Certificate of Dryness for an Insurer or Loss Adjuster in Bromley

Last updated 19 September 2026.

The situation this covers

There has been an escape of water, or the aftermath of a burst pipe, and the claim is open. The plumbing is fixed, but reinstatement work such as new flooring, plastering or a kitchen fit cannot start yet, because your insurer or their loss adjuster wants proof the property is actually dry first. That proof has a name: a Certificate of Dryness. This is written for the point in a claim where the drying itself may already be underway, or about to start, and the sticking point is the paperwork the insurer needs before they will sign off reinstatement. Bromley's housing stock varies enough that the underlying drying problem looks different from postcode to postcode: flats and conversions around Bromley town centre and Bromley North, Victorian terraces in Beckenham, 1930s semis further out towards Hayes and West Wickham, and larger period and detached houses around Chislehurst and Orpington. What they have in common on an open claim is the same requirement: the insurer or loss adjuster is not going to authorise reinstatement work on a wall or floor that might still be wet underneath, because doing so risks paying twice.

What a loss adjuster typically wants to see

A loss adjuster is not asking you to promise the property is dry. They are asking for a record that shows it, and that record needs a specific shape to be worth anything: a baseline reading taken before drying equipment went in, so there is a starting point to measure against; the same points measured the same way on every subsequent visit, so the readings are actually comparable; a written report from each visit, dated, room by room; and a clear finishing point, meaning two consecutive readings a week apart showing the property back at dry levels, not one good reading that might just be a warm day. A loss adjuster who sees that shape of record can sign off with confidence. A single verbal assurance that "it's dry now" gives them nothing to check, which is exactly why claims stall at this stage.

How D&M builds that record

We install a commercial dehumidifier and air mover as a set in each affected room, sized to the job rather than as a single fixed answer, because a one-bedroom flat in Bromley North and a Chislehurst detached with a wet solid wall are not the same job. On that same visit we take moisture readings at every affected point in the property. Those first readings are your baseline: there is no separate charge for taking them, because the readings visit and the baseline are the same visit.

Every week after that we return and take the same readings at the same points, and each visit produces a written report comparing that week against the last. This is the part of the process a loss adjuster actually reads, because it is the trend, not a single figure, that shows whether the property is genuinely drying or has plateaued. When two consecutive weekly visits come back at dry readings, we add a Certificate of Dryness to the record: the readings from the first visit through to the two dry readings that close it out, with the certificate attached. That document, not a phone call, is what goes to the insurer or loss adjuster.

The Certificate of Dryness is priced and issued separately from the weekly drying programme, because it can only honestly be produced once the readings actually show the property is dry. The single most common reason a Bromley claim stalls at the reinstatement stage is not the drying itself, it is the absence of a record the insurer can act on.

What it costs

• A commercial dehumidifier and air mover, delivered, installed and collected: £250 per set, per week
• A readings visit with a written report, every week: £250 per week
• Certificate of Dryness: £250, added once two consecutive weekly visits show dry readings. Not charged when you book.

As a worked example, one set of equipment with weekly readings visits, running for two weeks, the minimum first block, comes to £1,000: £500 for the equipment and £500 for the two readings visits. No VAT is added to any of these figures. Payment is half to book the work and half on completion.

Who we are

Damp & Mould Solutions UK is a leak, damp and mould solutions company covering leak detection, damp investigation, mould inspection, mould remediation and structural drying. We're rated 5.0 on Google from 20 reviews. The company is registered with Companies House (company number 16687136), registered office 19 Ravenscroft Crescent, Eltham SE9 4LL.

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