Eloise Horsfield
JUST two out of 140 Mijas victims of the fire that ravaged the Costa del Sol last month were insured.
The numbers are similar in the nearby municipalities of Marbella, Coin and Ojen, according to the mayor of Mijas Angel Nozal.
In Mijas the figures refer to the number of householders who have visited the town hall complaining of damage to their properties.
Nozal, a former insurance broker with Zurich, told the Olive Press he was ‘not surprised’ by the figures.
He said: “It is only the English and other expats who get covered.
“The Spanish just don’t think it is going to happen to them.”
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He added: “Home insurance can cost as little as €10 a month, or a minimum of €100 a year. Had they paid that these people would have got their houses back.”
He denied that getting insurance had nothing to do with homes being legal or not. This was confirmed by Jacqui Caplen at the Insurance Centre in Coin. She said: “Insurance companies just care about what is built.”
That’s odd. I paid my premiums for years but when we had the torrential rain a few years ago and part of our roof collapsed the insurance company literally said “We don’t insure old houses”. So I went to a lawyer and he said by the time it got to court it would have cost me more than the repair bill with no guarantee of winning. So I asked for the premiums to be repaid and got nothing. That’s why the Spanish don’t take out insurance.
What nomnally happens is that the insurance company will insure an old house, and take your money for decades, but then if the roof collapses one day, the claims assessor will then say the roof was not properly constructed, or was not made to modern standards etc, and then will not pay out. Seen this happen to other people at least half a dozen times. In my experience, insurance companies do their utmost not to pay a claim. They are on par with rogue estate agents and financial advisors.
Ditto Ivan and Fred, my roof recently left home courtesy of ‘La Calima’ and the Inspector of Claims suggested ‘iffy’ construction of the finca. That was irritating enough, but true to form I have heard nothing since. No doubt my next installment of insurance will be ‘robbed’ from the bank.
Africa starts at the Pyrenees for sure!
Having spoken to one of the fire victims who like many was not insured, the problem they had was that where they were the building and land was coming under commercial insurance not domestic property and there was a huge difference in the cost of insurance and not just a few pounds but hundreds. Many people here do have the attitude “it will not happen to me” but likewise the insurance industry and local authorities do make it it easy either.
Many local Spanish effected by the fire often own these houses as a family not as an individual unlike many of the ex-pats, so they are better placed to rebuild, it may take them a while but it will be rebuilt where as many ex-pats will simply have to put for sale signs up as they will not get the relevant rebuild licences or permissions and as much of their saving went into the original purchase are not in a position to fight any judgements or replace their lost home.
The authorities are often seem to be doing something when in reality they have put so many barriers in peoples way that what is offered seems to be more about PR than actually wanting to help.
“Just two out of 140 Mijas victims of the fire that ravaged the Costa del Sol last month were insured.”
“He said: “It is only the English and other expats who get covered. The Spanish just don’t think it is going to happen to them.””
Does this mean that the other 138 Mijas homes were all owned by Spanish people? That, to me, seems unlikely.
I realise that the average reader won´t know the answers so, in a sense, my question is rhetorical. Just the same, I think it´s a question worth asking.