The loss adjuster's visit: what to expect and how to prepare

If your insurer has appointed a loss adjuster, your claim is big enough or complicated enough to be worth investigating properly. The visit is where much of your claim is decided: what gets recorded about the cause, the damage and your policy compliance will shape the offer that follows. An hour of preparation repays itself many times over.

Why the insurer has sent a loss adjuster

Insurers appoint loss adjusters on claims that pass their internal thresholds for value or complexity. There's no published market-wide figure, but adjusters are routine on floods, fires, serious escapes of water and large theft claims. Appointment and first visit typically happen within 7 to 14 days of the claim being logged.

The adjuster's job is to establish what happened, whether your policy covers it, and what it should cost to put right. They are appointed and paid by the insurer, so if you're not clear on what that means for whose side they're on, read Loss adjuster vs loss assessor first.

What the loss adjuster will look at and ask

At the property, expect them to:

• Inspect the damage room by room, photographing and measuring, and trace the cause: where the water came from, where the fire started, how entry was forced.
• Test your account against the physical evidence. Staining, corrosion and rot patterns tell them how long water has been escaping; that matters because sudden escapes are covered and gradual seepage usually is not.
• Check policy conditions. Was the property occupied? Are the locks the type your schedule specifies? Was the boiler serviced? Conditions like these can sink an otherwise valid claim.
• Assess your figures. They may bring their own scope of works or apply the insurer's contractor rates to what you're claiming.

The questions to expect

• What happened, exactly when, and how did you discover it?
• When were you last in the affected room or at the property?
• How old is the roof / pipework / appliance / carpet? When was it last maintained or serviced?
• Do you have receipts, photographs, or anything showing the items or the property before the loss?
• Who lives at the property, and was anyone away when it happened?

None of these are trick questions, but the answers get written down and relied on later. If a date or detail matters, check it before you answer rather than guessing on the spot. It is entirely reasonable to say "I'll confirm that by email": a considered answer the next day beats an inaccurate one in the moment, and it puts the detail on record in your words rather than the adjuster's summary of them.

What to have ready before the visit

Assemble a claim pack, physical or on your phone:

1. Your policy schedule and wording, with anything you don't understand flagged.
2. Photos and video of the damage, taken as soon as possible after the event and before any clean-up, plus any "before" photos of the rooms or items.
3. A written timeline: when the event happened, when you found it, who you called, what emergency work was done. Dates and times, not vague recollections.
4. Receipts, invoices, bank statements or manuals for damaged items: proof of ownership and value.
5. Your own repair quotes, itemised line by line where possible. They anchor the negotiation later if the insurer's figures come in low (see Insurance settlement offer too low?).
6. Correspondence with the insurer so far, including your claim reference.

Knowing your own policy is the single highest-value piece of preparation: the adjuster will be checking your claim against exclusions and conditions you may never have read. Upload your policy to Roci and it will map out what's covered, what's excluded and which conditions could affect your claim, so nothing in the adjuster's questions catches you cold.

Watch your language about the cause

The most expensive mistakes in adjuster meetings are casual guesses about causation. Home policies typically cover sudden, one-off events and exclude gradual damage, wear and tear, and lack of maintenance. The words you use land directly on that line.

If your claim is later declined on gradual-damage or wear-and-tear grounds, that fight is winnable with the right evidence, and our guide to "wear and tear" rejections covers how.

Should you start repairs before the visit?

You have a duty to mitigate, to stop the damage getting worse, and insurers expect emergency work: stopping the leak, making the electrics safe, boarding a broken door. Do it, and keep the invoices; reasonable emergency costs are normally claimable.

Permanent repairs are different. Re-plastering, replacing the floor or redecorating before inspection destroys the evidence the adjuster needs to validate your claim, and can genuinely prejudice it. Before any work beyond making things safe:

• Photograph and video everything, close-up and wide.
• Keep damaged items and removed materials (the burst pipe section, the sodden carpet) until the adjuster has seen them or told you in writing they're not needed.
• Get the insurer's agreement in writing before commissioning permanent work.

One visit is not always the end of it

On larger claims, the first adjuster visit often triggers further specialists rather than a decision. Escape-of-water claims commonly bring a leak detection company, then a drying contractor whose dehumidifiers may run for weeks with moisture readings logged at each visit. Subsidence brings a structural engineer and sometimes months of crack monitoring. Fire claims may involve a forensic investigator where cause is unclear.

Three things to hold on to through that process:

• Every specialist's report is part of your claim file, and the parts about your property are your personal data, reachable by the same subject access request as the adjuster's report.
• Drying and monitoring time is not decision time. The insurer can and should be progressing coverage questions while the property dries. If everything stops for the dehumidifiers, chase in writing.
• Keep your own log of every visit: who came, what they inspected, what they said, what readings they took. Verbal reassurances from contractors ("oh, this will all be covered") bind nobody; only the insurer's written word counts.

What happens after the visit

The adjuster writes a report to the insurer with their findings on cause, coverage and cost, usually within a few weeks. The insurer then makes its decision (accept, decline, or offer a settlement) and may route the work to its own contractors or offer cash. If you're weighing that choice, read Cash settlement or repair before accepting anything.

If weeks pass in silence, chase in writing and keep copies. Persistent delay is itself grounds for a formal complaint, and the ombudsman upholds delay complaints at a high rate (see your rights when a claim drags on).

Can you see the loss adjuster's report?

Mostly, yes, and almost nobody uses this right. The report contains your personal data, so you can make a subject access request (SAR) to your insurer under Article 15 of UK GDPR. It costs nothing, and the insurer normally must respond within one month.

Ask in writing, say "subject access request" explicitly, and ask for the loss adjuster's report and claim file notes by name. If the claim has been declined and the report reveals the reasoning, take that straight into the complaints process, starting with Home insurance claim rejected? What to do next.

Where to go next

• Loss adjuster vs loss assessor: who's on your side?
• Insurance settlement offer too low? How to challenge it
• Insurance claim taking too long? Your rights on delays
• Home insurance claim rejected? What to do next