A step-by-step guide to claiming on holiday home insurance in Spain — what to do first, the loss adjuster, and claiming in English from abroad.
A step-by-step guide to claiming on holiday home insurance in Spain — what to do first, the loss adjuster, and claiming in English from abroad.
Discovering a problem at a holiday home you're not living in — a burst pipe found on arrival, storm damage reported by a neighbour, a break-in while you were away — is stressful, and doing it in a second language from another country makes it worse. The good news: the claim process is manageable when you know the steps. This guide explains how to file a holiday home insurance claim in Spain, with the particular angles that matter for a property that's often empty and owned from abroad.
Whatever's happened, the first hour shapes the claim:
1. Make the property safe and stop further damage. Turn off the water at the mains for a leak, isolate electrics if needed. Insurers expect you to mitigate — and home assistance can send an emergency tradesperson if you're not there.
2. Document everything. Photograph and video the damage and affected contents before you clear up or repair anything. For a holiday home you may be relying on a neighbour, key-holder or manager to do this — brief them to take plenty of evidence.
3. Report it promptly. Tell us as soon as you can; late reporting is one of the most common reasons claims are questioned. We notify the insurer and manage it from there.
4. Keep evidence. Retain receipts for emergency repairs and, where you have them, proof of ownership and value for damaged items.
Holiday-home claims have a particular wrinkle: the damage may have been developing for weeks before anyone noticed. This is exactly why insurers attach empty-property conditions (water off at the mains, security, periodic checks) — and why meeting them protects your claim. If you turned the water off and the leak still occurred, you're in a strong position; if you left it on against a policy condition, the claim can be challenged. A key-holding or management service that checks the property periodically both reduces the risk and helps demonstrate you met the conditions.
It depends on the cause. Everyday events — a burst pipe, a household fire, a burglary, ordinary storm damage — are handled by your insurer. A major declared catastrophe, such as serious DANA flooding, is handled by the state Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros, based on your sums insured. We work out which route applies so the claim goes to the right place first time. The full picture is in our guide to home insurance claims in Spain.
For anything beyond a small claim, the insurer (or the Consorcio) appoints a loss adjuster — a perito — to inspect the damage and assess the settlement. For a holiday home this may mean coordinating access when you're not in the country; we help arrange it and deal with the perito on your behalf. The quality of your evidence makes a real difference to how smoothly this goes.
This is where having an English-speaking intermediary genuinely changes the experience. You explain what happened to us, in plain English; we report it, manage the insurer and the perito, and keep you updated — so you're not making phone calls in Spanish to a claims line from another country. For non-resident holiday-home owners, that's often the single most valuable thing about how we arrange cover.
The usual culprits apply, with a holiday-home flavour: under-insurance (the regla proporcional cutting the payout), unmet empty-property conditions, undeclared letting, and late reporting because no one was there to notice. Protect your claim by keeping accurate sums insured, meeting the conditions, declaring any letting, and arranging for the property to be checked. Do that and a holiday-home claim is as straightforward as any other.
Make the property safe, gather evidence, and get in touch — we'll handle the rest in English. For how cover is structured in the first place, see holiday home insurance.
General guidance only — not personal insurance advice. Cover, limits and exclusions vary by insurer and policy, so always check your policy terms. Last updated: May 2026.
Make the property safe and stop further damage, document everything with photos, report it promptly, and keep receipts. We notify the insurer and manage the claim in English on your behalf.
Holiday-home claims often involve damage that developed unnoticed. Meeting the empty-property conditions (water off, security, periodic checks) protects your claim; not meeting them can lead to it being challenged.
Everyday events (burst pipe, fire, burglary, ordinary storm) go to your insurer; major declared catastrophes like serious floods go to the Consorcio. We work out which applies.
Yes — you report it to us in English and we manage the insurer and the loss adjuster (perito) on your behalf, so you're not dealing with a Spanish claims line from another country.
Usually under-insurance, unmet empty-property conditions, undeclared letting, or late reporting because no one was there. Accurate sums insured and meeting the conditions protect your claim.
Tell us about your property and we'll recommend the right cover — in plain English, with no pressure.
