The short answer
Home insurance seldom pays for a full roof replacement because policies exclude wear and tear and gradual deterioration. If a storm damages part of the roof, the insurer may pay to repair or replace the damaged section, subject to the policy terms and excess. Photographs, dated evidence and a roofer's report help, but no claim is guaranteed.
What insurance covers and what it does not
Buildings insurance is written for sudden, accidental damage and named perils such as storm, fire and flood. It is not a maintenance fund. A roof that is simply old, with tired fixings and worn lead, is a maintenance matter, and standard policies exclude general wear and tear. Which? points out that a roof left in poor repair, with rainwater entering as a result, may fall outside cover.
That explains why a request to replace an entire roof is usually declined while a request to repair storm damage has a better chance. The insurer draws its line at cause. Damage from an event may be covered, whereas failure through age will not be.
Policies differ. Read the storm section, the excess, any exclusions for empty homes or older roofs, and whether the insurer asks for evidence of upkeep. If the wording is unclear, ask the insurer or an independent adviser before relying on a claim to pay for work.
Storm damage and the 55 mph test
A number of insurers apply the storm test used by the ABI, the insurers' trade body, which sets the bar at gusts of 55 mph or more. If wind of that force was recorded nearby and slates, ridge tiles or lead have been torn away, a claim has a sound footing. Which? reported in November 2025, quoting Financial Conduct Authority data, that just 32 per cent of storm claims lodged in 2024 were paid, so good records are worth the effort.
Cause is sometimes contested. A published Financial Ombudsman Service decision involved tiles lost from a pitched roof. Instead of demanding a measured wind speed, the ombudsman relied on reports of local conditions, found wind to be the dominant cause, and observed that the policy wording on wear applied solely to accidental damage. A single decision sets no precedent for your policy, but the published case study is worth reading if your own claim is turned down.
How to support a claim
Evidence settles most claims, and it is easiest to gather before any repair starts.
- Photograph everything from outside, from inside the loft and from anywhere else that is safe, with the date visible.
- Keep what fell. Slates, tiles or lead that came down form part of the record.
- Note the weather. Write down when the storm hit and save local forecasts or reports.
- Obtain a roofer's report. A written note of the failure and its likely cause helps the insurer to judge what happened.
- Limit further harm. Temporary cover against more water is normally expected. Keep receipts for it.
Contact the insurer before permanent work begins. A roof that is actually leaking gets covered over before anything else, and the cause is studied second. We can supply a roofer's survey and pictures of your roof, but the claim itself runs between you and the insurer, and we cannot predict how it will turn out.
Questions worth putting to your insurer
A short call before work begins can save a refusal later. Ask whether the policy covers storm damage to the roof and what excess applies. Ask what evidence of upkeep the insurer expects, and whether any exclusion relates to the age of the roof or to periods when the house is empty.
Find out whether the insurer wants to appoint its own contractor or accepts a quote from a roofer of your choice, and whether temporary protection costs are reimbursed. Ask too how the policy treats older materials such as natural slate, since an insurer may offer a cheaper replacement than the covering you have, and you should know that before agreeing to a settlement.
Report promptly and keep a written record of every call. If the answer is a refusal, ask for the reasons in writing. You can then compare them with the policy wording and, if you still disagree, take the matter to the insurer's complaints process.
When the roof really is spent
Sometimes a storm exposes ageing rather than causing damage. It lifts a few slates because their nails have rusted through, and the insurer concludes that deterioration, not wind, was responsible. The repair then falls to you. If the roof is genuinely worn out, the money may be better put into a proper replacement than into repeated patches.
Before you commit, find out whether the new roof needs consent. The answer on planning permission and like-for-like re-roofing covers that, and the stages of a full replacement are walked through in how a roof replacement runs. If you are changing material, insurers may want notice, as the page on metal roofing for a house mentions.
Paying for a roof when insurance will not
Where insurance does not fund the work the cost falls on you. Typical UK ranges reported by MyBuilder (2026) put a roof replacement at roughly £5,000 to £12,000, depending on roof size, covering and access. The price you act on comes after the survey, fixed, and relates to your own house alone. Our survey is free, and a written 10-year workmanship guarantee comes with the work. That guarantee is ours alone and is not an insurance policy, so it does not stand in for buildings cover.
The roof replacement service page explains what a full re-roof involves, from scaffold to handover. Keep the policy documents, photographs and any report together in one folder, because insurers and lenders may ask for them again later, for instance when you sell.
