The short answer
Fix small, clear faults before selling, because they are cheap to do and remove a point a buyer or lender could raise. For a roof that is close to worn out, get a survey and photographs first, then decide between a full repair, disclosing the condition and adjusting the price, or leaving it to the buyer. Whatever you choose, do not hide a known problem.
Three choices, and what each one means
A seller with a roof problem has three realistic choices. Each has a cost, a risk and an effect on the sale.
The first is to repair it before the house is listed for sale. This is the cleanest route when the fault is small and the cause is clear: slipped slates, a cracked ridge tile, a split flashing, a blocked valley. The work is done, the receipt is in the folder, and the buyer has less to question.
The second is to leave the roof as it is and disclose the condition. You give the buyer the survey, they understand the position, and either the price reflects it or they plan the work themselves. This suits a roof that needs a larger job, such as a re-cover, where you would not want to spend a large sum and then watch a buyer choose a different finish anyway.
The third is a mix: make the roof watertight and safe, and leave the larger decision to the buyer, with a quote and a survey to hand. Many sellers end up here.
What none of them includes is silence. If you know about a problem, say so when asked.
Why a survey comes before the decision
Guessing at the roof is how sellers either overspend or get caught out. A survey turns a vague worry into a list: what is wrong, how serious it is, what repair would cure it and what the alternative is.
A roofer's inspection takes in the slates or tiles, ridge, hips, leadwork, valleys, gutters, stacks and loft timbers. The photographs show each fault in place, which is useful when you are talking to an estate agent or a buyer. They also show what is sound, and that matters too. A roof that looks old from the street may be in better condition than it seems, especially natural slate or stone tiles, which can outlast the fixings.
The visit costs you nothing, produces pictures of your roof, and ends with a fixed price on paper. That lets you compare the cost of putting the roof right with the effect it may have on an offer. Our page on thermal imaging of a roof explains when a heat camera adds anything beyond a standard inspection.
What a buyer and a lender look at
A buyer's surveyor will go up to the roof, or at least look at it with binoculars and in the loft. Their report may note the covering, the pitch, the state of the flashings, signs of past leaks and the age of the roof. If it calls the roof tired, or recommends further investigation, the buyer may ask for a roofer's report, a price reduction or a retention. Our page on a roof nearing the end of its life decodes that wording.
A lender's valuer looks at the roof too. If a defect worries them, the lender may withhold some of the advance until the repair is finished. That can delay a sale and put the buyer in a difficult spot, so a seller who has already dealt with the fault is in a stronger position.
Buyers also notice evidence. A tidy file with the survey, dated photographs, an invoice for any work and a written guarantee answers questions before they are asked, and it often shortens the conversation.
When repair makes sense, and when it does not
A repair is worth it when it is likely to hold and the cause is understood. Replacing a handful of slipped slates, re-bedding and fixing a ridge, or renewing a short run of failed lead are jobs where the money goes straight into a sound result.
Repair loses its point once the same fault is bound to come back. If the fixings have failed across the roof, a few new slates simply buy a little time. If the underlay has perished or the battens are rotten, a patch sits on top of a problem it cannot cure. Where a repair will hold we do it, and where it will not we tell you directly, because patching a roof that needs replacing wastes your money and leaves a buyer with a doubtful record.
Re-roofing also brings in regulation. Building Regulations approval is not usually needed for small re-covering jobs, those touching under 25% of the building envelope and under 50% of the roof. Past those limits approval applies, and the roof can also be asked to meet a better thermal standard. Check with your building control body before committing to a full re-cover just ahead of a sale, because the paperwork becomes part of the sale.
Pricing in the roof and being straight about it
If you do not want to repair, the alternative is to price the roof into the sale. A buyer who sees a survey, a quote and a clear explanation can usually put a figure on it. Surprises are what cause trouble: a problem found late in the process makes a buyer wary, even if the cost is modest.
Your estate agent and solicitor decide what must be disclosed, so ask them. In practice a seller who gives the buyer the survey, the photographs and any quote tends to have an easier sale than one who waits to be asked.
For the photographs themselves, see our page on roof photos before work, which explains what to ask for so the pictures help you later. If your roof needs more than a repair, our written fixed price arrives once the survey is done, and you can then choose whether to do the work, disclose it, or hand the quote to the buyer. The roof inspections page explains how the survey runs. A free survey and a written quote cost nothing and make the choice an informed one, which is the real aim of the exercise.
