travel insurance is somehow related to that. I don't think it is. And why would the government care if you got sick and didn't show up that you'd lose your deposit on an apartment you rented?

So what you are saying is that the comments from the rental agreement are false and the French owner is wrong?

Corky, reread what you quoted. It says that renters are required to have liability insurance. As I said I do and most people do.

But the rest simply says "you are strongly recommended to. . ." nothing about the government requiring travel or cancellation insurance. That part is just a recommendation according to your quote.

Whatever French law requires, I have never had an apt. rental agency require me to buy insurance nor even ask about it, as I recall. That's why they take a deposit. Now, I do have personal liability insurance as part of my homeowner's (although I couldn't tell you what it would cover in such a case), but have never had an apt. rental agency ask me about that.

Perhaps there was something in the printed contract that I would be liable if I caused damage, I truly don't recall, and I signed because I knew I wasn't going to cause any damage so wasn't worried about it. I have never bought travel insurance.

I find that quote about what France requires interesting in that it mentions one particular travel insurance company, which I don't think French law would name. The rest is sort of consumer advice about cancelling and your own belongings. It sounds like the owner copied or wrote something as a fallback so they don't want any complaints from customers about refunds if they cancel or if their things get stolen.

I do remember reading some French law about personal liability insurance being required, but I seem to recall it was for longer stays than a typical tourist makes, such as students or interns who are there 3 months or more.

I have dealt with French apartment agencies, also (two of them), not foreign ones, and they did not require me to have travel insurance or prove any insurance.

Corky, sorry but I'm having a real problem communicating with you here. I thought I gave a simple no. Then you pressed me with a double post -- the first part explains the part about French law and I say yes -- you need liability as it says, and most of us have that. But the second part doesn't say anything about French law, it merely says as you quoted "

Sorry, ignore that last post. I think you need to contact a lawyer if you want more than opinions.

Many people seem to be having trouble with the sentence, copied from above : French law requires all parties to be covered by comprehensive Travel Insurance, including coverage for personal liability, while occupying a rental property.

If that sentence is correct, then your homeowner's or liability insurance is not adequate, as it is not "comprehensive Travel Insurance...".

I had seen this advice elsewhere, and I don't think a rental agent would have any incentive to induce buying of travel insurance, as they don't sell it.

I visited the web site of the French Embassy, and I am not sure if it is cleared up for me. The part of the website on obtaining visas for French territories, such as Tahiti, I believe, says clearly that one of the requirements is a current comprehensive travel insurance policy, which would include, of course, medical coverage, liability, etc. I specifically mention the medical coverage as I am sure that they don't want to be picking up the tab for some unlucky and uncovered tourist who is forced to use their heavily subsidized health service. From that, I would be inclined to think that they require comprehensive travel insurance for entry into France, although I have not been asked to prove such coverage, as a visa is no longer required for the typical tourist entering France.

On the other hand, I have not seen a seller of travel insurance who made the asserted requirement for such insurance in France a part of their spiel; surely they would not miss such a marketing opportunity!

Clevelandbrown thank you for a sensible reply to my post.

I know you won't think this is a sensible answer Corky, but there IS a difference but what is technically law and what one does.

Did you know that it is illegal to sell and to smoke marijuana in Amsterdam? Enough said.

Actually, now that I think of it, I believe what I read about required liabiility insurance was for Canadians. I think there is some kind of France-Canada agreement on that. The above quote about visas I don't quite understand as it seems to apply to people going to French territories, not Paris, and perhaps those who would need a visa, which isn't everyone. I also think the travel insurance part is perhaps out of context and can't be interpreted literally. For example, if one had a comprehensive insurance policy that covered all of those things while in France, I don't think they would specifically require a travel insurance policy.

Maybe it's required for certain nationalities, although I still do think I read that it depends on the length of stay. The reason I remember this is that a Canadian was asking about this in a prior thread and I looked up the requirements and posted a link to them. Here is that thread for reference (which is titled "civil insurance"):

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34512185

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