The short answer
In a converted flat, responsibility for the roof is set by your lease or, if you own a share of the freehold, by the arrangement between the owners. Most leases make the freeholder or a management company responsible for the roof and recover the cost from every flat through the service charge. Top-floor owners usually have no sole duty, and repairs need the right party's consent.
Start with the lease, not the leak
A large Georgian or Victorian townhouse in Bath that has been split into flats is still one building under one roof. The roof, the structure beneath it and the outside walls are normally treated as common parts. That is why the top-floor owner is rarely the one who has to arrange and pay for a repair alone, even though the water arrives in their flat first.
Everything turns on the wording of the lease. Look for the sections headed demise, which describes what you own, and the landlord's covenants, which describe what the freeholder must maintain. Look also at the service charge clause, which explains how costs are shared between flats. Most leases of this kind say that the roof is excluded from the flat and is the freeholder's responsibility to repair, with every leaseholder contributing.
Some top-floor leases are different. A few include the roof space or the roof covering above the flat in the demise, which can make that one owner liable. Do not assume either way. Read the document, and if the wording is unclear, ask a solicitor who knows leasehold property.
Leasehold, share of freehold and flying freehold
How the building is owned changes who must act.
- Ordinary leasehold with an outside freeholder. The freeholder, directly or through a managing agent, arranges roof repairs and bills the flats. You can ask for them to act, but you cannot usually commission the work yourself on the common roof.
- Share of freehold. The flat owners together own the building, often through a company that is run by the residents. The company has the duty, so the owners decide jointly, and the lease or articles say how.
- Right to manage company. Leaseholders may have taken over management from the freeholder, and then the company arranges the roof repair rather than the original landlord.
- Freehold flats. Where each flat has its own freehold, as can happen in older conversions, shared structure is usually dealt with by deeds that set out repairing obligations and rights of support. The deeds are the guide.
It is worth establishing which of these applies before you call anyone out. A repair carried out without the right consent can leave you paying for a job the building would otherwise have shared.
How to get a roof repair agreed
When there is a leak, take photographs and write to whoever is responsible under the lease. This is normally the managing agent, whose name appears on your service charge demand. Describe where the water enters, when you noticed it and attach images. A written record matters because it starts a clock that you can point to later.
For a minor repair, such as a slipped tile or a failed flashing, the managing agent will often instruct a roofer directly. For larger work, such as re-leading a parapet gutter or recovering a slope, expect a surveyor's specification, several quotes and a formal notice to leaseholders before the work begins. The service charge rules require owners to be told about substantial works and to have a chance to comment, and the detail of that process is worth checking with the managing agent or a solicitor. The Leasehold Advisory Service and the government's leasehold guidance on GOV.UK explain the procedure in everyday words.
If nothing happens, keep writing. Send a reminder, set a date for a reply and ask what the plan is. Where a freeholder refuses to act, a solicitor can explain the tribunal route for leasehold disputes.
What the roofer needs to see and know
A roofer can survey a shared roof once someone with authority gives access. Access is often through the top flat or a hatch on the landing, and sometimes from a neighbouring roof, so the managing agent usually needs to be involved from the first visit.
Gather these before the survey so that the report is useful to everyone: the lease or a summary, the name of the managing agent, the dates and places of leaks, and a note of any past roof work. If the flats were converted, ask whether any of the roof was altered at that time. Dormers, roof lights and flat sections added during conversion are frequent sources of trouble.
On a Bath townhouse the faults tend to be in the hidden parts. A parapet gutter is a lead-floored trough tucked behind the low wall along the front edge. A box gutter is the equivalent trough sunk between two slopes. Both collect water for the whole building, and when the lead splits at a joint or drip, a ceiling several floors down can stain. We look at the lead, valleys and flashings first on a roof of this age, and the fixings and timbers beneath.
The survey from Empire Roofing Bath is free, with photographs of the roof itself, so you can send the findings to the freeholder with your request. You get a price fixed in writing after the visit.
Insurance, buying and neighbours above and below
Block insurance is normally arranged by the freeholder or management company and paid for through the service charge. A claim for water damage to the top flats generally goes through that policy, so report leaks quickly. Insurers commonly exclude wear and tear, so a history of written reports and maintenance helps. Our page on roof insurance claims goes further.
If you are buying a flat, ask for the service charge accounts, the planned maintenance programme and the last few years of roof records. A roof that has been repaired by patching for years may be heading towards a large bill. The checklist in buying a house: roof checks applies equally to a flat.
Neighbours matter too. If a flat above leaks into yours because of a shared roof, the freeholder is usually the party to contact. If a leak comes from a neighbour's fault inside the building, such as a failed pipe or an altered roof light, it may be a matter for that owner instead. Establishing the cause with photographs helps decide which.
One further point arises when a roof is old. Bats or nesting birds may use the roof, and work then has to be timed accordingly. Read our answer on what happens if bats or nesting birds are found in my roof before a major scheme starts.
Listed buildings, conservation areas and consent
Many converted townhouses in Bath are listed or sit in the city's conservation area, which covers about half of Bath. Repairs that match the existing covering and detail may not need consent, but changes to materials, roof windows or the profile of the roof often do. Listed building consent in Bath is a B&NES decision, and the council wants a conversation before anyone touches a listed building.
In a shared building, that conversation should come from the party responsible for the roof. Consent applied for by one leaseholder without the freeholder's agreement can create problems that outlast the roof job.
On older roofs we use matching materials, repairing slate with slate and stone tiles with stone. We explain which consents are likely and deal with the Building Regulations side of notifiable work. Where the lease names the freeholder or a management company as responsible for the roof, send us that clause early, so the quote goes to whoever will approve and pay for it.
