How long do you have to sue in France?
| Claim | Period | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice between businesses | 5 years | Commercial Code, art. L. 110-4; Civil Code, art. 2224 |
| Invoice from a business to a consumer | 2 years | Consumer Code, art. L. 218-2 |
| Debt between individuals (loan, IOU) | 5 years | Civil Code, art. 2224 |
| Rent and charges under a residential lease | 3 years | Act of 6 July 1989, art. 7-1 |
| Rent review of a residential lease by the landlord | 1 year | Act of 6 July 1989, art. 7-1 |
| Claim under the commercial lease regime (notice, renewed rent, eviction compensation) | 2 years | Commercial Code, art. L. 145-60 |
| Service charges and other personal claims between co-owners or with the association | 5 years | Act of 10 July 1965, art. 42; Civil Code, art. 2224 |
| Challenge to a co-owners’ general meeting decision | 2 months | Act of 10 July 1965, art. 42 |
| One-year completion warranty | 1 year | Civil Code, art. 1792-6 |
| Two-year equipment warranty | At least 2 years | Civil Code, art. 1792-3 |
| Ten-year structural warranty | 10 years | Civil Code, art. 1792-4-1 |
Standard periods in the areas the firm covers. Special time limits may apply to your situation.
The general rule: five years
Personal claims and claims over movable property are time-barred after five years from the day the right-holder knew or should have known the facts allowing it to act (article 2224 of the French Civil Code).
- The starting point. It is not necessarily the invoice date. It is the day the creditor knew, or should have known, that it could act. For a sum due on a fixed date, in practice this is often the due date.
- Instalments. Several months of unpaid rent or instalments are not a single debt: each sum falls due on its own date, and the period is counted instalment by instalment.
Limitation period for an unpaid invoice
Between businesses: five years
Obligations arising in the course of trade between traders, or between traders and non-traders, are time-barred after five years unless a shorter special period applies (article L. 110-4 of the French Commercial Code).
Invoice to a consumer: two years
A business’s claim for goods or services supplied to consumers is time-barred after two years (article L. 218-2 of the French Consumer Code).
This is the trap for many foreign suppliers. A business invoicing a private individual in France has two years, not five, to sue for payment. Example: an invoice due on 15 March 2025 to an individual must lead to court action before 15 March 2027. The same invoice to a company leaves until 15 March 2030.
To choose the right procedure and act before the deadline, see our guide to recovering an unpaid invoice and our guide to the French order for payment. If your customer is in safeguard, receivership or judicial liquidation, the claim must also be filed within a separate time limit: see our insolvency claim deadline tool.
Limitation period for unpaid rent
Residential lease: three years
All claims arising from a lease governed by the Act of 6 July 1989 are time-barred after three years from the day the right-holder knew or should have known the facts allowing it to act (article 7-1 of the Act of 6 July 1989). The period applies to a landlord claiming rent or charges, and to a tenant acting against the landlord.
One exception: a landlord’s claim to review the rent is time-barred one year after the review date agreed in the lease.
For what comes next, from the payment demand to getting the property back, see our guide to evicting a tenant for unpaid rent.
Commercial lease: two years for claims under the regime
All claims brought under the commercial lease regime are time-barred after two years (article L. 145-60 of the French Commercial Code). This covers in particular challenging a notice, setting the renewed rent and eviction compensation. For the dates of your lease, see our French commercial lease calendar.
Limitation period for service charges
The rules of article 2224 of the Civil Code, a five-year period and its starting point, apply to personal claims relating to co-ownership between co-owners or between a co-owner and the association (article 42 of the Act of 10 July 1965).
Challenging a general meeting decision has a much shorter limit: two months from notification of the minutes, or the right is lost. First check the majority that applies with our co-ownership voting majorities tool.
Building defects
| Warranty | Period from acceptance | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| One-year completion warranty | 1 year | Civil Code, art. 1792-6 |
| Equipment warranty | At least 2 years | Civil Code, art. 1792-3 |
| Ten-year structural warranty | 10 years | Civil Code, art. 1792-4-1 |
Work out each date with our construction warranties calculator.
What interrupts or suspends the period
French law distinguishes interruption and suspension. Interruption restarts the clock: it wipes out the time already run and starts a new period of the same length (article 2231 of the Civil Code). Suspension pauses the clock without wiping out the time already run (article 2230).
- Court proceedings, including urgent proceedings, interrupt the period, even before a court without jurisdiction (article 2241). The interruption falls away if the claimant withdraws, lets the case lapse or has the claim finally dismissed (article 2243).
- The debtor acknowledging the creditor’s right interrupts the period (article 2240). Keep a written record of it.
- A protective measure or an enforcement step also interrupts the period (article 2244).
- Mediation or conciliation agreed after the dispute arose suspends the period (article 2238).
- A court-ordered investigation before any proceedings, such as an expert appointed in urgent proceedings, suspends the period; it then runs again for at least six months (article 2239).
A reminder or a letter of formal notice is not, on its own, among the causes of interruption in these articles. A creditor who only sends reminders for years can lose its right to sue.
That is why the tool never says a claim is time-barred. It gives the standard period and the date to watch. Only a review of the file can show whether the period was interrupted or suspended.
