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Tenants in arrears leave unpaid amounts averaging 3,179 euros to their landlords. This is one of the main conclusions of the report prepared by the insurance employers' association Unespa. Rental insurance offers various protections to landlords who rent out properties. The most common coverages are payment protection and repair of damages suffered by the property.
The study has been prepared with information related to 12,500 incidents provided by seven insurers that carry out this activity. The extracted data reveal how insurers compensate an average of 3,179 euros to landlords who suffer defaults from their tenants. The most common compensation – the median – is slightly lower but equally relevant: 2,750 euros. In the most extreme cases, insurers have paid up to 15,000 euros to compensate for the lack of rent payment by a tenant.
The expenses incurred by the insurance to remedy the damages suffered by the rented properties are modest in comparison. The average cost of the incident amounts to 336 euros. The median, that is, the value that leaves as many incidents above as below in terms of cost, is even lower: 185 euros. While it is true that material incidents generally have more modest consequences, it is also true that they can generate much more extreme cases. The data collected by We Are Sure reveal how insurers have paid more than 45,000 euros to repair damages caused by a tenant in a property.
These figures demonstrate how rental insurance protects landlords against these undesirable situations. That is, it allows them to cover themselves against both rent defaults and damages to their real estate assets.
Distribution by autonomous communities and provinces
A territorial analysis of the data reveals how the most populated autonomous communities (Madrid, Catalonia, and Andalusia) are the ones that register the highest number of incidents. Together they account for 55% of the incidents, something logical given their demographic relevance. Still, it is striking how the Community of Madrid (17.1% of the rental housing stock) houses 21.5% of the claims; and Andalusia (13% of the stock) reaches 16.3%. In contrast, in Catalonia (23.7% of the national rental housing stock) only 17.1% of the incidents occur.
A look at the distribution by provinces shows how the top five regions (Madrid, Barcelona, Alicante, Valencia, and Málaga) accumulate half of the rental insurance incidents in Spain. If the analysis takes the municipality as a reference, it is striking how the city of Madrid, with less than 7% of the Spanish population, witnesses almost 12% of the cases. In the towns of Valencia, Seville, and Málaga, more incidents occur than would be expected based on their population. In Barcelona, the exact opposite happens. The Catalan capital houses 3.46% of Spain's inhabitants, but it is the place where 2.69% of rental insurance incidents occur.
