Holiday Home Insurance Spain

Holiday home insurance in Spain covers a second property you own but do not live in full time. The policy is built around the months the house stands empty. That unoccupancy cover is what a standard seguro de hogar will not give you.

Holiday home insurance for your Spanish property — covering your villa, apartment or townhouse on the Costa Blanca whether you are in residence or back home in the UK, Netherlands or Norway. Generali policies arranged by Turner Insurance Specialists, Javea. Free English-language quote — 966 461 625.

Why a Standard Seguro de Hogar Policy Is Not Enough

A standard Spanish seguro de hogar policy is written for a property that is regularly occupied. Most policies include a clause that voids cover if the property is left unoccupied for more than 30, 45 or 60 consecutive days without notifying the insurer. For a holiday home in Spain that sits empty for four to six months each year, this creates a serious coverage gap.

Holiday home insurance solves this problem. The policy is specifically designed for properties left empty for extended periods — typically covering unoccupancy for up to 12 months without any notification requirement. Claims are paid the same way whether you were in residence or back home when the damage occurred.

If the property is your permanent address instead, you want the standard product. Read our page on home insurance in Spain, buildings and contents cover. The rules that sit behind both policies, from rebuild value to the Consorcio, are explained in our guide to how a Spanish home policy works.

Holiday Home Insurance Spain: Who Needs It

Holiday home insurance in Spain is cover for a property you own but rarely use. Most owners are non-resident. You might fly in for a few weeks each spring. Then a month in summer, and again at Christmas. The rest of the year the house stands empty. That pattern is what the policy is built around.

It suits a villa, an apartment or a townhouse kept as a second home. Buildings and contents sit on one policy. You do not need to be resident in Spain. No NIE is needed either. British, Irish, Dutch and Norwegian owners buy the same Generali contract, and we issue the documents in English. If the property is your main address instead, you want a main-residence home insurance policy in Spain.

Overseas holiday home insurance also has to work at a distance. Damage in an empty house is usually found late. A slow leak can run for weeks before anyone opens the door. Our English-speaking team in Javea handles the report for you, so you do not have to fly out. Here is how to make a home insurance claim in Spain.

Closing Up a Holiday Home for Winter

A few simple steps keep a winter claim straightforward. Turn the water off at the stopcock before you leave. Close the shutters and set the alarm. Ask a neighbour or a keyholder to look in once a month. Keep the receipts for any work on the roof or terrace. Basic maintenance records help if we ever support a storm claim.

What Holiday Home Insurance Covers

Fire cover matters more than most second-home owners assume: an empty house in a wooded urbanisation is exactly the property nobody is there to defend. Our report on Spain’s 2026 wildfire season explains who pays after a wildfire and the vegetation-clearance duty that applies to many rural plots.

Buildings Cover

• Structure — walls, roof, floors, permanent fixtures and fittings
• Storm and tempest damage (including the DANA seasonal storms common on the Costa Blanca)
• Fire, explosion and lightning
• Flood and water damage including burst pipes
• Subsidence and ground movement
• Malicious damage and vandalism
• Impact damage — vehicles, falling trees, falling aerials
• Swimming pool and garden — pool structure, pump, filtration, garden furniture and landscaping
• Breakage of sanitaryware and fixed glass — baths, basins, WCs and fixed glazing

Contents Cover

• Furniture, appliances and personal belongings
• Valuables (jewellery, electronics) up to stated limits
• Garden furniture and outdoor equipment
• Swimming pool equipment, pump and filtration

Liability and Additional Cover

• Public liability — injury or property damage caused to third parties on your property
• Loss of rental income — if a covered event prevents letting the property
• Legal expenses — disputes with tenants, contractors, neighbours
• Emergency travel — costs if a serious incident requires you to travel to Spain
• Unoccupancy — full cover even when the property is empty for up to 12 months
• 24-hour home emergency — call-out for plumbing, electrics, locks and storm damage while you are away

Optional Extensions

• Accidental damage — for buildings and contents (a foot through the ceiling, spilt paint)

Holiday Home Insurance Spain: Typical Cost

The cost of holiday home insurance in Spain depends on rebuild value, property location and security measures. Approximate premiums:

• Apartment (€80,000 rebuild value): from €150–€220/year
• Townhouse (€130,000 rebuild value): from €220–€320/year
• Villa (€200,000 rebuild value): from €280–€450/year
• Larger villa (€350,000 rebuild value): from €400–€600/year

Properties with good security (alarm system, security grilles on ground floor windows) qualify for reduced premiums. Coastal properties within 500 metres of the sea carry a higher storm risk loading.

Second Home Insurance in Spain: Own Use, Letting, or Both

Second home insurance in Spain is priced around how the property is used, not simply what it is worth. A second home kept purely for your own family use is the straightforward case, and it is the one this page is written for: the unoccupancy cover described above does the heavy lifting, because the months the house stands empty are precisely when a burst pipe, storm damage or a break-in goes unnoticed.

As soon as other people stay in the property, the cover has to change. If you take paying guests through Airbnb, Booking.com or Vrbo, what you need is tourist rental insurance for a vivienda de uso turístico, which carries the guest liability the VUT licence makes compulsory. If you let to a resident tenant on a long lease, you need landlord insurance in Spain instead, for landlord liability, loss of rental income and legal expenses. And if you are the tenant rather than the owner, the building is the landlord's responsibility — only your own belongings are yours to insure. That is the contents side of the product, and it is set out under renters insurance in Spain and tenant contents cover on our main home insurance page.

Mixing those uses in the same year is where claims go wrong. Undeclared commercial use is one of the most common reasons a Costa Blanca claim is refused, so tell us at the outset how many weeks you use the property yourself, how many weeks you let it and how long it stands completely empty. We then set the occupancy declaration to match.