The short answer
In a flat or maisonette the roof is normally the freeholder's or the management company's to repair, and leaseholders pay a share through the service charge. Your lease sets out who repairs what and how the cost is divided, so read it first. Bigger jobs often have to follow a formal consultation before the work is ordered. Ask for the survey, the price and the paperwork in writing.
How roof repairs are usually organised and paid for in a flat or maisonette, and what a leaseholder can ask before agreeing to a bill.
Reading the lease for roof duties
The lease is the document that decides this, and the answer is rarely the same for two blocks. Many leases for a flat in a building with a shared roof place the roof, the structure and the common parts with the freeholder or a management company, and require each leaseholder to contribute. The flat below the roof and the flat on the ground floor may both pay, even though only one gets the leak.
Look for three things: which parts of the building the landlord must repair, which parts you must repair, and how the service charge is split between flats. A top floor flat often owns the plaster and paint below the roof, while the roof above is the landlord's. A maisonette with its own front door may have different wording again.
If the wording is unclear, a solicitor who knows leasehold property can read it for you, and the management company can usually supply a copy of the lease or the repairing obligations. This page gives general background only, not legal advice on your lease.
How the service charge pays for a roof
Day to day repairs, such as refixing a slipped tile or replacing a short length of flashing, are normally paid for from the service charge, which each leaseholder pays in instalments. Many blocks also build up a reserve fund so that a big job, like a full re-roof, does not arrive as a surprise bill.
You are entitled to ask how the charge is made up. Ask the managing agent for the budget, the accounts and the quotes behind any roof item. A genuine invoice should match a survey and a written price, and the work should be what was agreed. We give one total written price after a survey, so a managing agent can put a single figure in front of the leaseholders.
Reserve funds and charges differ from block to block. A newly converted building may have little saved, while an older block may have a long history of roof repairs recorded in its accounts, which is worth asking to see before you buy a flat as well as after.
Be wary of any approach that arrives out of the blue, saying your block's roof needs urgent work and asking you to sign on the spot. Our guide on how to tell a dodgy roofer sets out what to check before anyone starts work.
Consultation on bigger jobs
When a repair costs enough, a freeholder has to tell leaseholders what is planned before ordering the work, and allow them a chance to comment. The rules set out the notices, the periods and the money thresholds, and a managing agent should know them. Under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, this applies once any leaseholder's share of the works would be more than £250.
What a leaseholder can usefully ask is practical. Why does the roof need this work now? Has a surveyor looked at it? Is a repair possible instead of a replacement? Our answer on comparing roof replacement quotes shows what a fair comparison looks like, and checking whether each quote includes VAT and scaffolding avoids surprises.
Photos of the roof taken at the survey give everyone the same facts. If the leaseholders disagree about the work, a clear survey report usually settles more than an argument does.
It also helps to know the age and type of the covering. A block of flats with a flat roof over the top storey has different needs from a terrace of maisonettes under a tiled pitch, and the repair, the access and the cost will follow from that. Ask for the survey notes to be shared with every leaseholder, not just the one who reported the leak.
When your own flat is the problem
Sometimes the leak is in the roof you can reach, such as a flat roof over a bay, a balcony or a single-storey extension that belongs to your flat alone. In that case the lease may make the repair your own cost. The way to find out is the same: read the repairing obligations and check with the managing agent.
For a roof shared with neighbours, our answer on who pays for shared roof repairs covers houses and terraces. If work will touch a wall you share with the next property, read party wall rules and roof work before booking.
Report any leak to the managing agent in writing straight away, with photos and the date. Water that has been getting in for months does more damage, and a delay in reporting can become an argument later. Keep a folder of the messages, quotes and invoices, and send us whatever you have if you want a roofer's view of the photos. Our roofing services in Crawley cover flats and maisonettes as well as houses, and the survey comes first whatever the building.
More on this in Roofers in Crawley: the full guide
Two questions from flat owners
Can I choose my own roofer for the block's roof?
Usually not. Where the lease gives the repair to the freeholder, they pick the contractor, though you can ask who it is, what the survey found and how the price was reached. If the roof over your flat is yours alone, you choose, but tell the managing agent before starting.
What if the service charge for the roof looks too high?
Ask the managing agent in writing for the survey, the quotes and the breakdown behind the charge. If the answers do not satisfy you, speak to a solicitor who knows leasehold law or to Citizens Advice before paying or refusing, because the right route depends on your lease.