28 · Insurance Cover for Your Mallorca Property

*What's actually mandatory, where you as a buyer shouldn't waive cover voluntarily — and the classic trap that derails a pay-out when you claim (infraseguro + regla proporcional).*

Key: ✅ legal requirement / multiply sourced · 🟡 market-dependent (premiums are indicative figures).

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Seguro de hogar (buildings & contents insurance)#

Unlike in many home markets, private property cover on Mallorca usually runs through a single multi-risk policy that bundles the building and its contents together. There are three components you should keep clearly apart:

• continente = the building fabric. What matters here is the rebuild value of ~800–1,200 €/m² 🟡 — and explicitly not the purchase price or the land value. It's precisely this mix-up that costs you money when you claim.
• contenido = the contents, valued at replacement-new cost.
• responsabilidad civil = the personal-liability cover, which is usually already part of the policy.

Is it mandatory? As a rule, no. However, the moment you finance the purchase with a mortgage, the law requires at minimum the fire component, the seguro de incendios (fire insurance) (Art. 8 Ley 2/1981, confirmed by Ley 5/2019); the sum insured equals the rebuild value. Important for you as a buyer: the bank may not dictate your provider ✅ — you're free to shop around and compare. As a guide on premiums 🟡: budget ~200–350 €/year for an apartment, and from ~400 €/year for a villa.

Seguro de comunidad (community / owners'-association insurance)#

This policy covers the common areas — façade, stairwell, roof — together with the liability of the owners' community. Nationally there is no obligation (LPH); 🟡 and for the Balearics no separate mandatory rule could be found either (🔴 when in doubt, double-check via the administrador de fincas, the appointed property manager). What to watch out for: on the continente you can end up double-insured alongside your own hogar policy, and when you claim, a coaseguro (co-insurance) dispute can then arise over who pays. Practical tip from a buyer's standpoint: insure the continente privately only "a primer riesgo" (first-loss basis), with a small sum.

Seguro RC for ETV holiday letting ✅ — mandatory#

If you intend to use the property as holiday accommodation, the liability policy is your entry ticket: without it there is no Balearic ETV licence (the holiday-rental licence) (DRIAT). What's prescribed is minimum cover of 300,000 € and a maximum excess of 600 €; it covers personal injury and property damage suffered by guests — and, under propiedad horizontal (horizontal property / strata title), damage to the community as well. The legal basis is Ley 8/2012 / Ley 6/2017; the premium runs to ~80–120 €/year 🟡. (→ Ch. 11)

Seguro decenal & aval (new build) ✅#

• seguro decenal (ten-year structural warranty insurance) (LOE Art. 19): mandatory for new builds, covering structural defects for 10 years from completion sign-off; the policyholder is the promotor (developer). Without this policy, the obra nueva (new-build declaration) cannot be registered at the land registry. An exception applies only to the single self-builder (autopromotor) building their own home. (→ Ch. 10)
• aval/seguro de caución (bank guarantee / surety bond) for deposits paid sobre plano (off-plan) (LOE Disp. adic. 1ª): this secures every instalment plus interest. The rule for you is unambiguous — make no deposit payment without this protection in place.

Seguro de impago de alquiler & okupas protection#

Relevant for long-term letting (i.e. not for ETV): this policy covers rent default (often up to 6–12 months) as well as the cost of an eviction (desahucio). The premium sits at ~3.5–6 % of the annual rent 🟡. For vacant second homes there are additionally specialist seguro anti-okupas (anti-squatter) policies at ~200–600 €/year. (→ Ch. 13)

Seguro de vida with a mortgage — NOT mandatory ✅#

Ley 5/2019 (Art. 17) prohibits forced tie-ins (venta vinculada): the bank may not make the loan conditional on your taking out a particular life or contents policy with them. An external policy is expressly permitted — for a bundle you may sometimes be offered an interest-rate reduction of 0.10–0.30 % 🟡, which you should weigh against the freedom to choose your own provider.

Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros (CCS) ✅#

The CCS is a state-backed cover for extraordinary risks that applies automatically: every damage policy carries a mandatory recargo (surcharge) through which this cover is financed (RD 300/2004). Among the events covered are flooding (inundación, including torrent / flash floods), earthquake, volcanic eruption, storms > 120 km/h and terrorism. Not covered is damage from burst, man-made pipework — that's the job of your hogar policy.

Mallorca natural hazard: the most flood-prone area is considered to be Palma, because parts of the city were built over filled-in torrentes (dry riverbeds). "Ordinary" rain damage is frequently only picked up by the hogar policy above > 40 l/m²/h 🟡; extraordinary flooding, by contrast, runs through the CCS. If a property sits close to a torrent, it's well worth taking a careful look at its location classification (→ Ch. 10, APR inundación / flood-risk zone).

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Pitfalls ✅#

• infraseguro (under-insurance) combined with the regla proporcional (proportional / averaging rule) (Art. 30 Ley 50/1980): if the sum insured is below the true value, the insurer pays out only pro rata. *Worked example:* the sum insured is 120,000 €, the actual value is 200,000 €, and the loss is 25,000 € — yet only 15,000 € is paid out. That this is no fringe problem is shown by the figures: ~30 % of Spanish homes are under-insured 🟡.
• Equating the continente with the purchase price or the land value; alongside that lurk exclusions (aesthetic damage, lack of maintenance) that you should check in the fine print.

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❓ FAQ#

As an owner-occupier, do I absolutely need home insurance? No — without a mortgage there's no obligation, and with a mortgage only the fire component (seguro de incendios) is required. A comprehensive hogar policy is nonetheless strongly recommended.

Does my holiday rental have to be insured? Yes — an RC policy ≥ 300,000 € (max. 600 € excess) is a precondition for the ETV licence.

Does my policy cover torrent flood damage? Extraordinary flooding is covered automatically by the Consorcio — through the recargo built into every policy.

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Sources (selection)#

• Ley 2/1981 Art. 8 + Ley 5/2019 (seguro incendios / forced tie-ins) · Ley 8/2012 + Ley 6/2017 (ETV-RC)
• LOE Ley 38/1999 Art. 19 + Disp. adic. 1ª · RD 300/2004 (CCS) · Ley 50/1980 Art. 30 (infraseguro)

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