What your Spanish insurance requires when the house stands empty
We opened 17 home insurance policies sold in Spain to answer one simple question: does your cover change when the house is empty? The answer is not the one printed everywhere.
Published · 6 minute read
What is false, and printed everywhere
In the United States this trade is sold with one line: «your insurer requires an inspection every 7 to 14 days, or your cover is void». We wanted to know whether that held in Spain. We opened 17 policies.
The answer is no. None of the 17 Spanish policies we read requires periodic inspections. We searched the full text of each for inspección, visita periódica, revisión periódica and custodia de las llaves. The only hits are unrelated.
We say it because the American line circulates in Spanish and in English on websites in our own trade. If someone tells you that, ring your insurer: they will tell you what we just did.
What Spanish contracts actually say is different, and for an absent owner it is more demanding. They do not require a visit. They require an act.
In short
None of the 17 Spanish policies we read requires periodic inspections: the American argument is false here. But 7 contracts require an act, from 48 hours at Caser to 60 days at Ibex, usually turning the mains water off and draining. Articles 11 and 12 of law 50/1980 cut the payout pro rata if the increased risk was never declared.
What 7 contracts require, and from when
Every line is a clause we read in the general conditions published by the insurer itself. The thresholds run from 48 hours to 60 days.
| Policy | Threshold | What happens beyond it |
|---|---|---|
| Mutua Madrileña | 3 days | water damage excluded if the taps were not turned off |
| Caser | 48 hours | draining required if nobody has slept in the house |
| Línea Directa | 96 hours | water damage excluded if the mains were not turned off |
| SegurCaixa Adeslas | 96 hours | jewellery and cash outside a safe excluded from theft cover |
| Mapfre, édition 2025 | 10 days | theft capped at 3,000 € per item, simple theft excluded |
| Zurich | 30 days | the mains must be closed and the system drained, otherwise cover falls away |
| Ibex et HDI, contrat expatriés | 60 days | the home turns Unoccupied unless a keyholder visits |
The last line matters most to you. The Ibex and HDI Spain Holiday Home policy, held by many foreign owners, defines the Unoccupied state as 60 consecutive days with no presence «of any person you have entrusted with a key to Your Home». In other words, a keyholder's visit resets the clock. It is the only one of the 17 where our trade appears inside the contractual definition.
What the law adds, and few people know
Beyond the contract, the Spanish insurance contract act imposes a duty and sets a penalty.
you must tell your insurer about any change that increases the risk, as soon as you reasonably can
if you did not and a claim arises, the payout is cut in the ratio between the premium paid and the one that should have applied
the insurer is released entirely if bad faith is established
Article 12 is blunt: « En el caso de que el tomador del seguro o el asegurado no haya efectuado su declaración y sobreviniere un siniestro, el asegurador queda liberado de su prestación si el tomador o el asegurado ha actuado con mala fe. En otro caso, la prestación del asegurador se reducirá proporcionalmente a la diferencia entre la prima convenida y la que se hubiera aplicado de haberse conocido la verdadera entidad del riesgo ».
In plain terms: if your policy was written for a main residence and the house is actually empty 9 months a year, the gap will not show while nothing happens. It will show on the day of the claim.
4 acts that stand up to a loss adjuster
These are the ones the contracts name. They need no special skill, only being there and being able to prove it.
Turn off the mains water
The most cost effective single measure there is. It turns a burst hose into a non-event, and 4 of the 7 contracts in the table name it expressly.
Drain whatever can freeze
Water heater, outside pipes, tanks. Zurich, Allianz and Caser require it explicitly beyond their threshold, and the omission alone is enough to exclude the claim.
Photograph the date
A closed tap with no proof is worth nothing to an adjuster. What counts is a time stamped photograph of the closed tap, attached to a dated report.
Declare how the home is really used
A policy taken out for a main residence on a house that is empty 9 months a year is an undeclared increase in risk. An email to your insurer is enough, and it costs less than a pro rata cut.
What we do with all this
We do not sell insurance and we recommend no policy. What we do is the act and the proof: we turn the mains off when the house closes up, we turn it back on before you arrive, and every visit produces a dated, time stamped photo you can forward to your insurer as it stands. See what the report looks like
A question about your home?
The check visit is free, with no commitment. We come, we check the 38 points and we send you the report. You see what you are buying before you pay.
4 questions about your cover
How do I find out what my own policy says?
Ask your insurer or broker in writing for the exact wording of the desocupación or deshabitación clause, and from how many days it bites. Ask for the answer by email, not on the phone. It is a routine request and they answer within days.
My house is empty 9 months a year. Am I less covered?
It depends entirely on your policy and on what you declared when you took it out. With some insurers simple theft drops away after 10 days of absence, with others nothing changes. The only way to know is to read your general conditions, or have them read.
If I turn the water off, do I still need visits?
Turning the water off removes internal water damage, which is the most frequent and most expensive claim. It does nothing about a roof leak, a blocked terrace drain, a leak on the outside drip line or a break-in. And water left off all year dries out the traps, which brings drain smells back up into the house.
Is a photo report enough for a loss adjuster?
We cannot promise you that; it depends on the claim and the company. What we do know is that a file with certain dates and time stamped photographs is argued differently from a bare statement, and that several policies expressly hang cover on an act that only dated proof can establish.
Sources: general conditions or pre-contract notes published by Mapfre, Allianz, AXA, Direct Seguros, Generali, Zurich, Línea Directa, Mutua Madrileña, Caser, SegurCaixa Adeslas, Santalucía, Reale, Pelayo, Helvetia and Ibex with HDI Global Specialty, opened on 7 August 2026; articles 10, 11, 12 and 17 of Ley 50/1980 de Contrato de Seguro, consolidated text at the BOE. The 3 insurers whose conditions we could not open, Occident, Liberty and Abbeygate, appear in no statement in this article.
What to remember
- No Spanish policy requires periodic inspections. If anyone tells you otherwise, call your insurer.
- 7 of 17 contracts require a dated act, from 48 hours to 60 days of absence, usually turning the water off and draining.
- The Ibex and HDI expatriate policy makes a keyholder's visit a contractual fact that stops the house turning Unoccupied.
- An undeclared increase in risk cuts the payout pro rata, and wipes it out entirely where bad faith is shown.
Written by Fabrizio and Krystel, Domivaro, Busot. Updated 7 August 2026.
This article gives general information, checked against the sources cited on the date shown. It replaces neither your contract nor the advice of your tax adviser, your insurer or a legal professional. Domivaro provides maintenance and condition reporting, not a private security or tax advisory service.
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- Leaving your keys with a neighbour or a companyWhat changes on the day of a water leak: the 7 days of Spanish law, dated proof, liability.
