First: whose road is it
Before reporting, it helps to know who owns the road, because sending it to the wrong body is the commonest reason nothing happens.
Streets inside the town belong to the council. Roads between municipalities usually belong to the provincial diputación or the autonomous community. The state network, with N or A numbers, belongs to the Ministry through its Demarcación de Carreteras.
If you are unsure, report it to the council anyway: it knows where to forward it, and the date of the report is recorded, which is what may matter to you later.
What makes a pothole report useful
- Exact location, with coordinates where possible. On a road, the kilometre point and the direction of travel
- Approximate size and depth, with something beside it for scale
- Whether it is in the running lane, in the wheel track, or at a pedestrian crossing
- Whether standing water hides it, because an invisible pothole is more dangerous than a visible one
- A dated photo. That is not cosmetic here: it is the evidence that can support a later claim, yours or a neighbour's
If it caused damage: responsabilidad patrimonial
Where damage results from the functioning of a municipal public service, an individual can claim compensation from the council. It is an administrative procedure with its own name: reclamación de responsabilidad patrimonial.
It is neither hostile nor unusual. It is the intended route, and councils publish information sheets explaining how to file one.
The deadline: one year, and it starts earlier than you think
The right to claim lapses one year after the event or after the harmful effect appears. Past that year there is nothing to be done, and it is the error that kills the most legitimate claims.
For personal injury, physical or psychological, that year runs from recovery or from the point at which the extent of any lasting effects is determined, not from the impact.
What the damage has to satisfy
- It must be actual: real damage, not potential or future
- Economically assessable and individualised to a person or a defined group
- There must be a causal link between the functioning of the public service and the damage, and that link has to be proven
- Excluded: force majeure, vandalism, and damage the individual has a legal duty to bear
The evidence they ask for, item by item
This is the part that decides the file, and municipal information sheets list it quite literally.
- Visual documents identifying and locating what caused the damage: photographs, video, sketches, plans
- Valuation of material damage: invoices, quotes, expert reports
- Valuation of personal injury, with a medical report, if any
- Police report, if officers attended
- Statements from eyewitnesses
- Documents proving the poor condition of the road surface
- Documents proving the damaged property is yours, such as the vehicle registration
Where an earlier report changes everything
Look at two of those requirements together: you must prove the poor condition of the surface, and you must prove the causal link with the functioning of the public service.
A public report with a photo, a date and coordinates, filed before the damage happened, covers both at once: it shows the pothole existed, where, and since when, and it shows the authority could have known. It is exactly the document the list asks for, and almost nobody has it, because almost nobody photographs a pothole until it breaks something.
Which is why reporting a pothole that has not harmed you is not abstract altruism: it is building the evidence that supports the claim of whoever comes next, or your own three months from now.
What happens after filing
The administration has six months to resolve and notify, under articles 21.3 and 91.3 of Ley 39/2015, counted from when the claim enters the register. That period can be suspended or extended in the cases the law provides for.
If six months pass with no decision, the claim is deemed dismissed by administrative silence. That does not mean you are wrong: it means the next route opens, which is an appeal to the administrative courts.
Sources
How long do I have to claim for a pothole that broke my wheel?
One year from the event or from when the harmful effect appears. For personal injury the year runs from recovery or from when any lasting effects are determined.
Do I need a lawyer?
Not to file the administrative claim. It is worth considering if the amount is large or if the case later goes to the administrative courts.
What if the council does not reply?
After six months with no decision the claim is deemed dismissed by administrative silence, and from there an appeal to the administrative courts becomes available.
Does having reported the pothole earlier help?
Considerably. The required evidence includes documents proving the poor condition of the surface, and a dated, geolocated report predating the damage is precisely that, as well as showing the authority could have known.
Is the road the council's?
Inside the town, usually yes. Between municipalities it is normally the diputación or the autonomous community, and on the state network the Ministry. Claiming against the wrong body wastes time, and the one-year clock keeps running.