How do you photograph or film your home for a removals survey?

Before you start

You do not need to tidy up or empty anything first. The survey is about what is moving, not how the home looks. Light helps more than tidiness: open the curtains and switch the lights on so that dark furniture and the far corners of each room are visible.

Decide what is not coming with you before you start. Items that are being sold, given away or left for the new owner will still appear in the photos, so write them in the note box on the survey page, for example "the wardrobe in the second bedroom stays" or "the garden furniture is not ours". Your mover can then leave them out of the inventory.

What to photograph in each room

Go through the home one room at a time and take the same set of shots in each. It helps to get a door or a plug socket into the frame next to a large item: objects whose size is known act as a scale in the picture and make the measurement estimate more accurate.

• Two wide shots from opposite corners, so that between them every wall and every piece of furniture is in frame.
• Large items one by one: sofas, beds, wardrobes, tables, the fridge freezer, the washing machine.
• The inside of full wardrobes, cupboards and drawers. Their contents are what will fill the boxes.
• Fragile and valuable items close up: mirrors, glass tables, televisions, pictures, lamps.
• Anything that has to be taken apart, such as a bed frame or a large wardrobe, with its fixings visible if you can.

The places people forget

Most of the items that turn up unannounced on moving day were never in a photo. Before you send anything, walk round these as well:

• The loft and any storage space under the eaves.
• The garage and the shed: bikes, tools, the lawnmower, tyres, camping gear.
• The garden, the balcony and the terrace: garden furniture, the barbecue, plant pots.
• The cupboard under the stairs, the airing cupboard and the utility room.
• Anything kept somewhere else that is coming too, such as a storage unit or a relative's garage. Mention it in the note.

How to film a walk-through video

If your mover's link shows a "Send with Video" button, a walk-through video is the quickest way to cover the whole home. Start at the front door and go through every room in turn, including the places listed above.

Move slowly and hold the phone steady. Pause for a moment on each large item, and open wardrobe and cupboard doors as you pass. Keep the camera at about chest height and point it at the furniture rather than at the floor or the ceiling.

Afterwards, add separate photos of large and special items; the survey page suggests the same. Put anything that is not coming in the note box, so that it reaches your mover in writing.

Special items your mover needs to know about

Some items change how a move is planned: a piano, a safe, a large aquarium, gym equipment, artwork or antiques. Photograph them close up and from more than one side, and mention them in the note.

For items like these, or when the building itself is difficult (a narrow street, several floors without a lift, something that would have to come out through a window), your mover may still want to visit in person. That is a normal part of a careful survey, not a sign that your photos were not good enough.

Sending the photos and the video

A few practical points make the upload go smoothly:

• Use the link your moving company sent you. There is no app to install and no account to create.
• Before you send, check that your name and phone number are filled in on the page; your mover uses them to send you the quote.
• Photos in JPEG, PNG, WebP or HEIC (the iPhone format) are accepted.
• If your photos are in Google Drive or iCloud, download them to your phone first. Files picked straight from cloud storage can become unreadable during the upload.
• If the connection drops, the images you selected stay on the page. Tap Send again once you are back online.
• Each move has room for 100 images. If the home is large (four bedrooms or more, a villa or an office), you can open space for 50 more, once, when you reach the limit.
• You can open the same link again later to add more, until the survey closes, for example when you accept the quote.