Home insurance in Portugal, handled in English
Multi-risk cover for permanent homes, second homes, villas and rented properties — compared across the whole market, explained in plain English, and placed with the insurer that actually fits your property.
What we insure
Portuguese multi-risk policies are not interchangeable. A wording built for a two-bedroom flat in Portimão behaves very differently on a clifftop villa with a pool, or on a house that is empty for eight months of the year. We start from what the property actually is.
Permanent homes
Your main residence in Portugal, whether you own an apartment in Lisbon or a house in the Algarve, with building, contents and family civil liability in a single policy.
Second and holiday homes
Properties occupied part of the year, where the unoccupancy clause, the water shut-off requirement and the key-holder arrangements matter more than the headline premium.
Villas with pools and grounds
Pool plant, boundary walls, outbuildings, garden structures, solar panels and outdoor equipment — the items most standard policies quietly leave out.
Apartments in condominiums
Cover that dovetails with the building’s condominium policy instead of duplicating it, so that a water leak from the flat above is settled without an argument over who insures what.
Rented and Alojamento Local properties
Landlord cover with loss of rent, and AL-specific civil liability for guest-caused damage and injury, declared to the insurer on the correct basis.
High-value and luxury homes
Estates, architect-designed villas and homes with art, jewellery or wine collections, placed with specialist underwriters on all-risks or agreed-value terms.
What a Portuguese multi-risk policy should include
“Multirriscos habitação” is a family of covers, not a single fixed product. These are the ones we check on every quote before we put it in front of you.
- Fire, lightning and explosionThe legal minimum and the backbone of the policy. It is also the cover your mortgage lender insists on, and the reason the sum insured has to reflect the real rebuild cost.
- Water damageThe most frequent claim in Portugal. It covers sudden escape of water from pipes, tanks and appliances, plus the cost of locating and repairing the leak — but not gradual infiltration or condensation damp.
- Theft and burglaryContents and, in some wordings, damage caused by forced entry. Nearly every insurer imposes security requirements — locks, security doors, sometimes an alarm — that must be genuinely in place at the time of the loss.
- Storm and atmospheric phenomenaWind, hail and torrential rain, usually subject to an intensity threshold. Relevant across the whole Algarve coast, where winter storms drive most non-water claims.
- Civil liabilityDamage you, your household or your property cause to third parties — a leak reaching the flat below, a wall collapsing onto a neighbour’s car, a visitor injured at the pool.
- Electrical damagePower surges and short circuits affecting wiring, appliances and increasingly heat pumps, EV chargers and solar inverters. Usually sub-limited, so the limit is worth checking.
- Glass breakageWindows, glazed doors, shower screens, hobs and mirrors. A small cover that pays for itself quickly in properties with large glazed façades.
- 24h home assistanceEmergency plumber, electrician, locksmith and glazier, plus temporary accommodation if the home becomes uninhabitable. The cover our clients actually use most often.
- Earthquake (optional add-on)Rarely included as standard in Portugal. Priced separately, with an excess set as a percentage of the sum insured. Worth taking in the south and the Lisbon region.
- Loss of rent (landlords)Pays the rent you lose while an insured event makes a let property uninhabitable, for a defined number of months. Essential for anyone relying on the rental income.
Every one of these covers carries its own sub-limit and its own excess. Two policies with the same headline premium can differ by tens of thousands of euros at claim stage — which is exactly what the written comparison is for. Read the clause-by-clause guide.
The three mistakes that cost owners money
1. Confusing rebuild value with market value
The sum insured on the building should be the cost of rebuilding it, not what you paid for it and not what an estate agent would list it at. Get it wrong on the low side and the proportional rule applies: declare €200,000 on a property that would cost €300,000 to rebuild, and a €30,000 claim is settled at roughly €20,000. The insurer is not being difficult — that is how the contract works.
2. Contents left uninsured or badly out of date
Plenty of policies we review carry a token contents figure set when the property was bought and never revisited, or no contents cover at all. Furniture, appliances, electronics, bicycles, tools and outdoor furniture add up faster than owners expect, and after a fire or a burglary the gap is immediate and painful.
3. Not declaring how the property is really used
Letting it long-term, running it as Alojamento Local, or leaving it closed up for months at a time all change the risk. A policy issued as a permanent residence and claimed on as a holiday let is the single most common reason we see cover reduced or refused. Declaring the real use costs a modest amount more and keeps the claim payable.
Insurers we compare
We are an independent, ASF-registered broker. We are not tied to any one insurer, and we place the risk where the wording fits the property.
A global insurer with a long-established Portuguese operation. Solid, conventional multi-risk cover for permanent residences and second homes, with a well-articulated split between building, contents and civil liability and a broad loss-adjusting network.
A wide product range with particularly strong home assistance and a long list of optional covers. A sensible choice if you want your health, home and motor policies with the same insurer and a single point of renewal.
The international specialist in high-value homes. All-risks wording, agreed value, art, jewellery and collections, gardens and pools, and individual underwriting. Not a retail product — it is for high-value villas and apartments.
Accessed in Portugal through a specialist underwriting agency, for risks the retail market handles badly: unconventional or mixed-use properties, short-term letting exposures and homes with prior claims or non-standard features.
Not sure which profile you fall into? Compare all four side by side.
How it works
- Tell us about the property. Type, location, how it is used, roughly what it would cost to rebuild. The form below takes about two minutes; if you would rather send us the details on WhatsApp, that works too.
- We compare the market. We take your profile to Zurich, Allianz, Hiscox and Liberty Mutual, and to specialist underwriters where the property calls for it.
- You receive a written comparison within 24 hours. Sums insured, sub-limits, excesses and exclusions set out side by side in English, with a clear recommendation and no obligation to proceed.
Get your free home insurance quote
Tell us about the property and we’ll come back to you within 24 hours with a written comparison.
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Frequently asked questions
Is home insurance compulsory in Portugal?
Fire cover is compulsory for any autonomous fraction in a horizontal-property building, and every Portuguese mortgage lender requires at least fire cover on the building. In practice almost all owners take a full multi-risk policy, which bundles fire with water damage, theft, storm, civil liability and home assistance.
Should I insure the market value or the rebuild cost of my property?
The rebuild cost — the cost of reconstructing the building, excluding the land. Insuring the purchase price of a coastal villa usually means over-paying, while insuring an old inherited house at its outdated book value usually means under-insurance and the proportional rule cutting your claim. We work the figure out with you before we go to market.
Can I take out a Portuguese home policy if I do not live in Portugal?
Yes. Non-resident owners of second homes, holiday homes and let properties can be insured normally. You will need a Portuguese NIF and the property documents; a Portuguese bank account is convenient for the direct debit but is not always mandatory, depending on the insurer.
Do I have to tell the insurer that I let the property out?
Yes, always. Long-term letting, holiday letting and registered Alojamento Local are different risks from a permanent home, and a policy issued on the wrong basis can be reduced or refused at claim stage. Declaring the real use costs a little more up front and protects the claim.
Will you provide the policy and the claim correspondence in English?
The contractual wording is issued in Portuguese, because that is the language of the contract under Portuguese law. We explain the cover, the sub-limits and the exclusions to you in English, and we run the whole claim with the insurer in Portuguese on your behalf.
Is earthquake cover included in a Portuguese home policy?
Almost never as standard. Earthquake and seismic phenomena are an optional add-on with their own excess, usually a percentage of the sum insured. For most of the Algarve and the Lisbon area we recommend adding it, and we quote it separately so you can see exactly what it costs.
How long does the quote take?
We come back to you within 24 hours with a written comparison across Zurich, Allianz, Hiscox and Liberty Mutual, setting out the sums insured, the sub-limits and the excesses side by side.
Read before you buy
Our complete guide to insuring a property in Portugal, plus the articles that answer the questions clients ask us most often.
- Home insurance in Portugal: the complete guide — the pillar guide, start here
- What a Portuguese multi-risk policy actually covers, clause by clause
- How much does home insurance cost in the Algarve?
- Zurich vs Allianz vs Hiscox vs Liberty Mutual in 2026
- Your bank sold you the home insurance — how to change it
- How to claim for water damage on a Portuguese home policy
- The unoccupancy clause: when your Portuguese home sits empty
- Alojamento Local insurance: what the RNAL registration requires
- The document checklist for insuring a property in Portugal
- Luxury and high-value home insurance in Portugal
- Holiday home insurance in Portugal
- Condominium insurance in the Algarve
Adler & Rochefort is a commercial brand of Ownizo Unipessoal Lda, registered with the ASF under no. 425591790/3. General guidance only; conditions, premiums and cover vary by insurer and profile.