Does your home in Spain sit empty for months? Here’s what to check in your insurance

97,300 homes: the record year for foreign buyers in Spain

If your home in Spain sits empty for several months a year, the chances are your insurance is not set up for it. Second home insurance in Spain exists for exactly this situation. Many Spanish home policies reduce or remove theft cover once the property has been unoccupied for more than 30 or 60 days. And a water leak that nobody notices for weeks does not cost the same as one that gets shut off in ten minutes. The good news: checking three specific clauses (unoccupancy, theft and liability) prevents most of the problems.

British, Dutch and German buyers top the list. In the Balearic Islands, almost one in every three property sales is signed by a foreign buyer. In the Valencia region and the Canary Islands, one in four.

A huge share of those homes are second residences. Houses used in July, in August, maybe at Easter. The rest of the year they stay locked up, blinds down, water turned off. Or not turned off, which is worse.

At our brokerage we see it more and more: owners who live in London, Berlin or Amsterdam and have a house on the Spanish coast they set foot in eight weeks a year. When we ask about their insurance, the answer is almost always the same. They have the policy the bank or the estate agent recommended on the day of purchase. Never reviewed since.

Let’s go through the risks a home faces when it sits empty for months, the limitations hidden in many standard policies, and the cover that makes a real difference when the owner lives in another country.

An empty home does not face the same risks as an occupied one

The problem is not that the house is empty. The problem is insuring it as if someone lived there all year round.

In a main residence, a water leak is spotted in minutes. In a holiday home locked up since October, that same leak can keep dripping until Easter. Water is by far the most frequent claim in Spanish homes: home insurers handled 8.4 million claims in 2024, and 3.4 million of them were water damage, according to UNESPA, the Spanish insurance association. One every three seconds.

On top of that come the risks that grow precisely because nobody is around:

• Theft. A house in darkness for months, with a full letterbox, is an identifiable target. And many policies limit cover in exactly that scenario.
• Electrical damage. Power surges and storms that damage appliances and air conditioning with nobody there to unplug anything.
• Weather events. A loose roof tile after a storm becomes a six-month leak if nobody goes up to check.
• Squatting. A risk specific to unoccupied homes in Spain, and one that has its own insurance answer. Ask us about it when you request your quote.

None of these risks is new. What changes is how long it takes before anyone notices. And in insurance, time is money: damage that gets worse through late detection costs more, gets argued over more, and takes longer to repair.

Second home insurance in Spain: not every policy works

Standard Spanish home policies are designed around main residences. When the house is a second home, three limitations show up that almost nobody reads until something happens:

1. The unoccupancy clause. Many policies reduce or void theft cover if the property is left unoccupied for more than 30, 60 or 72 consecutive days. Some extend that restriction to water damage.
2. Required security measures. Window bars, a security door or an alarm connected to a monitoring centre. If the policy assumes they exist and they do not, the insurer can cut the payout.
3. Contents sub-limits. Valuable furniture, works of art or audiovisual equipment often have per-item caps far below their real value.

None of these clauses is abusive. They reflect the fact that an empty house is a different risk. The real question is another one: does your policy account for that risk, or does it simply exclude it?

The cover that matters when you live in another country

There are second home insurance in Spain policies designed specifically for holiday homes owned by international clients. They are not the ones you get offered by default when you sign your Spanish mortgage. This is the cover that sets them apart.

Buildings and contents, with fine art included

The buildings sum insured should reflect the real cost of rebuilding, not the purchase price. And the contents figure should include what is actually inside: furniture, decoration, equipment. Policies aimed at international owners usually include works of art and collectibles within the contents sum, with no per-item cap. Jewellery, on the other hand, is almost always excluded. Better to know that before, not after.

High personal liability

A fire that spreads to the neighbour’s property. A piece of façade coming loose. A leak that ruins the flat below while you are 2,000 kilometres away. Personal liability is the cover that answers for you, and in a home with no daily supervision it should be a generous one. In specialist policies for this profile we have seen limits of €7.5 million, compared with the €150,000 to €300,000 typical of standard Spanish policies.

Accidental damage

Most home insurance in Spain covers a closed list of events: fire, water, theft, weather. Accidental damage works the other way round: it covers the unforeseen mishap that does not fit any list. It is rare in the Spanish market and highly valued by anyone who cannot check on their house every week.

Emergency travel costs

If something serious happens and you need to be there, some policies cover the journey from your country of residence. It sounds like a minor detail. When you have to book a next-day flight in August, it is not.

A policy written in English

Signing an insurance contract in a language you do not master is signing blind. There are policies for foreign owners written entirely in English, with claims also handled in English. For a British, German or Dutch owner, this changes the relationship with their insurance from start to finish.

A real case from our brokerage, quoted this very week: a 250 m² home on the coast, non-resident owner, €600,000 buildings sum insured, €66,000 contents including fine art, accidental damage, €7.5 million personal liability and emergency travel cover. Annual premium: under €1,000. With the policy written in English.

We have a dedicated page with full details of this type of insurance: holiday home insurance in Spain for foreign owners.

Can I insure my Spanish home if I live abroad?

Yes. Neither your nationality nor your country of residence prevents you from insuring a home in Spain. What changes is the practical side.

A non-resident owner needs three things a conventional policy does not always solve:

• Remote sign-up with documents from any country. A passport or national ID from your home country; in many cases you do not even need a Spanish NIE.
• Claims handled without you being there. Someone has to open the door for the loss adjuster, deal with the plumber and send the photos. That someone cannot be you, from Manchester.
• Communication in your language. From the policy wording to the claim form.

This is where a brokerage makes the difference compared with buying direct: we are in Spain, we talk to the insurer, we manage the repair and we tell you how it went. You do not have to travel.

If you also rent the house out for part of the year (more and more owners do), the risk changes again and you need something different. Tell us when you request your quote and we will factor it in.

Seven questions you should be able to answer today

This is the list we go through with any foreign owner who brings us their policy. It works just as well as a self-check:

1. How many months a year does your home sit unoccupied?
2. Does your policy keep theft cover in force while the house is empty? Up to how many days?
3. What security measures does your policy require? Are they all actually installed?
4. Does the contents sum insured reflect what is really inside the house?
5. Do you own art, antiques or valuable furniture? Are they declared?
6. Do you know who to call if there is a claim and you are 2,000 kilometres away?
7. Do you understand the policy you signed? Is it in your language?

If you hesitated on more than two, your insurance deserves a review. Not because it is bad. Because it is probably protecting a house that is not yours: one where somebody lives all year round.

A timely review costs nothing

When a property is used as a second home, its insurance needs are different from those of a main residence. That is what second home insurance in Spain is built around. Not bigger or smaller: different. The most expensive mistake we see is not buying the wrong policy. It is never reviewing it.

At Sure Service we have been advising private clients since 1985, and increasingly that means owners who live outside Spain. Reviewing your current policy is free, it is done remotely, and we give you the conclusions in writing, in your language.

Before deciding anything, you can read what our clients say about us on our client reviews page (in Spanish).

Frequently asked questions

Paula Modroño Rodríguez
Head of Insurance Distribution — Sure Service Insurance Brokers · Las Rozas (Madrid) and Palencia, Spain
We have spent years insuring homes for clients who live outside Spain, and the question is always the same: who looks after my house when I am not there? If you would like us to review your current policy, or prepare a proposal in your language, write to me at info@sureservice.es or call +34 916 304 285. The review is free and comes with no obligation. Updated: 2 June 2026.