Note

Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros: what it pays

§ 1What the body is

The Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros is a state body that compensates damage from extraordinary risks: natural catastrophes, terrorism and actions of the armed forces or security forces in peacetime. It pays instead of your insurer, which only collects the surcharge. We could not open the body’s own website, so this page relies on the consumer information of a regional government that summarises it, and we cite that page. This page belongs to the chapter on Spain flood risk property.

§ 2What it covers

According to that summary, the covered natural events are extraordinary flood, sea surge, atypical cyclonic storm, earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption and falling meteorites. It also says that, from April 2025, damage from sustained winds above eighty-four kilometres an hour or gusts above one hundred and twenty kilometres an hour is covered, even without a declared atypical storm, for policies in force with the surcharge. Check the current rules on the body’s own site, since they can change.

§ 3Conditions

The summary states that you need a policy in force with any insurer for life, property or accidents, that you must be up to date with payment and that the receipt must show the surcharge in favour of the Consorcio. For material damage, the policy must cover risks such as fire, theft or glass breakage. Read your receipt, and ask the insurer in writing whether the surcharge applies. The section on owning and selling explains how a home policy is structured.

§ 4The deadline

Notify your insurer within seven days of the loss. The insurance contract law sets the same period for a loss in general, as the section on owning and selling explains. The Consorcio then deals with the extraordinary-risk claim. If the event is not declared an extraordinary risk, the claim goes to your insurer, which should reply in a stated time, and the insurance complaints service of the ministry has four months to resolve a complaint, though its decision is not binding.

§ 5How to claim

The summary gives a free phone line and an online claim form on the Consorcio’s site. Photograph all damage with dates, collect the policy details and the receipt, and get estimates and invoices for repairs. Keep damaged items intact until the Consorcio’s expert has visited. Do not throw away evidence in order to clean.

§ 6What it does not do

It is not a general insurance. Everyday events such as a burst pipe or a theft are for your own policy. The line between ordinary and extraordinary is where disputes arise, so keep all papers and reply in writing.

§ 7For a buyer

Ask the seller for the current policy and receipt. Ask whether the home has flooded before and whether a claim was made. Flash-flood risk from a DANA and how coastal erosion works explain two of the events that this cover addresses.

§ 8What we could not verify

We could not read the Consorcio’s own pages or its rules in full. The compensation limits and exclusions need to be checked there.

§ 9More on this topic

How wildfire works explains how to assess wildfire risk around a Spanish property.

Legal note. How the process works in general. It is not legal advice, and it never replaces an independent Spanish lawyer acting for you.