After a burglary, a fire or a flood, some of the evidence disappears with the goods: receipts thrown away, packaging lost, items destroyed. An inventory prepared in advance, dated and verifiable, documents the existence and condition of your belongings while they are still there. Sealway binds your photographs and supporting documents to a qualified electronic timestamp.
Built for
Several items were bought long ago. Some invoices are no longer available. Some boxes were thrown away. How do you show that these items really were in the home before the theft?
After a fire, the question is the same, only worse: some belongings are completely destroyed, and their existence, model or condition become hard to reconstruct. The insurer, for its part, asks for an estimated statement of the belongings destroyed or damaged, with supporting documents. Among the pieces of a theft file, Service-Public.fr lists invoices or warranty slips and, “possibly, earlier photographs of the belongings present in your home”.
That is where an inventory prepared in advance becomes useful. Not an exhaustive table of everything you own: a series of photographs and documents, room by room, for the belongings that matter, created while they are still there and kept somewhere other than the home.
Three landmarks are enough: property insurance compensates a value, the policyholder proves their belongings by any means, and the loss adjuster checks.
Property insurance is a contract of indemnity: the indemnity owed by the insurer cannot exceed the value of the insured item at the time of the loss. The policy then sets the terms: replacement value less wear and tear, or new-for-old cover for some items, as Service-Public.fr explains. Documenting an item does not set its value; it makes it possible to establish that it existed, in that condition, on a given date.
France Assureurs, the French insurers’ federation, says it for the theft cover: the insured sum is not proof of the existence and value of the stolen goods; they must be proven by any means: “purchase or repair invoices, warranty slips, certificates of warranty and authenticity, photographs, a notarial inventory for inherited items” (France Assureurs, our translation). Service-Public.fr likewise lists invoices, warranty slips and earlier photographs of the belongings present in the home.
When the insurer appoints an expert, they record the facts, look for the causes and assess the damage. Their report notes, among other things, the links between the loss and the damage found, for instance an item already damaged before the loss, and the policyholder hands them every useful supporting document: invoices, warranty slips, quotes, photographs of the items. A dated inventory is one of those documents.
Cour de cassation · 1st civil chamber · 9 December 1986
Quashed · published in the Bulletin
Policyholders suffer a theft of furniture, including a pair of armchairs believed to date from the Louis XIV period. The insurer pays them 35,000 francs. The armchairs are found at a fence’s: an expert establishes that they are not authentic and are worth only 3,000 francs. The Cour de cassation holds that the indemnity could not exceed their real value at the time of the loss, and that the insurer may claim back the overpayment.
In property insurance, the indemnity owed by the insurer to the insured cannot exceed the amount of the value of the insured item at the time of the loss.
What Sealway takes from it
A photograph shows an armchair. It says neither whether it is a period piece nor what it is worth: authenticity and value are matters for certificates and expert assessment.
Room by room, from the general to the detail, with the supporting documents within reach. One evening covers the essentials; the rest is added as you buy.
It places the belongings and shows the whole. Add a short video if the room is large.
Close-up, brand and model visible, apparent condition. For a piece of jewellery, a photograph says neither the value nor the quality: note its particulars and keep the certificate or the appraisal.
Maker’s plate, label, reference: that is what identifies one unit among thousands of identical ones.
Invoice, receipt, certificate, warranty slip, appraisal: as PDFs or photographed, in the same proof as the item.
Up to 10 files and 250 MB per proof: “Living room”, “Office”, “Jewellery”, “Camera gear”. The title and description appear on the certificate; an “Inventory” collection gathers them all.
The evidence file has to survive the loss: download it and keep a copy elsewhere, or let Sealway keep the originals with a storage subscription.
Each file keeps its own fingerprint; the whole is sealed by a single timestamp. The certificate lists the files by name and states, for each, whether it was captured from the app or imported: name them meaningfully.
Not everything needs documenting. What matters is what would be hard to reconstruct or to prove afterwards.
Television, computer, smartphone, tablet, console, camera and lenses, audio equipment: brand, model, serial number, accessories, invoice.
Sofa, table, designer furniture, washing machine, fridge: overall view and details, condition, rating plate, invoice or receipt.
A photograph establishes neither the value nor the quality of a piece of jewellery, as France Assureurs points out. Note the provenance, weight and stones, keep certificates, invoices and appraisals; a specialist can help. Policies often set ceilings and specific conditions.
Guitar, piano, synthesiser, studio equipment: serial number, condition, case, invoice, certificate for a vintage instrument.
Records, cards, collectibles, artworks: overall views then the most important pieces in detail, certificates of authenticity, notarial inventory for inherited items.
For the self-employed and trades practised from home: computer equipment, tools, stock. Check what your policy covers on that count.
No set frequency: changes are what trigger a new proof.
Photograph, serial number and invoice in a new proof, on the day if possible.
New rooms, new locations: redo the general views.
Kitchen, bathroom, fittings: document what changed and keep the invoices.
Jewellery, instrument, artwork: with its certificate or appraisal.
A proof carries its date; older ones remain valid for what they show. An overall update every few years is often enough.
An “Office” proof: general photograph, MacBook, monitor, camera, two lenses, NAS, photographs of the serial numbers, invoice for the main equipment.
New lens bought: photograph, serial number and invoice in a new proof.
The equipment is gone. Claim notified to the insurer within two working days, police report filed, file: receipt of the complaint, invoices, photographs of the break-in, and the two inventory proofs.
The proof does not determine the compensation: the policy, its ceilings for sensitive items, wear and tear and the assessment of the insurer or the loss adjuster do. It can however help document that these belongings, identified by their serial numbers, were present in the home on a date before the loss, and in what condition.
Without an inventory, the same claim rests on the invoices that can be found, and on memory.
A good file rests on several complementary elements. None replaces the others.
| Element | What it brings | What it does not bring |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice | The purchase, the price, the reference, the date. | The item’s current condition, nor its presence in your home on the day of the loss. |
| Photograph or video | The appearance, condition, location, visual existence. | The value, authenticity, ownership; its date rests on metadata. |
| Serial number | The precise identification of one unit. | Nothing about condition or value. |
| Certificate, appraisal | The value, the authenticity, a specialist analysis. | The item’s presence on a given date. |
| Sealway proof | The date and integrity of the photographs and documents, verifiable by a third party. | Ownership, value, authenticity, compensation. |
Sealway replaces none of these elements. It makes the ones you keep, photographs and documents, datable and verifiable years later, for €1.99 per proof.
The insurer and, where appointed, the loss adjuster assess the supporting documents. A Sealway proof is one of them: the one that establishes the date and integrity of the files.
An inventory is worth what its date is worth: it must predate the loss, and remain so before an insurer who wonders. When the proof is created, the fingerprint of each file is bound to a qualified electronic timestamp issued by a qualified trust service provider.
What policyholders ask before building their inventory.
Texts, official and institutional documents and the decision cited on this page (in French).
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.
Suffered water damage, a fire or a burglary? Document the damage too, before cleaning or repairing. And for a rented home, the état des lieux is documented the same way.
One proof per room: photographs, serial numbers, supporting documents, SHA-512 fingerprint, qualified electronic timestamp under eIDAS, evidence file verifiable by a third party. Join the waitlist to be notified at launch.
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