You have been away a fortnight. The door has been forced, or the ceiling under the bathroom has come down, and the first thing you feel is that you are already late. October adds the first real storms, the heating back on, and nobody at home to hear the first drip.

The clock starts when you find it, not when it happened

A leak that began ten days ago and was discovered this morning is a loss you learned about this morning. Time runs from the moment you knew, so a long absence does not cost you your rights; it moves the starting line.

So be able to prove when you got back. A boarding pass, a booking confirmation, a hotel invoice or a dated work itinerary settles the question before anybody thinks to ask.

There is no statutory deadline in the UK. Your policy sets it, and nearly all of them use the same phrase: tell the insurer as soon as reasonably possible. Read yours rather than guessing, because the wording is what you will be held to.

Two different reports, and people mix them up constantly

Telling the police and telling the insurer are separate jobs. Reporting a break-in gets you a crime reference number, which nearly every policy requires before it will pay a theft claim. It does nothing towards notifying your insurer.

Notifying the insurer opens the claim. Do both, keep each reference, and do not assume one triggered the other.

  1. Photograph everything before you tidy a single thing: wide shots of each room, close-ups of the forced door or window, the water line, the damaged furniture. Your phone stamps the time, and that stamp is evidence. Resist the instinct to clear up.
  2. Report the theft to the police and keep the crime reference number, which the insurer will ask for by name.
  3. Make the place safe and keep every receipt: stop the water, get a temporary lock fitted, board up, sheet the roof. Reasonable emergency costs are part of the claim, not a favour to your insurer.
  4. List what has gone, item by item, with roughly when you bought it and what it was worth.

The paperwork is less black and white than people fear. A receipt is the strongest proof of ownership, but a bank statement, an order confirmation email or a photograph of the thing in your living room all count. No receipt does not end a claim; it moves the argument from whether you owned it to what it was worth.

What an insurer can refuse, and what it cannot

The grounds insurers actually use, and how much weight each one carries
Ground for refusing How strong What answers it
You told us late Weak on its own Proof of the date you found it, and of what the delay changed
The house was unoccupied too long Strong Only telling the insurer before you left
Security conditions not met Strong Evidence the locks specified were fitted and used
Theft with no sign of forced entry Contested case by case Anything showing the place was left secure
No receipt for the stolen item Not a refusal Statements, photos, order emails

The unoccupancy limit is the row that catches returning travellers. Policies commonly reduce or suspend theft cover once the house has been empty for a set run of days, often 30, sometimes 45 or 60, and a six-week trip sails straight past it. One phone call before you go fixes it, and it is the cheapest insurance admin there is.

Lateness, by contrast, is a weaker card than it looks. An insurer leaning on it generally has to show the delay cost it something: the chance to see the damage before it was cleared up, or to chase whoever caused it. A theft reported to the police and notified a day or two later does not collapse on principle. Worth reading how a home insurance claim is handled while nothing has happened.

What decides the size of the cheque

Two lines in the schedule do most of the work, and neither is the premium. The first is whether contents are settled new for old or on an indemnity basis, where wear and tear is deducted and the reduction can reach half. The second is the excess, which on a modest escape of water swallows most of what is left.

What the same claim pays, two ways

New for old

£

Indemnity basis

£

Same loss, same premium bracket, two different schedules. The excess comes off either way.

Selectra

That gap is the real difference between two policies priced within a few pounds of each other, and it tends to be discovered on the worst day rather than the day of purchase. Check it while you compare home insurance cover, not after a break-in.

  • Find the settlement basis for contents: new for old or indemnity, usually one line in the schedule.
  • Add up the excesses together: a compulsory excess and a voluntary one stack on the same claim.
  • Look up the unoccupancy limit under the theft section before your next long trip, and tell the insurer if you will exceed it.

If the answer is no

The insurer will usually send a loss adjuster, who works for them. You are not obliged to accept the findings: you can challenge the report, and appoint a loss assessor of your own, at your cost unless the policy includes the fee.

The route after that is fixed, and free. Complain to the insurer first: it has eight weeks to give you a final response, and you then have six months from that response to take the case to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Six months passes quickly, so diarise the date the letter arrives. Mitigation costs, alternative accommodation and home emergency cover all belong in the same complaint.