As if losing one's possessions as a result of a burglary or a natural disaster such as a flood or fire, weren't bad enough, millions of Britons are running the risk of not being able to claim all their losses on their home insurancepolicy.

While a general home contents policy usually offers to cover all items within reason, there is always the risk that either the homeowners forgets what is actually missing or the insurance company is not satisfied with a claim, believing it to be either exaggerated or even completely made-up.

As such, industry experts have stressed the importance of keeping an inventory of all their possessions of any value in case any possible worst case scenario materialises.

In particular, consumers need to look into their policy documentation prior to making any commitment and make sure that it will cover items of exceptionally high value as many insurers will refuse to pay out large sums for items they have not been informed of beforehand, the consumer comparison service uSwitch.com has stated.

Commenting on the vital steps homeowners should take to make sure that all their lost items are covered in the event of loss, a spokesperson for the website stated: "An inventory would be a good idea. Also, photographs of certain items might be a good idea, and you need to have an idea of what they’re actually worth."

In addition, in the case of high-value items such as jewellery, bikes and digital equipment, people would be wise to keep the original receipt in order to ultimately prove their value to an insurer, the spokesperson added.

Should an item, for instance an antique family heirloom or wedding ring, be of exceptionally high value, it may be worth looking into a specialist insurance policy, or at least checking whether or not the general home contents insurance policy will pay out for such an unfortunate loss.

As the expert concluded: "The message that needs to get across is that people need to read their policy documentation. You’ve got to understand what you’ve bought and get cover for what you need."

The comments come soon after the UK insurance industry revealed that in 2006 it had paid out around £9.0 million every day to UK homeowners for loss of possessions or damage to property.

Though this may seem like a generous amount, many observers have warned that, with the payouts from the 2007 floods still on their mind and with new anti-fraud technology being rolled out, the industry will be looking to be as frugal as possible in the future, making simple measures such as inventories or even photographic evidence of possessions, more essential than ever.