Guide to Spanish Holiday Home Insurance
At Assetsure we can provide you with insurance for your Spanish home. The cover we will provide you with will give you all of the usual perils you would expect from a Building Insurance policy in this country plus there will be extensions to make the insurance suitable for a Holiday Home or holiday villa in Spain. The policy that we will provide you with has a modern comprehensive wording and will automatically provide you with Property Owners Liability cover to the tune of 1 million Euros. Elsewhere on this site, we mention that we are able to provide buildings insurance cover (including Spanish Holiday Homes) even if you only require the cover on a single apartment or Flat within a Block. This may prove very useful to you as sometimes claiming from a Spanish Block insurance can be time consuming. You simply tell us how much you wish to insure for and we call this a “First Loss Policy. If you have selected and paid us for a sum insured of £30,000. Then you are entitled to make a claim from us up to that amount regardless as to the true sum insured of your Building. If you are now unlucky enough to say experience a fire at your property, we will pay up to your chosen sum insured to reinstate your property, then in our time and at our expenses, we will claim the outlay from the Spanish block Insurers. We must point out however, that you will not be able to claim from both policies.
Characteristics of Spanish Holiday Home Insurance
Differs slight from policies in the United Kingdom in that it contains extra covers, unique to Spain, these are:-
Consorcio-cover under your policy is provided in accordance with the terms of Spanish Law dated 16th December 1954 which created the Insurance Compensation Consortium (“Consorcio de Compensation de Seguros”), and subsequent adjustments by Royal Decree
Fire brigade charges
Consorcio Cover – Consorcio cover is unique in Spain and the scope of cover you will receive under this section of your policy is designed to cover you for loss following direct material damage to any of the property insured under the Policy caused by:-
Natural phenomena of an extraordinary kind (flood, earthquake, volcanic eruption, exceptional cyclonic storms, the falling of astral bodies and meteorites). Events arising out of terrorism, riots or popular uprising. Deeds or actions of the Armed Forces or the Security Forces in peacetime.
The addition of Terrorism cover as standard is completely at odds with cover in the United Kingdom, where Terrorism cover is excluded from core covers and is available to purchase as an optional extra. Another peculiarity is the need to reimburse the local fire brigade if they have to call at your property to extinguish a fire. Your policy with Assetsure will include all local taxes, which we will pay on your behalf, our policy can also be extended if you intend to let the premises to tenants.
Factors Influencing Spanish Policies
Spain does not have the same subsidence problems as Britain and to a lesser extent France as it’s water table is much lower, the ground tends to be naturally dry. However when it comes to flooding, coastal areas of Spain have experience the same kind of problems that have been associated with Southern France. In the Autumn and Winter months, cold air passing over the mountains meets a build of warn humid air coming from the Mediterranean. The rainfall this system produces can last many days and Alicante and parts of the Costa Blanca have suffered severe flooding in the past. Although Flooding is not a major issue as in France, you should still perform the necessary checks prior to purchasing a property
