whole attic write off

nomoneymoreproblems

our whole attic is an insurance write off thanks to a recent incident in our home. 

we have been asked to provide a list of the contents of our attic so that they can pay out. 

where do I begin? I do not have receipts for everything in the attic and I cannot remember everything we have. 

MattMattMattUK

nomoneymoreproblems said:

our whole attic is an insurance write off thanks to a recent incident in our home. 

we have been asked to provide a list of the contents of our attic so that they can pay out. 

where do I begin? I do not have receipts for everything in the attic and I cannot remember everything we have. 

What kind of incident, will you be clearing it yourself or is a clearance/building firm? If you are clearing it yourself then you can list as you go.

You will likely not need receipts unless you are trying to claim for expensive items, as most people normally store old, often near worthless items in their loft is there going to be much value in the items?

user1977

If you can't remember something then presumably you won't miss it? The insurers don't really want a list of junk which you aren't planning to replace.

DullGreyGuy

nomoneymoreproblems said:

our whole attic is an insurance write off thanks to a recent incident in our home. 

we have been asked to provide a list of the contents of our attic so that they can pay out. 

where do I begin? I do not have receipts for everything in the attic and I cannot remember everything we have. 

What was the incident? Are things water or fire damaged? Is the loft safe to enter to inspect the content/salvage?

Brie

When I had to make an insurance claim and list lost (stolen in my case) items I basically closed my eyes and walked around to visualise what had been there.  Surprising how effective this was for me.  Might work if you think "ok last time I went into the loft to get the Christmas decorations when I looked to the left I saw....." 

As others have said most stuff is junk put in a loft rather than actually dumping it.  But some stuff might be needed again - like your artificial Christmas tree and decorations - and if the insurance is to replace new for old you need to list those things.  

nomoneymoreproblems

MattMattMattUK said:

nomoneymoreproblems said:

our whole attic is an insurance write off thanks to a recent incident in our home. 

we have been asked to provide a list of the contents of our attic so that they can pay out. 

where do I begin? I do not have receipts for everything in the attic and I cannot remember everything we have. 

What kind of incident, will you be clearing it yourself or is a clearance/building firm? If you are clearing it yourself then you can list as you go.

You will likely not need receipts unless you are trying to claim for expensive items, as most people normally store old, often near worthless items in their loft is there going to be much value in the items?

we are not clearing it ourselves and we are not supposed to enter the attic as the roof is unstable. 

we rotate summer and winter items (clothing, homeware) each season so there was a lot in the attic that we do need. 

BarelySentientAI

nomoneymoreproblems said:

MattMattMattUK said:

nomoneymoreproblems said:

our whole attic is an insurance write off thanks to a recent incident in our home. 

we have been asked to provide a list of the contents of our attic so that they can pay out. 

where do I begin? I do not have receipts for everything in the attic and I cannot remember everything we have. 

What kind of incident, will you be clearing it yourself or is a clearance/building firm? If you are clearing it yourself then you can list as you go.

You will likely not need receipts unless you are trying to claim for expensive items, as most people normally store old, often near worthless items in their loft is there going to be much value in the items?

we are not clearing it ourselves and we are not supposed to enter the attic as the roof is unstable. 

we rotate summer and winter items (clothing, homeware) each season so there was a lot in the attic that we do need. 

If there's a specialist doing it (Rainbow, Polygon and Belfor are commonly instructed), they should provide a list to your insurer which items can be cleaned/repaired and which are BER (beyond economic repair) and need to be replaced.  Obviously, if something has been completely destroyed like it might be in a fire then you'll have to fill in gaps.

If it's someone else, like a general buildings contractor, you'll probably have to make it as you go along when they pull things out.

noitsnotme

What actually happened?  If the roof is unstable should you even be in the house?  A collapsed roof could come through the ceiling in to the first floor rooms.

nomoneymoreproblems

noitsnotme said:

What actually happened?  If the roof is unstable should you even be in the house?  A collapsed roof could come through the ceiling in to the first floor rooms.

We aren't living in the house, we're safe