Marius Comper

How common is compulsory home insurance?

Law 260/2008 requires owners, subject to the exceptions in the law, to hold annual cover costing 50 or 130 lei against earthquake, flood and landslide. On 30 September 2026 PAID reported 2,537,030 policies, 25.06% of INS housing stock. The rate compares policies with the statistical stock; it does not measure owners’ compliance with the duty.

Four houses, one lit Four house silhouettes; the lit window illustrates PAID’s 25.06% rate, not a list of identified homes.

An illustration of PAID’s rate: 25.06%, rounded to 25.1%. Data as of 30 September 2026.

PAID’s UAT table covers 3,181 administrative units and uses INS housing stock. Data valid on 30 September 2026; PAID displays 25.06%, while this page rounds rates to one decimal. Sources

Look up a commune

Coverage changes from one locality to the next. Chiajna, next to Bucharest, is at 79.9%. Dodești, in Vaslui, is at 1.5%. The same rule applies to owners of eligible homes.

    Fifty lei, one hundred and thirty lei

    The policy is called PAD, the mandatory natural-disaster cover for a dwelling. It is issued by the Natural Disaster Insurance Pool, a company the statute created to hold this risk. The premium is fixed: 130 lei a year for a type A home, of concrete, fired brick or treated materials, with a sum insured of 100,000 lei. 50 lei a year for type B, adobe and untreated materials, with 50,000 lei.

    Article 3(1) requires natural and legal persons to insure dwellings they own, registered as dwellings with the tax authorities and still used as dwellings. Mayors and their authorised representatives determine breaches of the duty and apply fines of 100–500 lei under Article 29(1)(a), (2) and (3). The first fines reported in public appeared in 2025, seventeen years after the law.

    Article 3(6) temporarily excludes from PAD homes in buildings technically assessed and officially classified by an expert report as seismic risk class I, until the consolidation works are formally received. A suspected seismic risk alone does not establish that classification. Article 3(9) allows optional insurance for these homes without PAD, but does not require insurers to accept the risk.

    PAD covers three perils: earthquake, flood as a natural phenomenon, landslide. It does not cover a fire from a socket, a neighbour’s burst pipe, hail, theft. The 100,000 lei is a cap, not the value of the house.

    Municipalities hold the average up. Communes pull it down.

    In the 103 municipalities, PAD policies amount to 35.4% of INS housing stock. In the 2,862 communes, 15.3%; in towns, 24.9%, close to the national rate of 25.1%. Communes hold 4,646,376 dwellings, almost half the housing stock.

    Municipalities
    35.4%1,558,797 policies / 4,401,854 dwellings
    Communes
    15.3%711,305 policies / 4,646,376 dwellings

    1,396 of 3,181 local authorities have a coverage rate under 10%; their INS housing stock totals 2,068,808 dwellings. 323 sit under 5%.

    Where the policy is bought

    The highest rates cluster around suburbs: Chiajna 79.9%, Moșnița Nouă 72.5%, Popești-Leordeni 72.1%, Giroc 71.2% and Corbeanca 70.3%. Among the lowest are Dobromir at 1.2%, Lungani at 1.5% and Dodești at 1.5%.

    Counties follow the same line. Ilfov is at 48.7%, Bucharest 44.5%, Timiș 36.2%. Olt is at 11.2%, Vaslui 11.5%, Botoșani 11.6%. Vrancea is at 19.5%, under the national rate.

    The table does not say who bought a policy for a loan. Banks require PAD for a mortgage; UniCredit states this in its questions on mortgage and Prima Casă loans. The mayor is the one who should fine the uninsured. The geography that comes out of the table fits the places where people take credit, not the places where the river comes over the bank.

    County PAD rate (policies divided by INS housing stock), at 30 September 2026. Ilfov 48.7%, Olt 11.2%.

    In Pechea, policy numbers rose after the flood

    In September 2024 the flood took Galați county. The prefecture counted 4,000 dwellings hit, 900 of them destroyed between 80 and 100%. Cosmin Tudor, of PAID, told HotNews that 20.73% of households in the county were insured, and he named the communes. Pechea: 248 policies out of 3,495 dwellings, 7.1%. Drăgușeni: 2.3%. Corod: 4.8%.

    The PAID table of 31 August 2026 recorded 973 policies in Pechea and 462 in Corod, compared with 248 and 139 in PAID’s September 2024 statement. This is the historical 2024–August 2026 comparison: two snapshots from different dates.

    The PAID table valid on 30 September 2026 reports 748 policies in Pechea (19.9%) and 290 in Corod (10.5%). These values differ from the August table; the sources cited here do not explain why.

    Commune Aug 2024 31 Aug 2026 30 Sep 2026 Policies (2024 → Aug → Sep)
    Drăgușeni 2.3% 17.2% 16.9% 47 → 377 → 370
    Corod 4.8% 16.7% 10.5% 139 → 462 → 290
    Suhurlui 5.0% 8.4% 8.7% 33 → 54 → 56
    Pechea 7.1% 25.8% 19.9% 248 → 973 → 748
    Slobozia Conachi 14.1% 31.0% 28.8% 206 → 490 → 455
    Costache Negri 16.5% 34.3% 35.4% 174 → 394 → 407

    The 2024 values come from a PAID statement reported by HotNews on 16 September 2024. The August and September 2026 values come from two PAID UAT workbooks, each with 3,181 rows. Both 2026 workbooks use the same national and UAT housing-stock denominators; these are dated snapshots, not a panel tracking the same homes.

    For the houses that held a policy, PAID estimated on 2 October 2024 claims on the order of €5 million. For the families hit, with or without a policy, the government paid emergency aid: 10,000 lei under Government Decision 1145/2024, plus 15,000 lei under Government Decision 1171/2024. AJPIS Galați reported 143.3 million lei. In Pechea, 1,177 people received the first 10,000 lei.

    Emergency aid is a household payment, not the rebuilding of the house. The policy, where it existed, could pay up to 100,000 lei for the building. The two sums do not replace each other. Anyone without a policy was left with the aid.

    What this table does not say

    The table’s rate is the total number of PAD policies divided by the INS housing stock, as PAID publishes it. It measures coverage of the statistical stock, not owners’ compliance: the table does not show how many distinct dwellings hold a policy, and its denominator does not separate homes temporarily excluded from PAD under Article 3(6). A holiday house, an empty house and a lived-in flat enter the denominator the same way.

    Public-housing coverage exceeds 100% in 51 localities. PAID warns that the number of publicly owned dwellings in INS records is not up to date. The rate shown here uses total housing stock.

    The geography of mortgage credit is approximate, not a measurement from this file. Banks require the policy; the table does not tag the policies bought for a loan.

    The Galați comparison keeps PAID’s 2024 statement, the 31 August 2026 table and the 30 September 2026 table separate. They are snapshots from different dates, not a panel of the same homes.

    Sources

    1. PAID Romania, Harta PAD and the UAT workbook valid on 30 September 2026. 3,181 rows using INS housing stock. PAID reports 2,537,030 policies and a 25.06% coverage rate. Historical comparison: the 31 August 2026 UAT workbook. Data used here: data.json.
    2. Law 260/2008, consolidated text, Articles 3(1), (6), (9) and 29(1)(a), (2), (3): owners’ duty, temporary exclusion for officially classified seismic risk class I buildings, optional insurance and fines. Checked on 19 October 2026.
    3. Law 115/2023, which restates the premium and sum insured in lei: 130 / 100,000 for type A, 50 / 50,000 for type B.
    4. HotNews, 16 September 2024, PAID figures for the flooded communes, given by Cosmin Tudor. HotNews, 2 October 2024, the €5 million estimate.
    5. Galați Prefecture, 22 January 2025: Government Decisions 1145/2024 and 1171/2024, 4,000 dwellings hit, 900 destroyed between 80 and 100%, the 10,000 and 15,000 lei payments.
    6. AJPIS Galați, reported by Viața Liberă: 143,300,000 lei, 5,789 people on the first tranche, 1,177 in Pechea.
    7. UniCredit, insurance help pages: PAD is required for mortgage and Prima Casă loans.