When does the cover have to start?

On the day the deed is signed. The risk passes to you at the notary, not on your next visit. The weeks between completion and your first stay are exactly when an empty property is watched the least. Arrange the cover before completion, so it starts on that day. If you sign by power of attorney and never travel to Spain, ask your lawyer to make sure the policy is active from the same date. Say this clearly rather than assuming it will happen.

Can a Czech policy cover a Spanish property?

Do not assume it will. A Czech household policy is written for a building in Czechia. The state fund that pays for flood and earthquake damage in Spain is funded by a charge on policies written in Spain. A policy bought elsewhere may simply not include this layer of cover. If you want to try anyway, ask your insurer in writing whether it will cover a home in Spain, what happens with extreme events, and in which language a claim would be handled.

How long do I have to report a claim?

Spanish insurance law gives you seven days from the moment you find out about the loss, unless your own policy allows more time. For an owner who visits twice a year, this short window is exactly why it helps to have someone who can notice a problem and tell you about it. Report a loss in writing, even if you are not sure it is covered.

Do I have to tell the insurer that I rent out the flat for two weeks in August?

Yes, and it usually costs very little to do. Guests increase both the chance of a claim and your liability risk. Not declaring this is one of the easiest reasons for an insurer to reduce a payout. Declaring it usually costs less than people expect. Hiding it can cost you the whole claim.

What language will the policy be in?

Usually Spanish. Some companies also issue an English version, and a few brokers on this coast work in other languages too. Whatever the language, you are the one who must follow the conditions. Make sure the exclusions and conditions are in a language you can read and understand well. A policy you cannot read is a policy you can easily break by accident.

Does the ten-year new-build cover deal with damp?

Only when the damp comes from a fault in the building’s structure, and this is a narrower category than it sounds. Condensation on a cold wall in a flat that is closed from October to June is not a construction fault, it is simple physics, and no insurer or developer will treat it as a construction fault. That is a different subject, covered on its own page.

Guides

What does property insurance in Spain cover

In 30 seconds

A Spanish home policy has three layers: building, contents and liability. No law forces you to buy one, but every mortgage lender will. None of these three layers is what costs second-home owners money. The real cost comes from the unoccupancy clause, and every policy sold to a foreign owner has one.

Póliza de hogar, condiciones particularesSpecimen policy schedule

Suma asegurada, continente: 100.000 €
Occupancy: Non habitual dwelling
Vacancy clause: XX days
Liability: XXX XXX €

Specimen. The values shown are illustrative.

Suma asegurada, continente. This is the rebuild cost, not the purchase price. Shown here below the 200.000 € rebuild value, which is what triggers the proportional rule.
Occupancy. A second home, used for part of the year. This is a different category, with a different premium, from an empty dwelling.
Vacancy clause. The number of days in a row that the property must stay empty before some cover changes. This is set in your own contract, not in Spanish law.
Liability. Usually the cheapest line on the policy, and the one that pays for the most common claim in a Spanish apartment block.

What does a Spanish home policy cover?

Ask for a "seguro de hogar" and you get a bundle of cover. It helps to think of it as separate layers. You choose the amount for two of these layers. A claim usually depends on the third layer.Read the layers below and compare them with your own situation before you look at the price. A policy that costs 120 € less but drops the liability cover is not really cheaper.

BuildingThe building
What it pays for
The structure of the building and everything fixed to it: walls, floors, doors, windows, the fitted kitchen, the bathrooms and the built-in wardrobes.
What foreign buyers get wrong
Many people insure the purchase price. But the insurer needs the rebuild cost, not the purchase price. The land under the building is not part of the rebuild cost. On an apartment these two figures can be very different.
ContentsThe contents
What it pays for
Everything you would take with you if you moved out: furniture, appliances, televisions, clothes, kitchen equipment, and often garden furniture and bicycles.
What foreign buyers get wrong
A furnished holiday apartment usually holds more than people expect. If you set this figure too low, the proportional rule explained further down will reduce every contents claim you make.
LiabilityLiability
What it pays for
Damage that your property causes to someone else. On this coast, that usually means water damage: a burst pipe or a failed seal that reaches the apartment below.
What foreign buyers get wrong
This is usually the cheapest layer on the quote. It also pays for the most common claim in a Spanish apartment block. Cutting this layer to save money is the worst choice on the whole policy.

Beyond these three layers, useful extra options include accidental damage cover, cover for the excess or emergency costs if you have to fly out, legal help for a dispute with a neighbour, and separate cover for art or jewellery above the per-item limit. Ask for a separate price for each option instead of accepting a fixed package.

Two more types of cover exist alongside the three layers above, and neither one replaces them. First, a state fund called the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros pays for floods, earthquakes and other extreme events instead of your own insurer. It only works if your own policy is active and paid, and it is explained in full further down this page. Second, Seguro Decenal is compulsory ten-year insurance that a developer must buy for a new building, against structural defects. It protects the building against the builder's mistakes. It does not cover a burst pipe, a theft, or damage to your neighbour's ceiling, so it is not a reason to skip your own policy.

Glossary: Seguro Decenal

Is the Consorcio something I have to sign up for?No. A small charge inside every Spanish home policy pays for it. You do not sign up for it separately and you cannot opt out. But you can still fail to benefit from it: it only pays out if your own policy is active and the premium is paid, and a loss in the first seven days after you buy the policy is not covered.

Do you need home insurance, and how much does it cost?

No Spanish law requires insurance on a home you own outright. In practice, almost every owner buys it anyway. A mortgage lender will always make it a condition of the loan. A mortgaged property is insured from the day the deed is signed. This comes from the loan contract, not from a law.Expect roughly 300 to 800 € a year for an apartment. There is no published figure for a villa. A villa with a pool, a garden and its own plant room needs its own quote. Giving one number for both would be a guess, not a fact.

Property insurance with a specialist

Does the community’s policy cover your apartment?

The comunidad de propietarios is the owners’ community that runs the shared parts of a development and sets the monthly fee, and it is close to a Czech SVJ without being the same thing. Almost every community on the coast has its own policy. Your monthly fee includes it. But that policy covers the shared parts of the building, so it answers a different question from the one you are asking.

CommunalYour apartment

Roof, facade, stairwell, lift, pool, garden: The community policy, paid for by the fee, covers this. It covers the shared parts of the building and the community’s own liability to other people.
Shared pipes and cabling: Still shared, until the point where a pipe stops being shared and becomes yours.
Your front doorThe boundary: This is where the community policy stops and yours starts, no matter where the water came from. Damage inside your apartment is covered by your own policy, even when the water came from the roof.
Inside your apartment: Your building and contents cover apply here. Your liability layer applies too, if the damage reaches a neighbour.

A cross-section of a building: the community’s policy covers everything above the line, yours covers everything below it.

Two things turn this boundary into a trap. First, community policies have an excess, called the franquicia. Most small coastal leaks cost less than this excess. If a claim falls under the excess, the policy simply does not pay. This is not the insurer being difficult, it is how the excess works, and the community then has to decide whether to pay for the repair itself. So ask for the community’s policy schedule and the last three years of meeting minutes before you reserve, not after. Check the sum insured, the excess, any exclusion for water damage, and whether a claim has already been made and refused: the minutes tell you more about a building than the photographs do.The most common claim in a coastal apartment block is water passing between two flats. This is settled through your liability layer and your neighbour’s contents cover, not through the community policy. This is why the liability layer is worth keeping, and why you should read the community policy carefully rather than rely on it.

Glossary: Community

Community fees

A pipe in my flat damaged the flat below. Whose policy pays?Yours, through the liability layer, for the damage in your neighbour’s apartment. Your own repair is covered by your building and contents cover. The community policy only applies when the water came from a shared part of the building, and even then the damage inside each apartment is handled by each owner’s own policy. This is exactly the situation liability cover is for, and it is why the cheapest quote on the market is usually the wrong choice.

What is the clause that decides a second-home claim?

How long the property stands empty. A property used a few weeks a year is a different risk from a home where someone lives all year, and Spanish policies price and write their terms around this difference. This is the part of the contract a foreign owner should read first, and it is the part almost nobody reads.

Occupied

Theft cover: Full
Fire, water, liability: Full
What the policy expects of you: Ordinary conditions

Empty past the clause

Theft cover: Often suspended or limited
Fire, water, liability: Usually continues
What the policy expects of you: Security conditions strictly enforced

The exact number of days is set in your own contract. It is commonly somewhere between 30 and 90 days. There is no single fixed figure to look up.

What the owner assumesWhat the policy usually says

The flat is insured all year, so it is insured all year: Household policies usually define a property as "unoccupied" after a set number of days in a row. This number is usually between 30 and 90 days, depending on the insurer. After that point, some parts of the cover change. This number is set in your own contract, not in Spanish law, so the only way to know your own number is to find it in your policy.
Theft is theft, whenever it happens: Theft cover is usually the first thing to change on an empty property. Some policies suspend theft cover completely once the unoccupancy limit passes. Others keep it, but add security conditions. Fire, water and liability cover usually continue as normal. Ask your insurer to show you exactly which of these applies in your own policy.
Nobody asked me how often I come: They did, on the application form. Spanish insurance law requires you to give accurate information before the policy starts. An inaccurate answer is the first thing an insurer checks when it wants to reduce a payout. State clearly, in writing, that the property is a second home used a few weeks a year, and keep a copy of the reply.
A second home and an empty home are the same thing: These are two different categories on a Spanish policy, with different prices. A second home is used for part of the year. A vivienda deshabitada is not used at all. Most refused second-home claims happen because the owner was sold the cheaper category, then made a claim that belonged in the other one.
I fitted an alarm, so I am covered: Only if the alarm matches what the policy requires. Security conditions such as locks of a stated standard, grilles on ground-floor windows, or an alarm connected to a monitoring centre, are written as requirements, not suggestions. If you have not met a condition, the insurer can reduce your claim, even if the loss had nothing to do with that condition.
Somebody looks in on it now and then, that must count: It only counts if the insurer agreed to it in writing. Some insurers accept regular visits instead of occupancy, some do not, and an arrangement in an email between you and a cleaner is not part of your policy. If regular checks affect your premium, make sure they are named in the contract itself.

Here is the short version. Find the unoccupancy clause. Write down the number of days. Write down what changes at that point. Check the security conditions against what the property really has. This takes about fifteen minutes of reading, once, at the start.

Sources

BOE, Law 50/1980 on Insurance Contracts: the duty to declare the risk accurately before taking out the policy (Article 10), notification of a claim within seven days (Article 16), and the proportional rule for underinsurance (Article 30) ↗

How many days count as unoccupied?Whatever your own policy says. It is usually somewhere between 30 and 90 days in a row. There is no fixed national number to look up. Two policies with the same premium can set 30 days in one and 90 days in the other, and for an owner who visits twice a year that difference decides the whole value of the contract.

What happens if you insure the property for too little?

Spanish insurance law lets an insurer reduce a claim in proportion to how far the insured amount falls below the real value of the property. This is not a penalty, and you cannot negotiate it when you make a claim. It is simple arithmetic, applied after the loss.

The building: rebuild cost, not purchase priceThe insurer needs the cost of rebuilding the property from nothing, without the land and without the location. On the coast this means the purchase price is often much higher than the rebuild cost, and the rebuild figure is the one that goes on the policy. Ask the insurer or a surveyor to give this figure in writing, instead of accepting a number the broker simply typed in.
The contents: walk the flat with a listGo room by room and use the replacement value, not what you originally paid. Include furniture, appliances, electronics, kitchen equipment, bedding, terrace furniture, tools and bicycles. A fully furnished rental apartment usually reaches a total that is about double what most owners would guess.
Valuables: declared separately, or cappedJewellery, watches, art and collections are only covered up to a limit per item, unless you declare each one separately. Take photographs of them, keep the receipts, and store both somewhere other than the apartment.

Rebuild value 200.000 €, insured for 100.000 €
Rebuild valuestated by insurer or surveyor	200.000 €
Sum insured on the policywhat was declared	100.000 €
Insured proportion100.000 € of 200.000 €	50 %
Claim before the rule	20.000 €
Claim paid, after the proportional rule20.000 € × 50 %	10.000 €

The 10.000 € gap is your loss. This shows how the rule in Spanish insurance law works, using round numbers to make it clear. The same arithmetic applies if your contents figure was only a guess.

What happens if I insure the flat for less than it would cost to rebuild?Every claim is reduced by the same proportion, not only large claims. If a building worth 200.000 € is insured for 100.000 €, a 6.000 € claim is paid at around 3.000 €. Some insurers waive this rule up to a stated margin of error, but this waiver must be written into your policy to apply. Ask for it by name.

Who pays after a flood, an earthquake or another extraordinary event?

A public body pays, not your own insurer. Spanish policies exclude a defined list of extreme events. Instead of leaving the owner with no cover, a public fund called the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros pays out, funded by a small charge already inside your premium. You can claim from this fund directly, and you do not need your insurer to refuse the claim first: what you do need is proof that your policy was active, so keep the schedule and the last payment receipt somewhere you can reach from another country.

Is it a defined extraordinary event?
Who decidesThe Consorcio’s own regulation
What it grantsProceeds to the pool
If noIt stays with your own insurer as a normal claim. Everyday risks, such as a burst pipe or a storm that lifts a few roof tiles, never reach the Consorcio.
Is your policy in force and paid?
Who decidesYour own policy schedule and receipt
What it grantsA claim can be filed with the Consorcio
If noNo claim is possible, no matter what the event was. This is the point most owners miss.
Is it past the grace period?
Who decides7 days from the policy start
What it grantsCovered, minus a 7 % deductible on property damage, which you pay yourself
If noNot covered at all, even if the event itself qualifies. Buying cover after a weather warning appears does not work.

What it never pays for is consequential loss. The rental income you lost while the apartment dried out is not covered. Neither is anything your own policy never covered in the first place.

None of this makes a flood-exposed address a good property to buy. It simply means the money question has a clear, published answer, so the location question can be answered separately, with a map, before you make an offer.

Flood risk on the Costa del Sol

Sources

Who do I claim from after a flood, my insurer or the state pool?The state fund, the Consorcio. You can contact it directly. Your insurer’s role is simply to have issued a policy that was active and paid for. Report the loss quickly, photograph everything before anything is cleared away, and keep the repair invoices. Remember the two limits: seven days of grace at the start of a policy, and a 7 % share of the loss that you pay yourself.

What to check in a quote before you sign it

Take this list to whoever is quoting you and ask them to answer each line in writing. Any good broker will give you all the answers in one email. If a broker will not, that tells you something too.

What to check	Why it matters	What a good answer looks like
The numbers
The building sum insured, and how it was worked out	It decides whether the proportional rule ever affects you.	A rebuild-cost figure, stated clearly in the policy. Not the price you paid, and not a round number someone simply typed in.
The contents sum insured	The same rule applies to contents, and this is usually where it causes problems.	A figure you produced from a room-by-room list, with valuables declared separately.
The liability limit	Water reaching the flats below is the most common claim on this coast.	A limit in the hundreds of thousands, not the tens. It is the cheapest cover on the sheet.
The clauses that decide claims
The unoccupancy clause, in days	A second home crosses this limit every year, because of how it is used.	A number you have read yourself, plus a written list of exactly which covers change past it.
The security conditions	If you do not meet a condition, your claim can be reduced, even for an unrelated loss.	Locks, grilles and alarm requirements checked against what the property has now, before the policy starts.
Whether renting out the property is declared	Guests change both the risk and your liability.	The policy should state rental use if you rent out the property at all, even for two weeks in August. Not mentioning this is what makes a claim invalid.
The excess, per cover	If the excess is larger than a typical claim, the cover is useless in practice.	One figure per cover, and the option priced with and without.
Water damage in detail	It is the most likely claim, and insurers often limit this cover the most.	Cover for finding and reaching the leak, not only for repairing what it damaged.
The practical part
The claims line, and its language	You will be in another country when it happens.	A number that answers in a language you speak, and a named person if the broker offers one.
The policy document itself	You must follow conditions that you can read and understand.	The full wording sent before you pay, with the exclusions and conditions translated if the policy is only in Spanish.
The start date	The gap between completion and your next visit is often the gap that nobody insures.	Cover starting on the notary date, arranged before it, including when you sign by power of attorney.

We do not sell insurance. Instead, we connect you with a specialist who goes through this list with you and gives you a quote based on it. This is different from a bank simply offering you a policy at the mortgage signing.

Property insurance with a specialist

The bank’s policy, or your own

With a Spanish mortgage, you will be asked to insure the property. You are not required to buy the lender’s own policy. Read the difference below before you sign anything at the notary.

	Bank's insurance policy	Open-market insurance policy
What the law says	The lender may require damage cover on the mortgaged property. That part is normal and legitimate.	The lender cannot force you to use its own insurer. It must accept equal cover from another company.
The price	Bundled with the mortgage, often in exchange for a discount on the interest rate, and rarely compared with other options.	Quoted separately, so you can see what the cover really costs and what the rate discount is really worth.
What is covered	Written to protect the loan. The building is the priority, and everything else is limited.	Written around how you use the property: seasonal occupancy, renting out, contents, liability, and any extras you choose.
The clause that matters to you	A standard product. The unoccupancy terms are whatever the standard product says.	This part can be negotiated. A specialist can help here, and it is the one part of the policy where you should be careful and demanding.
When you claim	A call centre, usually in Spanish, that does not care that you are 2.300 km away.	Whoever sold you the policy. If you chose well, this is a real person who answers.

How it works

How a water leak between two apartments happens, step by step

This is not a client story, and it is not presented as one. It is the typical sequence a leak follows on this coast, step by step. It shows which policy applies at each step, and where an owner living in another country loses control of the situation.

The neighbour below sees a stain, and you are not in SpainSomeone has to get into your apartment to find the leak. If nobody nearby holds a key, the leak can run for days. Every extra day means more damage in two flats instead of one. The final size of the claim is decided at this point, before any insurer gets involved.
Finding the water is a job in itselfA leak inside a wall or under a floor has to be found first, and finding it usually means lifting tiles. Ask whether your policy pays for this search and the repair work afterwards, not only for the damage the water caused. Policies differ on this point more than on any other.
Two policies, two claims, one argumentYour building and contents cover pays for damage in your own apartment. Your liability layer pays for damage in your neighbour’s apartment. If the water came from a shared pipe, the community’s insurer also gets involved, and then the excess on the community policy decides whether it pays anything at all.
The paperwork the insurer will ask forPhotographs taken before anything is cleaned up, a plumber’s report showing where the water came from, invoices, and the neighbour’s own claim. An owner living far away who cannot provide the first two items is often the reason claims get reduced.
What decided the outcome was set months earlierWhether renting out the property was declared, whether the unoccupancy clause applied, whether the insured amounts were realistic, whether someone local had a key. All four of these are decided when you buy the policy, and none of them can be fixed once the water is already flowing.

The lesson is not that pipes leak on this coast. The lesson is that the four things that decide a claim are all set on the day you buy the policy, and none of them is the price you pay.

Frankly

What only a specialist can tell you

We do not arrange insurance ourselves. We connect you with a specialist who chooses the cover together with you, and that is our only role here. Nothing on this page is a quote, and none of it is advice about a specific policy.We publish 300 to 800 € a year for an apartment because that is the range we see. We do not publish a figure for a villa because we do not have one. A villa with a pool, a garden and its own plant room needs its own quote, and anyone who gives one single number for both is only guessing.We cannot tell you whether cover is ever refused, or costs more, for a flood-exposed address on this coast. We have not checked this ourselves, and we would rather say so than repeat what a broker’s blog says. If this matters for a property you are looking at, ask an insurer directly before you reserve, and we will help you ask the question.Policies, exclusions and the rules behind them can change over time. What is written here is what our sources said on the date shown next to them. Confirm anything important with the insurer, in writing, and keep the reply.

Frequently asked questions about property insurance

When does the cover have to start?: On the day the deed is signed. The risk passes to you at the notary, not on your next visit. The weeks between completion and your first stay are exactly when an empty property is watched the least. Arrange the cover before completion, so it starts on that day. If you sign by power of attorney and never travel to Spain, ask your lawyer to make sure the policy is active from the same date. Say this clearly rather than assuming it will happen.
Can a Czech policy cover a Spanish property?: Do not assume it will. A Czech household policy is written for a building in Czechia. The state fund that pays for flood and earthquake damage in Spain is funded by a charge on policies written in Spain. A policy bought elsewhere may simply not include this layer of cover. If you want to try anyway, ask your insurer in writing whether it will cover a home in Spain, what happens with extreme events, and in which language a claim would be handled.
How long do I have to report a claim?: Spanish insurance law gives you seven days from the moment you find out about the loss, unless your own policy allows more time. For an owner who visits twice a year, this short window is exactly why it helps to have someone who can notice a problem and tell you about it. Report a loss in writing, even if you are not sure it is covered.
Do I have to tell the insurer that I rent out the flat for two weeks in August?: Yes, and it usually costs very little to do. Guests increase both the chance of a claim and your liability risk. Not declaring this is one of the easiest reasons for an insurer to reduce a payout. Declaring it usually costs less than people expect. Hiding it can cost you the whole claim.
What language will the policy be in?: Usually Spanish. Some companies also issue an English version, and a few brokers on this coast work in other languages too. Whatever the language, you are the one who must follow the conditions. Make sure the exclusions and conditions are in a language you can read and understand well. A policy you cannot read is a policy you can easily break by accident.
Does the ten-year new-build cover deal with damp?: Only when the damp comes from a fault in the building’s structure, and this is a narrower category than it sounds. Condensation on a cold wall in a flat that is closed from October to June is not a construction fault, it is simple physics, and no insurer or developer will treat it as a construction fault. That is a different subject, covered on its own page.

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