Home Inventory List
What you own, where it is and what it is worth — for an insurance claim.
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| Prepared by | [your name] |
| Address | [address] |
| Covers | Whole property |
| Prepared for | insurance |
| Date | October 14, 2026 |
| Room | Item | Year | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| [add one item per line] |
What is a Home Inventory List?
A home inventory list is a room-by-room record of what you own, with descriptions, values and proof. Its job is to be there after the fire, the flood or the burglary, when the insurer asks what was in the house and you are trying to remember from a hotel room. Without one, claims are settled on what you can prove, not on what you lost, and most people can prove far less than they think.
Households make one when they take out or renew contents insurance, when they move, and after any event that makes the risk feel real. Landlords use a version of it for furnished lets so a deposit deduction can be argued from a record rather than from memory. Executors use one when valuing an estate. Anyone with a specific high-value item — a ring, a bike, a camera, an instrument — needs the detail here to arrange separate cover, since standard policies usually cap the amount paid for a single article.
How claims are settled varies. Some policies pay replacement cost as new, others pay actual cash value after deducting wear, and single-article limits, valuables sub-limits and away-from-home cover differ between insurers and between countries. In the UK and Australia the wording is a matter of the policy schedule; in the US the split between replacement cost and actual cash value coverage is central; in India and the EU, sums insured and underinsurance clauses matter. Read your own policy wording and check whether it requires professional valuations above a stated figure.
The list is evidence, not cover. Writing an item down does not insure it, does not raise your sum insured and does not override a policy exclusion — bicycles, cash, business equipment at home and items taken outside are frequently limited or excluded whatever your inventory says. It is also not a valuation: your estimate of what a painting is worth carries no weight against an insurer's assessor. For anything substantial, get a written valuation and keep it with the list.
What to put in a Home Inventory List
These are the details this template asks for. Anything left blank is marked in red on the preview so you can see what is still missing.
| Field | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Issued to (full name) | For example: James Whitfield |
| Home address | For example: 588 Kinnear Road |
| Rooms covered optional | For example: Whole house |
| Prepared for optional | For example: home contents insurance |
| Items | One per line: Room | Item | Year bought | Value |
| Currency | Free text |
How to write a Home Inventory List
Work room by room, not by category
Start at the front door and move through the house in a fixed order, finishing with the loft, garage, shed and anything in storage. Rooms give you a checklist your memory can follow later; categories do not. Within each room, work along the walls and then the drawers and cupboards, because the contents of drawers are what people forget and what adds up fastest.
Photograph or film before you write
Do a walk-through video with the camera slow enough to read labels, opening wardrobes and drawers as you go, then take close photographs of anything valuable, including serial numbers and hallmarks. The footage is your backstop when the written list turns out to be incomplete. Say the room name aloud as you enter it so the recording indexes itself.
Capture the identifying detail per item
For each item worth listing: what it is, make and model, serial number, where it was bought, roughly when, and what you paid. A 55-inch television with model and serial recorded, bought from a named retailer in 2023 for £649, is a claimable line. A television, lounge, about £600, is an argument you will lose.
Attach the proof to the record
Receipts, order confirmation emails, warranty cards, valuations, hallmarking certificates and photographs of the item in place. Scan or photograph paper receipts, because thermal till receipts fade to blank within a couple of years. Name each file with the item so the pairing survives, and note on the list which items have proof and which do not.
Store a copy away from the house
An inventory that burns with the house is worth nothing. Keep the master where you can reach it from a phone — cloud storage, an email to yourself, or a copy with a relative — and print one for the file if you prefer paper. Review it annually and after any large purchase, and note the date of the last review at the top.
Common mistakes
- Listing only the big obvious items misses the accumulated value of clothing, kitchenware, tools, books and toys, which is where most contents claims are actually won or lost.
- Recording an estimated value with no receipt, photograph or serial number leaves the assessor free to settle at their own figure rather than yours.
- Storing the only copy on a laptop that is itself in the house means the burglary that triggers the claim also removes the evidence for it.
- Never updating the list after a major purchase leaves the newest and most expensive items — usually the ones stolen first — entirely undocumented.
- Assuming a single high-value item is covered because it appears on the list ignores single-article limits, and the shortfall is only discovered at claim time.
Frequently asked questions
How detailed does a home inventory need to be?
Detailed enough that a stranger could identify the item and price it. Serial numbers for electronics, make and model for appliances, materials and carat for jewellery, purchase date and price where you have them. For low-value bulk — books, crockery, clothing — count and estimate by group rather than item by item: forty paperbacks, one shelf of everyday crockery, and photograph the group.
Does my insurer need a copy of my inventory?
Usually not in advance. Most insurers ask for it at claim time rather than at renewal, though some require valuations for individual items above a stated limit before cover applies. Check your policy wording for that figure. Lodging a copy with your broker does no harm and means the document exists somewhere outside your house if everything else is lost.
How do I value second-hand items?
Say clearly what basis you have used. Note the original purchase price and date and, separately, what an equivalent would cost to replace today. Which of those the insurer pays depends on whether your policy settles on a new-for-old or a deducted-for-wear basis. Do not blend the two into a single guess, because the assessor will ask which one your figure represents.
What should I do about jewellery and collectibles?
Photograph them individually against a plain background with a ruler for scale, record hallmarks, certificates and any provenance, and get a written valuation from a recognised valuer if the item is significant. Then check the single-article limit on your policy. Items above it usually need to be specified and separately rated, and that is a conversation with your insurer, not something the list settles.
How often should I update it?
Once a year is a sensible rhythm, alongside the insurance renewal, plus an entry whenever you buy something substantial. A move is the natural moment to rebuild it from scratch, because everything is out of its cupboard and in your hands. Note the review date on the document, so anyone reading it later knows how current the values are.
This page explains general practice and is not legal advice. Requirements differ between countries and, in some cases, between states — check what applies where the document will be used.