When applying for a house insurance policy the insurer will require details of the number of rooms (pièces) in the property. This information is required as it will affect its rebuilding cost.

However, not all rooms are taken into account. Only the 'pièces principales' need be declared.

This excludes:

• Kitchen(s);
• Bathroom(s);
• Toilets(s);
• Corridors;
• Stairwells;
• Balconies or terraces;
• Basement;
• Garage, storage room, storeroom, laundry room or any other "service room";
• Dressing room.

To be validly considered as a room a space must have:

• a minimum surface area of 9m²;
• a minimum ceiling height of 1.80m.

The size of the rooms may also be a factor, because if a room is greater than, say, 30m2, an insurer may consider it to be two rooms. There is no single rule on this point, and practice differs between insurers.

Where a room performs more than one function, it is the principal function of that room that is used. So a kitchen/living room would normally be considered a room, but a kitchen/diner might be excluded.

Outbuildings (dépendances) need to be listed separately as insurance is optional.

The method used to calculate house insurance differs from that used to calculate the local rates, which will explain some of the differences in the property description.

Advice

If you seek advice you can contact our Property Clinic, and one of our advisors will get back to you.