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Home Insurance

The building and what is in it: fire, burglary, storm and flood, and the contents down to the jewellery in the cupboard.

Also calledBharat Griha Raksha · Householder's Package Policy · HHP

File/Claims library/Home and travel/Fire and explosion

First thing, todayPhotograph the damage before anything is cleared, and tell the police the same day if anything has been taken.

Three deadlines
  • Tell the insurer now, not after the assessment.
  • The fire brigade and the police told today. Their records are asked for months later and can only be made now.
  • Every document within the time the insurer asks for it.
A godown on fire
A godown on fire. An illustration.

When you would claim

  • Fire, short circuit or explosion in the house
  • Burglary, and theft of jewellery or valuables
  • Storm, flood or inundation damage to the structure or contents
  • Damage to portable electronics, where the cover extends to them
  • Rent for alternative accommodation while the house is repaired

What insurers most often rely on

  • Sum insured on the building set at market value rather than the cost of rebuilding it
  • Contents claimed without any invoice or valuation behind them
  • Jewellery above the limit the policy sets for it without a declaration
  • The house unoccupied for longer than the wording allows
  • Wear, tear and gradual dampness rather than a sudden event

A ground is not a verdict. Most of these turn on what was reported, to whom, and how quickly.

The documents

the policy's papers, and the event's

10 items, in two halves: the papers your policy generates and the papers the event generates. A claim needs both and people keep only the first.

  • Claim form, policy schedule and the full wording
  • FIR, on any claim involving theft
  • Photographs of the damage, before clearing
  • Purchase invoices or valuation for the items claimed
  • Repair estimate for the structure and for the contents
  • The jewellery valuation, where jewellery is claimed
  • Municipal or society record of the incident, where there is one
  • Cancelled cheque and bank details in the insured's name, for the NEFT payment
  • Details of any other insurance covering the same property
  • A claim bill: the amount claimed, itemised, with the working behind it
What you reportedSend a one-page timeline: the event, whom you reported it to, what they gave you in return, and the date each document went to the insurer. On these covers late reporting is the commonest deduction.

Next

Fire Claim: The First 72 Hours, and what it shares with this

Read the fire playbook alongside this one. The first night is the same wherever it burned: nothing cleared, nothing scrapped, everything photographed before anybody tidies up for the surveyor.

Call 92514 56334

Check the sum insured

This cover carries an average clause. Declare less than the value at risk and every claim pays that proportion short, a partial loss exactly as much as a total one. Three numbers will tell you where you stand.

Filed under: Home and travel · Fire and explosion

Claims that sit next to this one

the same things, at home or away

Burglary and Theft

the same peril, on a business policy

Fire and Special Perils

the same perils, on a business policy

Travel Insurance

the contents that leave with you

Had a fire and not sure where the claim stands? Report a loss or call 92514 56334.