Home Break-In in Canada: A Step-by-Step Insurance Action Guide

Discovering your home has been broken into is disorienting. Your brain tries to do three things at once — stay safe, figure out what's missing, and worry about whether insurance will pay.

If you handle the first 24 hours correctly, a home break-in claim in Canada is usually one of the more straightforward claims to settle. The catch: most mistakes that reduce payouts happen in those same 24 hours.

• What to do in the first hour — safety, police, and evidence
• How and when to call your insurer
• How to photograph and document the scene before cleaning anything
• How to build a stolen-items list that holds up with an adjuster
• How to secure your property — and get the insurer to pay for it
• What your policy actually covers after a theft
• Special sub-limits on jewelry, cash, electronics, and bikes
• Common mistakes that quietly shrink your payout

Before anything else, your priority is your own safety. Do not assume the intruder is gone.

If you're approaching the home and notice signs of a break-in

• Do not go inside. Step back, stay outside, and move to a safe distance — your car, a neighbour's porch, or the sidewalk.
• Call 911 if you believe the intruder may still be inside, if anyone is hurt, or if you feel personally unsafe.
• If the break-in is clearly old (you've been away for days, the scene is cold), call the police non-emergency line instead. They will dispatch an officer to take a report.

If you're already inside when you discover the break-in

• Leave the house immediately. Do not stop to check rooms or grab anything.
• Call 911 from outside. Stay on the line until officers arrive.

Do not touch the scene

This is the single most important rule for both the police investigation and your insurance claim:

• Do not pick up items, even if they're on the floor.
• Do not clean broken glass, splintered wood, or anything else.
• Do not move furniture back into place.
• Do not wipe surfaces — fingerprints matter.

The police may want to dust for prints, photograph the entry point, and look for footwear impressions or other forensic evidence. Touching the scene can both hurt the investigation and weaken your claim, because the adjuster will later want to see how the intruder got in and what was disturbed.

Get the police case/incident number

This is non-negotiable. Every Canadian home and tenant insurance policy requires a police report or police incident/case number before they will process a theft claim. Before the officer leaves, ask:

• What is the case/incident/file number?
• What detachment or division is handling it?
• Who is the assigned officer and how do I reach them later?

Write all of this down, then take a photo of your handwritten note. You'll need to give the case number to your insurance adjuster within hours.

Once the police have taken your report and the scene is safe, your next call is to your home or tenant insurance provider — ideally the same day, definitely within 24 hours.

Most policies have a clause requiring you to notify the insurer "as soon as reasonably possible." Waiting days because you're busy, embarrassed, or hoping to handle it yourself is a common reason claims get reduced.

What to say when you open the claim

Keep it factual. You don't need a polished story — you need the basics:

• When you discovered the break-in (date and approximate time)
• Where the home is and whether anyone was hurt
• The police case/incident number and the attending detachment
• A rough description of how the intruder got in (broken window, forced door)
• That you have not cleaned up or moved anything yet
• An initial, rough list of what's missing — you'll formalize this later

What the claim adjuster will ask

Expect questions like:

• Was the home occupied or vacant when the break-in happened?
• Were doors and windows locked when you last left?
• Is there a monitored alarm or security camera? Was it armed?
• Do you have any reason to suspect someone you know?
• Have you noticed any prior suspicious activity in the neighbourhood?
• Do you have receipts, photos, or serial numbers for the missing items?

Answer honestly. Adjusters are not trying to trap you — but they are trained to spot inconsistencies, and a lie about a small detail (like whether the door was locked) can sink a perfectly valid claim.

Ask the adjuster these questions right back

• What is my claim number?
• Who is my assigned adjuster and what's their direct contact?
• What is my deductible for theft?
• Does my policy cover emergency board-up and a locksmith — and can I arrange them now?
• What documentation do you need from me, and by when?
• Am I covered for additional living expenses if I can't safely stay here tonight?

This is where most homeowners cost themselves money. The instinct after a break-in is to clean — sweep the glass, close the window, put things back. Don't. Your adjuster needs to see the scene more or less as the police saw it.

Photograph and video every room — even rooms that look untouched

Use your phone. Start at the front door and walk through the entire home methodically. For each room:

• One wide shot showing the whole room
• Close-ups of any disturbed area (open drawers, contents on the floor, missing items)
• Close-ups of empty spots where items used to be (the bare TV stand, the empty jewelry box, the empty bike rack)
• Slow video, narrating what's missing as you walk through ("The MacBook was on this desk, the wallet was in this drawer, the bike was on this hook")

Photograph the point of entry in detail

• The damaged window or door, from outside and inside
• Broken glass, splintered frame, pry marks, damaged locks
• Any tools, footprints, or items the intruder left behind
• The state of nearby gates, fences, and exterior surfaces

Document damaged contents

Anything broken, dumped out, or destroyed is part of the claim even if it wasn't stolen. Photograph:

• Spilled drawers and cabinets
• Broken furniture or shelving
• Damaged electronics that were thrown around
• Torn upholstery, broken doors, smashed picture frames

Back everything up to the cloud

Send the photos and video to yourself by email or upload to a cloud drive immediately. If your phone is later stolen, dropped, or wiped, you do not want this evidence gone.

Only after the adjuster has confirmed they have what they need, or has visited the property, should you begin to clean up.

This is the document your entire payout will be calculated from. Take your time — within reason — and be thorough. The adjuster will pay for what you can prove, not what you can remember saying.

Lay it out as a table. Spreadsheets work beautifully here.

Example stolen-items list

What counts as proof

• Receipts and invoices — originals are best; credit card statements also help
• Photos — pictures of the item in your home, including in the background of other photos
• Serial numbers — check your Apple/Google account, Bike Index, or the manufacturer's app
• Appraisals — required for jewelry and fine art over the sub-limit
• Boxes and warranty cards — often stored elsewhere and untouched by the intruder

If you have no receipt, do not give up — search your email for purchase confirmations, check statements, look through old photos, ask the retailer for purchase history.

Once police have processed the scene and you've finished documenting, you need to make the home secure again — usually a broken window or damaged door. Here's the part people miss: your home or tenant insurance will reimburse reasonable emergency security costs as part of the claim. Don't pay out of pocket and hope — confirm with the adjuster and save every receipt.

Typical insurer-covered emergency expenses after a break-in

• Emergency board-up: A 24-hour service comes out, boards the broken window or door, and gives you an invoice. Usually $200 to $500 depending on size and time of day.
• Locksmith: If keys were stolen or if the intruder may have copied them, replacing or rekeying all exterior locks is covered. Typical cost $150 to $400.
• Glass replacement: Permanent replacement of broken windows or glass doors.
• Alarm or camera installation: Some policies will partially reimburse installation of a monitored alarm or smart camera system after a theft, on a case-by-case basis. Ask.
• Temporary hotel: If the home cannot be safely secured tonight, additional living expenses (ALE) coverage pays for a hotel and meals.

Rules to follow

• Confirm with the adjuster before booking anything non-emergency.
• Keep every receipt, invoice, and email — paper or PDF.
• Use reputable, licensed contractors. A cash-only "guy with a van" is harder to expense.
• Photograph the repair work as it happens.

A standard home insurance policy in Canada — and any decent tenant policy — covers far more than just the stolen items. Here's the breakdown.

For more on what counts as a covered peril and how theft fits into the broader picture, see the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) consumer resources.

This is the section that costs Canadians the most money after a break-in, and the one most people read for the first time only after they've already been robbed.

Your policy has a total personal property limit (often $50,000–$250,000+ for homeowners, $15,000–$50,000 for tenants). But within that overall limit, specific categories have much smaller sub-limits. If you didn't schedule the item separately, you're capped at the sub-limit no matter what the item actually cost.

Typical Canadian sub-limits (varies by insurer)

• Jewelry and watches: $1,500 to $5,000 total — yes, total, not per item
• Cash and currency: $200 to $500
• Bicycles (per bike): $1,500 to $2,500
• Collectibles, coins, stamps: $1,000 to $2,500
• Securities, bonds, deeds: $1,000 to $2,000
• Fine art and antiques: $2,500 to $5,000
• Tools (business use): $1,500 to $2,500
• Sports and hobby equipment: $1,000 to $5,000

Why scheduling matters

"Scheduling" an item means adding it to your policy individually, usually with an appraisal or receipt. Once scheduled, that item has its own dedicated coverage amount (often the full appraised value), the deductible may be $0, and you're often covered against more perils — mysterious disappearance, loss while travelling, accidental damage.

For an engagement ring worth $8,500, the difference between scheduled and unscheduled is the difference between getting the full $8,500 and getting maybe $2,500 (the jewelry sub-limit, possibly minus the deductible).

How to verify your policy

1. Open your policy declarations page (the "dec page") — usually a PDF emailed to you.
2. Look for a section called "Special Limits of Liability" or "Sub-Limits."
3. Compare each sub-limit to what you actually own.
4. For anything that exceeds the sub-limit, call your insurer or broker and add a rider — typically $5 to $20 per year per $1,000 of value.
5. Do this before anything happens. Sub-limits cannot be retroactively increased after a loss.

Adjusters see the same handful of mistakes again and again. Avoiding even three of these usually pays for itself many times over.

1. Cleaning up before photographing. The single biggest mistake. By the time the adjuster asks for evidence of how the scene looked, the broken glass is gone, the drawers are closed, and your case is suddenly much weaker. Photograph and video everything before you touch a thing.
2. No police report. Without a police case number, the insurer will refuse to process a theft claim. Even if you don't think the police will catch anyone, you still need the report on file. Always call.
3. No receipts and no inventory. If you can't prove you owned the item and roughly what it cost, you'll be paid the bare minimum the adjuster can defend — or nothing at all. Build a home inventory now, before anything happens, and back it up to the cloud.
4. Missing the reporting time limit. Most policies require notification within a few days. Some homeowners wait a week because they're busy, traumatized, or trying to handle it privately. That delay is one of the most common grounds for a partial denial.
5. Accepting the first offer without review. The adjuster's first settlement number is rarely the final number. If items are undervalued, if a sub-limit was applied incorrectly, or if damage was missed, you can — and should — push back with documentation. Bring receipts and replacement quotes; ask for the offer in writing.
6. Not declaring high-value items beforehand. The $8,500 ring, the $5,000 bike, the $4,000 camera kit — if they weren't scheduled before the loss, you'll be paid the sub-limit and that's it. Reviewing your sub-limits is a 15-minute task that's worth thousands.

A home break-in is one of the most violating experiences a homeowner or tenant can go through. The financial side of recovery is the part you can actually control — but only if you act calmly and in the right order.

Be safe first. Get the police case number. Call your insurer the same day. Photograph everything before you clean anything. Build a detailed stolen-items list with proof. Secure the property and save receipts. And — long before any of that — review your policy's sub-limits so the items you care about are properly covered.

If your current policy has thin theft coverage, low sub-limits, or an insurer that takes weeks to return calls, this is the moment to fix it.