Chapter

Home insurance in Spain for property owners

§ 1Why read the law

A home insurance policy is a contract, and the insurance contract law sets rules for both sides that the small print cannot remove. The law of 1980, updated in October 2026, says what you must tell the insurer, what you must do after a loss, how fast the insurer must act and how a mismatch between the sum insured and the value is handled. We read the sections on those points. This page belongs to the section on the chapter on owning and selling, and it explains the main duties before the pages on the details.

§ 2Your duties

When you take a policy, you must answer the insurer’s questionnaire truthfully and tell it the circumstances you know that affect the risk. If you hide or misstate something, the insurer can rescind the contract within one month of learning of it. During the contract, you must tell the insurer about changes that make the risk greater, for example works, a long vacancy or a change of use. Cover for non-residents explains how this applies to an owner who lives abroad.

§ 3What the policy covers

A policy usually has a part for the building, a part for the contents and a part for liability to others. Each has a sum insured, exclusions and conditions. A claim is paid within these limits only. What a policy covers explains how to read the schedule, how the proportional rule works when the sum is too low and what to ask about for a holiday home or a let property.

§ 4When something goes wrong

The law requires you to tell the insurer within seven days of learning of a loss, unless the policy allows more. The insurer then has to pay at least the amount it owes within forty days of the declaration. If it does not perform within three months of the loss, the law presumes delay and interest runs. Making a claim explains how to prepare and follow a claim.

§ 5The sum insured

Insure the building for the cost of rebuilding it, not for its market price, which includes the land and the location. If the sum is notably lower than the value, the insurer can apply the proportional rule. If it is notably higher, the law allows either party to ask for a reduction of the sum and the premium. Ask the insurer how it computed the value, and write it on the schedule.

§ 6Insurance and the lender

A lender will ask for cover with its interest noted, and the mortgages section explains that the lender may tie other products to the loan. You are not obliged to buy the lender’s own policy, so compare, within what the lender accepts. The chapter on the rules on setting up the home explains the other tasks in the first weeks.

§ 7The community policy

In a block of flats the community normally insures the common parts. Ask the administrator for the policy, the sum insured and the excess. Your own policy covers what the community policy does not, and your liability for water damage to neighbours is a frequent claim. The chapter on more on managing from abroad looks at an empty home.

§ 8What we do not cover

We did not read any extraordinary-risk cover clause or the compensation consortium’s rules in full. We found only the title of the official resolution on the surcharges. Ask your insurer which events, such as floods caused by exceptional weather, are covered and by whom.

§ 9Before you sign

Ask for the draft policy, the questionnaire and the general conditions before you pay. Read the exclusions first. Keep a copy of every answer you gave, since you may need it if a dispute arises.

§ 10Compare like with like

When you ask several insurers for terms, give each the same description of the home, the same use, the same sums and the same excess, and ask for the general conditions in writing. Only then can you compare. A cheaper premium that comes with a lower sum, a higher excess or a vacancy exclusion is not the same product.

§ 11Review each year

Check the schedule at renewal. Update the sum for works, tell the insurer if the use has changed, and read the new conditions. A policy that was right at purchase can be wrong two years later, and the law ties the consequences of an inaccurate description to the owner, not to the insurer.

§ 12Other chapters in this section

More on ownership structures explains the ways a property can be owned or shared in Spain and more on selling explains how to sell a Spanish property as a foreign owner.

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