Is extra insurance for French garden pool required?

Reader Question: Our house insurance provider says the policy does not cover our swimming pool. Is separate swimming pool insurance common, advisable or necessary from a liability standpoint in France? In the US it would be essential.

Swimming pool insurance in France (l’assurance piscine) is not obligatory.

It covers only the swimming pool itself, not swimmers, and usually limits claims to strictly defined situations – damage to the pool, or pool house, caused by a storm, fire or theft are usual cases.

Claims for accidental breakages are also usually covered.

To cover yourself against claims from people who injure themselves using your pool, or from the relatives of people who drowned in the pool, you need what is called a garantie responsabilité civile du propriétaire civile, which is almost certainly included in your household insurance contract.

It is the same part of the contract that covers you if a roof tile falls off your house, for example, and hits someone on the head. 

Have a good read through your policy to make sure you have this cover.

If you are not sure, check with your provider, making clear you mention responsabilité civile, and not assurance piscine.

In any case, you should always make clear to your provider that you have a pool on the property – some, but not all, companies charge more.

Read more: Can I rent the swimming pool at my French second home to neighbours?

If the provider is unreasonable about it, go elsewhere – France has lots of swimming pools and lots of insurance firms with experience of covering them.

Generally, blow-up pools or above-ground pools are exempt from extra fees.

Your responsabilité civile insurance will only pay out if you have behaved responsibly and installed the required safety features.

Another insurance to consider if you have a pool built by a professional using traditional concrete block methods is the garantie dommages-ouvrages.

It covers the time before the start of the work, up to the point where you have a perfectly working pool, providing cover against bad workmanship, leaks, or problems with getting the pool’s filter to function properly.

Read more: Explained: safety rules for home pools in France and risks if do not comply