They have been left with nothing and the first question, after hell and finding themselves on the street, is: Who helps me now? Who pays for what I have lost? It is time to put the insurance machinery in motion – for those affected with contracted policies – and to review the fine print of those documents (which will mark your immediate future), to know what is and what is not included in those policies. .
Those who do not have insurance – in Spain it is not mandatory to have a home policy – ??will not be able to claim, unless those directly responsible for that fire are pointed out. Your lawsuits would have to go against those people or companies. Below is a guide on the steps to follow in situations like the one experienced in Valencia.
All home and multi-risk insurance “includes coverage against fire,” reports the Spanish Union of Insurance and Reinsurance Entities (Unespa). This protection “covers material damage caused to a property and the expenses incurred by extinguishing the fire and rescue.”
In the case of the Valencia building, the insurer is Mapfre, which has already made itself available to those affected. That policy, according to Unespa, would have to cover the “continent”: damage to the construction (walls, slabs, structure…) and to the common areas (portal, stairs, elevators, installation rooms, gardens, swimming pool…) and which is called “content”, the furniture of the portal, decoration… of the also common spaces.
After a misfortune of that magnitude, the surprise can come when reading the fine print of the policy. Each insurance is a world. On the continent (structural and material damage to the home) there should be no problem. The amount collected will never exceed, however, the value of the destroyed property or the limit stipulated in the contract. That is, the so-called “insured capital” or “insured sum.” Another thing is the “content” of each particular policy. What was inside those floors. The insurer will only be liable for the value of the declared goods. And it is common to charge less than what was lost inside the house is worth, since when signing the policy there is a tendency to reduce the value of those assets to pay less.
We must wait for investigators to determine if there is any responsibility, with intent, for that fire. If so, some civil liability insurance could be added to the payment of the damage for that person(s) responsible. Although the insurers with whom the policy has been signed usually advance the money for the damages to their clients and then they worry about starting the steps through civil or judicial means to claim them from the person responsible for the fire. Another thing is to demonstrate, for example when investigating the causes of a fire, that the fire was intentionally set by the owner of that property. The insurer then washes its hands and ignores everything.
If the home policy has not included payment for accommodation, given the possibility of having to leave the home due to an unforeseen event, the insurance will not cover that expense. If this possibility has been included, the insurer would have to cover the accommodation costs for the time stipulated in that policy. All invoices must be saved. In the case of Valencia, however, an exceptional situation has occurred. Maphre announced yesterday that “it will immediately pay its clients 12,000 euros per insured home.
In the case of home insurance or other similar policies, it is advisable to contact the broker with whom the agreement was sealed and he will take care of the procedures. If you have forgotten this information, a solution may be to ask the bank you work with to seek settlement of the payment of the bill. And if the deeds that prove ownership of the home – also necessary to collect insurance – have been burned, nothing has been lost. The Notarial College of Valencia announced yesterday that it will provide a free service for the search and delivery of these public documents to all those affected.
The Ministry of Justice has that information. There you can consult a Registry of insurance with death coverage. This document informs if that person had life or accident insurance and also includes the insurer, as well as the name of the beneficiaries.
No. They are two different procedures and the bank can continue charging it, even though many mortgages include home insurance. Another thing is to negotiate with the bank and ask for a grace period while the problem is overcome. But that has nothing to do with the insurance policy, unless that possibility has been expressly negotiated.
Yes. According to Facua, a federation that protects consumers, there is a period of seven days to notify the insurer of the incident. So you don’t have to sleep when it comes to claiming. And these companies have, for their part, a period of 40 days to study the case and give their response for reparation or compensation. Although this schedule, and more so in cases with so many affected people like this one, is not always met.
Facua recalls that there are policies on the market for tenants of rented apartments, which cover losses caused in that home by a fire. In this case it would only be about the content. Compensation can be contracted for moving expenses, damage to your own furniture, search for similar alternative accommodation… Although these insurances are not usually the majority and even less so in short-term rentals.
