What should I do immediately after damage at home?

The instinct after a leak, flood or fire is to start clearing up. That instinct destroys the evidence a claim depends on, and it is the single most common reason a valid claim is reduced.

Safety

Step by step

1. Deal with safety before anything else.Electricity and water together, sagging ceilings, structural damage, gas. Turn off the supply if you can do it safely, get everyone out if you cannot, and call the emergency services if there is any doubt.
2. Stop the source if you can.Stopcock for water, the isolating valve for a specific appliance, consumer unit for electrics. Insurers expect you to have taken reasonable steps to limit the damage, and this is what that means.
3. Photograph and video before you touch anything.Wide shots of each room, then close-ups of damaged items and the source. Video walking through, narrating what you see. Do this before moving furniture or mopping — it takes five minutes and it is what the claim rests on.
4. Ring your insurer early.Most policies have a 24-hour claims line and many require notification within a set period. They will tell you what they need and often appoint a loss adjuster or an approved contractor. Ringing first avoids arranging work they will not cover.
5. Do not arrange non-urgent repairs yet.Emergency work to prevent further damage is expected and covered. Full repairs arranged before the insurer has seen it are frequently not. Ask explicitly what you may proceed with.
6. Keep damaged items until told otherwise.Do not take anything to the tip. Photograph it, move it somewhere out of the way, and ask the insurer before disposing. Disposal is a common reason a value gets disputed.
7. Keep every receipt.Emergency accommodation, a dehumidifier, drying equipment, replacement essentials, the plumber who stopped the leak. Many policies cover these, and none will pay without evidence.
8. Start drying it out.Ventilate, lift saturated carpet, get air moving. Water left in a building causes far more damage over the following weeks than on the day, and insurers expect this to be limited.
9. Write down what happened while it is fresh.Time, sequence, what you did, who you called. Claims run for months and memory of the first hour fades quickly.
10. Notify anyone else who needs to know.Landlord, freeholder, neighbours if it affects them, the water company for a mains leak. A leak affecting a neighbouring property needs their insurer informed too.
11. Check what your policy actually covers before assuming.Escape of water, storm and flood are separate perils with different terms. Read the schedule rather than guessing what the excess is or whether alternative accommodation is included.

Tips

• Save your insurer's emergency number in your phone now. Finding a policy document during a flood is not the moment.
• Photograph the whole house once a year while it is undamaged. It establishes what was there and its condition, and takes ten minutes.
• Ask the insurer for a claim reference and the name of the handler on the first call, and use them on every contact afterwards.

Common mistakes

• Clearing up before photographing — The evidence goes with the mess. A claim assessed from a tidied room is assessed on much less than actually happened.
• Arranging full repairs before contacting the insurer — Most policies require them to approve non-emergency work. Repairs done first are frequently not reimbursed, however necessary they were.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask