A renters inventory, in twenty minutes

The twenty-minute version

Walk through the apartment filming on a phone, narrating what things are as you go. Open wardrobes, cupboards and drawers — closed doors are why people underestimate what they own.

Then photograph anything worth real money individually, and the serial numbers on electronics.

That is enough. The perfect inventory that never gets made is worth considerably less than the rough one that does.

Room by room

If you want it thorough, work in a fixed order. In a rented apartment the forgotten categories are consistent.

• Kitchen — small appliances, cookware, and anything you brought with you rather than inherited from the landlord
• Living area — screens, audio, consoles, furniture you own rather than furniture that came with the place
• Bedroom — clothing, which is almost always underestimated, plus jewellery, watches and personal electronics
• Bathroom and storage — the contents of cupboards, which nobody counts
• Bike storage, balcony and any shared storage area
• Anything used for work, which may be capped separately as business property

Furnished lets, and who owns what

In a furnished let a substantial part of what is in the apartment is not yours, and insuring it is not your job. The inventory is a good moment to establish the line.

The landlord's inventory, taken at the start of the tenancy, is the usual record of what came with the property. Yours is the record of what did not.

Damage to the landlord's contents is generally a liability or deposit question rather than a contents claim, which is another reason the two lists are worth keeping distinct.

Store it somewhere else

Outside the apartment. A record kept only on a laptop that was stolen with everything else is not a record.

A cloud account, an email to yourself, or a copy with a relative all work. The only requirement is that it survives the event it exists for.

Update it when something significant arrives. Renters accumulate steadily and adjust the limit almost never.

Then compare it to the limit

The inventory has done half its job when it exists. The other half is holding the total against the contents limit on the declarations page.

If the total is higher, raise the limit — on a policy this inexpensive it usually costs very little. If anything on the list exceeds a category cap, that item is a candidate for scheduling.

That is the whole point: a limit chosen from what you own rather than a default attached to a cheap quote.