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Insurance claim

Insurance claim: the scene changes fast, document the damage first.

After water damage, you often have to act quickly: turn off the water, move furniture, mop up, ventilate, call in a professional. A few hours later, the state of the rooms has already changed. Sealway lets you keep a precise, dated record of what was visible right after the loss, before clean-up, moving or repair.

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Built for

  • Policyholders
  • Tenants
  • Homeowners
  • Co-owners and managing agents
  • Self-employed people and shopkeepers
  • Property managers

A few hours later, the scene has already changed.

The question becomes: how do you keep a precise record of what was visible right after the loss?

Service-Public.fr describes the emergency of water damage: find the origin, turn off the water and, if necessary, the electricity, have the leak repaired, an emergency measure that does not prevent compensation. It adds a rule that changes everything afterwards: do not start the restoration work, paint, floors, ceilings, furniture, without the insurer’s agreement, because the insurer or the loss adjuster must be able to see the damage before any definitive repair.

In between, the clean-up, the drying, the moving of furniture and the plumber’s visit change the scene. What was not documented before will never be seen again. The same problem arises after a fire, a storm, a flood, a burglary with damage or an act of vandalism.

Never take photographs if doing so puts you in danger.

The instructions of the emergency services, the authorities and the professionals come before any documentation. Never delay making things safe in order to create a proof: the proof comes afterwards, with whatever remains visible.

  • fire or smoke: do not enter before the emergency services allow it;
  • water in contact with the electrical installation: cut the power first;
  • weakened building, waterlogged ceiling, unstable structure: keep your distance;
  • smell of gas: no flame, no switch, get out and call;
  • contaminated water, extensive mould: protect yourself or wait;
  • burglary in progress or suspect present: call the police, do not go in.

What French law (Code des assurances) and French insurers provide.

The claim notice, the preservation of damaged goods and the expert’s assessment follow precise rules. The documentation fits into them; it does not replace them. Other countries have their own deadlines; the method stays the same.

Code des assurances, art. L. 113-2

Notify the claim within the policy’s deadline

Under French law, the insured must notify the insurer, as soon as they become aware of it and at the latest within the deadline set by the policy, of any loss likely to trigger the cover. That deadline cannot be shorter than five working days; it is reduced to two working days in case of theft. For a natural disaster recognised by interministerial order (arrêté), the claim is notified at the latest thirty days after that order is published, as Service-Public.fr explains. Contact your insurer promptly and check the deadlines in your policy.

Service-Public.fr

Keep, do not repair before the inspection

It matters to keep every item damaged in the loss, even deteriorated or burnt, and to gather everything that can identify the destroyed belongings: invoices, photographs, warranty slips. Restoration quotes may be obtained before the loss adjuster’s visit, but restoration work must not start before the insurer or the adjuster has seen the damage, except for emergency measures: repairing the leak, tarpaulining a roof, securing the home.

Service-Public.fr, the expert’s assessment

The loss adjuster records, looks for the causes and assesses

An expert assessment is not systematic: the insurer orders one when the amount is significant or agreement is difficult, generally above €1,600 for water damage. The adjuster records the facts, looks for the causes and assesses the damage; for a minor loss, the assessment can be done remotely, from photographs and documents. The policyholder hands over every useful supporting document: invoices, warranty slips, quotes, photographs.

What to photograph, when the situation allows it.

When the situation allows it, document the damage before it is altered by the clean-up or repair operations. From the general to the detail, without moving what does not need to be moved.

The list

  • a general view of each room concerned, from the door;
  • the apparent origin: pipe, ceiling, roof, window, appliance, without concluding on the cause;
  • the damage to walls, ceilings, floors, furniture, appliances and equipment;
  • the contents of cupboards, the packaging, the items affected;
  • the close-ups: water marks, cracks, burns, breaks, dents, visible mould;
  • the serial numbers of the damaged equipment;
  • standing water, its level, its spread;
  • the emergency measures taken: leak repaired, tarpaulin, lock replaced.
  1. 1

    Safety first

    Turn off the water, the electricity if necessary, follow the emergency services’ instructions. Nothing below comes before that.

  2. 2

    Photograph before altering anything

    General view, intermediate view, close-ups. From the app, each photograph is captured directly into the evidence process.

  3. 3

    A video for the whole

    A filmed walk through the room shows the extent and spread of the water or the fire. It complements the detailed photographs, it does not replace them. Filmed from the app or imported, it has no duration limit, within 250 MB per proof.

  4. 4

    Create the proof right away

    Up to 10 files and 250 MB per proof, one per room if needed, in a collection named after the loss. The certificate states for each file that it was captured live.

  5. 5

    Add the documents afterwards

    Joint report, claim notice, quotes, invoices for the emergency measures, intervention report: as PDFs or photographed, in a new proof. None is needed to create the first one.

  6. 6

    Document each later stage

    After drying, after the adjuster’s visit, after repair: a new proof at each state, for a complete chronology.

A proof establishes what was visible on that date. It does not say where the water came from nor who answers for it: that is the role of the leak search, the loss adjuster and the policy.

Three losses, three precautions.

Water damage

Turn off the water and, if necessary, the electricity; have the leak repaired; photograph before mopping up, moving things and, if clearing out cannot wait, throwing anything away; keep the items affected and the invoices for the emergency measures; do not start the restoration before the inspection. The joint water-damage report (constat amiable), though not compulsory, speeds up the file.

Fire

Safety comes absolutely first: access may be forbidden, wait for the emergency services’ authorisation. Once access is possible, document the rooms, the burnt items, the equipment and the areas affected, without handling anything that could be dangerous or unstable. Notify the claim within five working days.

Burglary

If the police have to make findings, do not needlessly alter the premises before their visit and follow their instructions. Then: forced door, window, ransacked furniture, damaged items, rooms affected. File a police report, notify the claim within two working days. Sealway completes the file; it does not replace the police report.

A complete example: water damage in a flat.

  1. 7:30

    Discovery

    The owner finds water on the floor.

  2. 7:40

    Water turned off

    Electricity cut in the room affected.

  3. 7:45

    Documentation

    4 general views, 5 close-ups, one video, then 6 photographs of the furniture affected.

  4. 8:00

    Sealway proof

    Two “Living room · water damage” proofs created from the app: the views and the video, then the furniture.

  5. 9:00

    Plumber

    Visit, leak repaired, invoice kept. Claim notified to the insurer the same day.

The aim is not to prove the cause of the loss: it is to document the chronology, with dates that do not depend on you.

Later, the insurer receives the claim notice, the joint report, the invoices, the quotes, the photographs and the Sealway evidence file. The proof does not set the compensation: the policy, the excess, wear and tear and the expert assessment do. It preserves a record of the state documented before any intervention, whose date and integrity can be verified without Sealway.

The file is stronger still when an inventory had been built before the loss: the earlier condition of the furniture affected is then documented too.

What each piece of the file brings.

A good file rests on several complementary elements. None replaces the others.

Role of each piece in a claim file
Element What it brings What it does not bring
Claim notice The insurer’s information, within the policy’s deadline. Proof of the damage itself.
Joint water-damage report The circumstances and the parties, to speed up the file. The exact extent of the damage; it is not compulsory.
Photographs and videos The appearance and extent of the damage, the visual existence of the belongings affected. The cause of the loss; their date rests on metadata.
Invoices and quotes The cost of the emergency measures and of the restoration, the value of the belongings. The state before any intervention.
Expert’s report The findings, the causes, the assessment, the compensation proposal. What disappeared before the adjuster’s visit.
Sealway proof The date and integrity of the photographs and documents, verifiable by a third party. The cause, liability, value, compensation.

Sealway replaces none of these pieces. It makes the ones you produce, photographs and documents, datable and verifiable, for €1.99 per proof.

What Sealway proves, and what it does not.

Sealway makes it possible to establish

  • that a file, photograph, video or document, existed on the date of the timestamp;
  • that this file has not been modified since the proof was created;
  • that these images, which show the damage, existed as they are on that date, what they depict remaining a matter of assessment;
  • a chronology between several states: before clean-up, after drying, after repair.

Sealway does not, on its own, establish

  • the cause of the loss nor liability;
  • the value of the belongings nor the amount of the compensation;
  • that the policy covers the loss;
  • the absence of fraud;
  • the real shooting date of an older, imported photograph.

The insurer, the loss adjuster and, where it comes to that, the court assess the pieces. A Sealway proof is one of them: the one that establishes the date and integrity of the files.

What a qualified timestamp changes for your claim photographs.

A photograph showing a damaged piece of furniture is bound to a fingerprint and to a qualified timestamp. Months later, it becomes possible to verify that the file presented matches the one that existed when the proof was created, and that the proof predates the clean-up, the intervention and the expert assessment.

  • SHA-512 fingerprint of each file: the proof bears on this exact version; modifying the file changes the fingerprint, and the fingerprint cannot be turned back into the file.
  • Qualified electronic timestamp: presumption of accuracy of the date and time and of integrity of the data (eIDAS Regulation, art. 41(2)). The date comes neither from the device nor from Sealway.
  • Evidence file verifiable without Sealway: certificate, manifest, timestamp token and fingerprints, with the references of the anchoring on public blockchains.
The mechanism in detail: create evidence from your files

Frequently asked questions

What policyholders ask in the hours that follow a loss.

Should photographs be taken before cleaning up?
When the situation allows it, yes: Service-Public.fr and France Assureurs list photographs among the supporting material to gather, and the insurer or the loss adjuster must be able to see the damage before any definitive repair. Photographing before cleaning up does not delay the emergency measures; it fixes what they are about to change.
Does a photograph prove the cause of the damage?
No. A photograph shows an apparent origin: a pipe, a stain, a forced window. The cause is a matter for the leak search, the loss adjuster and, in a dispute, the court. Sealway dates the photograph; it does not qualify what it shows.
Can Sealway prove the value of a damaged item?
No. The value comes from the invoice, the certificate, the appraisal or the expert assessment, and the compensation from the policy. Sealway establishes that a file showing the item existed, in this form, on a given date.
What is the difference between a photograph’s EXIF date and a qualified timestamp?
The EXIF date is information contained in the file: it depends on the device and its settings, and software can change it. A qualified electronic timestamp is issued by a qualified third party and enjoys, under article 41 of the eIDAS Regulation, a presumption of the accuracy of the date and time and of the integrity of the data. Sealway keeps the metadata and adds that timestamp.

References

Texts, official and institutional documents cited on this page (in French).

  • Code des assurances, art. L. 113-2 (obligations of the insured, claim notice) Légifrance →
  • Code des assurances, art. L. 125-1 to L. 125-6 (natural disasters) Légifrance →
  • Service-Public.fr, “Assurance dégâts des eaux” service-public.gouv.fr →
  • Service-Public.fr, “Assurance habitation : risque incendie ou explosion” service-public.gouv.fr →
  • Service-Public.fr, “Assurance habitation et vol : conditions de prise en charge” service-public.gouv.fr →
  • Service-Public.fr, “Assurance habitation : comment se déroule l’expertise ?” service-public.gouv.fr →
  • Service-Public.fr, “Catastrophe naturelle ou technologique : indemnisation par l’assurance” service-public.gouv.fr →
  • France Assureurs, “Inondations : l’indemnisation des dommages en cas de catastrophe naturelle” franceassureurs.fr →
  • France Assureurs, “Orages et pluies violentes : les démarches en cas de dommages à votre habitation” franceassureurs.fr →
  • Code civil, art. 1358 to 1362 (admissibility of the modes of proof) Légifrance →
  • Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of 23 July 2014 (eIDAS), art. 41 EUR-Lex →
  • Conseil d’État, 5th chamber, 10 March 2025, no. 472387 (photograph metadata) ArianeWeb →

Sealway provides neither legal nor insurance advice. These references are given for information; the cover, the deadlines and the supporting documents expected depend on your policy, and the weight of the material produced is for the insurer, the loss adjuster and, where it comes to that, the court to assess. The French official sources are in French.

For next time: the inventory.

For future risks, build a dated inventory of your belongings in advance. And if you are a tenant, the état des lieux is documented the same way.

Home inventory for insurance

Photograph your belongings, their serial numbers and receipts while they are there: a dated, verifiable inventory for your insurer.

Learn more →

Property condition report

Complete the move-in and move-out état des lieux with photographs whose date and integrity can be verified.

Learn more →

The whole insurance section →

Document the damage before the clean-up.

One proof before the clean-up, another after each stage: SHA-512 fingerprint, qualified electronic timestamp under eIDAS, evidence file verifiable by a third party. Join the waitlist to be notified at launch.

By signing up, you agree to be contacted by Sealway about the launch. No sharing with third parties.