As reported by Lusa, the Portuguese Association of Condominium Management and Administration Companies (APEGAC) is urging the Government to make a single insurance policy compulsory for each residential building, replacing the current model in which every apartment owner is responsible for arranging their own cover.
Fragmented system
Vítor Amaral, President of APEGAC, said the fragmented system created significant difficulties following the series of storms that struck Portugal between late January and early March, when damage to shared areas required dozens – or even hundreds – of separate insurance claims within the same building.
“One building can have 100 apartments, meaning 100 separate insurance claims”, he explained, arguing that a single policy would simplify the claims process and ensure consistent decisions on cover, deductibles and compensation.
Under the current legal framework, apartment owners must insure their individual fractions, resulting in buildings often being covered by multiple insurers offering different policy conditions. APEGAC states this frequently leads to conflicting interpretations, with some insurers accepting claims while others reject them or apply different excesses for the same incident.
The association added that it has presented proposals to amend the legislation but has so far found little support from the Secretary of State for Housing, the Portuguese Insurers Association (APS) or parliamentary groups.
Severe weather
This debate follows one of the most destructive periods of severe weather Portugal has experienced in recent years.
A succession of Atlantic storms – including Storms Leonardo, Marta and Kristin – caused widespread destruction across the Centre, Lisbon, Tagus Valley, and Alentejo regions. Thousands of homes, businesses and public buildings suffered damage, while flooding, fallen trees and infrastructure failures resulted in insured and uninsured losses estimated at more than €5 billion.
According to figures from SAPO, the Government received around 35,900 applications for housing reconstruction support after the storms, while the national recovery taskforce estimated that between 35,000 and 40,000 businesses were affected across the most impacted regions.
Although APEGAC acknowledges that most insurance claims have now been processed, Amaral lamented that the outcomes have not always been satisfactory. In some cases, insurers allegedly offered repair solutions that failed to restore buildings to their original condition.
He cited the example of a roof where the original tiles were no longer manufactured, and rather than replacing the entire roof with matching materials, the insurer reportedly proposed reusing undamaged tiles alongside new tiles of a different design, creating an inconsistent finish.
Recovery efforts
The volume of claims generated by the storms has also placed pressure on insurance assessors, leading to significant delays in handling routine cases.
According to APEGAC, many lower value claims unrelated to the storms are now waiting months for expert inspections because resources have been redirected to major weather-related damage.
Meanwhile, recovery efforts continue across the country. Portugal is set to receive an advance payment of €65.37 million from the European Union Solidarity Fund to support reconstruction following the winter storms, which will contribute towards repairing damaged infrastructure and assisting affected communities.
APEGAC believes the lessons learned from this year’s extreme weather should prompt a comprehensive review of condominium legislation, arguing that a mandatory single building policy would improve efficiency, reduce disputes between insurers and provide greater certainty for homeowners when responding to future natural disasters.
