If a battery, an e-scooter or a charger catches fire and damages my home, who pays?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

The quickest route is usually your home insurance, if it includes fire cover. It pays you in accordance with your policy and can then recover what it has paid from the party liable. If the fire was caused by a defect in the device, its manufacturer or importer is liable, from whom you can claim whatever the insurance has not paid you. The shop is liable if it does not identify the manufacturer or its supplier to you within three months or if it sold the device knowing that it was defective. The difficult part is usually proving the defect, because the fire destroys the evidence. Your home insurance Notify your insurer within seven days and do not throw away the remains of the device or the burnt items until the loss adjuster has seen them. The insurance pays for the fire damage and for the damage caused by the measures taken to put it out, subject to the limits and the excess in your policy. Your insurer can then claim from the manufacturer what it has paid you. You can claim yourself for anything the policy does not cover. If the device is an e-scooter, do not count on its compulsory insurance for the damage to your home. It is liability insurance and does not cover damage to your own property. The manufacturer and the shop You will have to prove that the device had a defect and that the fire started in it. Ask for the fire brigade's report, take photos and keep the remains. If the manufacturer or its insurer wants to examine them, make sure it is done with your expert present and that a written record is made of the condition in which they are handed over. If the battery or the charger was not the original, the e-scooter manufacturer may argue that the defect did not come from the factory. In that case you will need to go to the manufacturer of the battery or the charger. If the e-scooter had been tampered with, for example to make it go faster, the manufacturer may escape liability. An excess of 500 euros, the part that the law leaves the injured party to bear, is deducted from the property damage claimed by this route. You have three years from the fire to claim, subject to a limit of ten years from when the device was released onto the market. Before bringing a claim in court you have to try to reach an agreement. If the fire started because of a power surge on the grid, the electricity distribution network operator may be liable. Claim against it as soon as possible, ideally within a year, because the time limit for taking it to court is unclear. For devices placed on the market after 9 December 2026, an EU directive will presume the defect where the damage is due to an obvious malfunction during normal use. Spain has to incorporate it into its law and, as of October 2026, there is no record that it has done so. If the fire spreads to a neighbour The neighbour can claim against you, but will have to prove the origin and cause of the fire. If it was due to a defect in the device and not to carelessness on your part, you may not be liable. The neighbour can also claim directly against the manufacturer, even though they did not buy anything from it. If the device is an e-scooter, check which insurance covers you against the neighbour's claim. Many home insurance policies exclude damage caused with e-scooters that have to be registered, because these have their own compulsory insurance. But it is not clear whether a fire while the e-scooter is charging at home falls within that exclusion or whether the e-scooter's insurance covers it. The prudent course is to notify both insurers.