Roof leaking a year after bought house

punkaboo

Hi,

Bought house in December last year and had the middle survey done - £400. It came up with all the usual things you'd expect with a victorian property, but nothing specific about the roof. A year later we have water coming through the bathroom ceiling and on inspection we've found a whole beam has rotted away.

How do we go about rectifying it? Surveyor has covered himself by saying he couldn't get in there to see it properly (to be honest it seems like a waste of money).

Does our house insurance cover us or do we have to suck it up and just get it fixed ourselves? It'll mean fixing the roof and replacing the bathroom ceiling which has now been damaged.

Look forward to your guidance

Thank you

hazyjo

House insurance doesn't cover things at the end of their lifespan. You might be able to claim for damage, but you won't be able to claim to get the roof repaired/replaced (TTBOMK).

Did your surveyor make any comments about the roof itself (not the loft space)? They usually can see it from the outside at least.

You will probably need more than the ceiling replacing. My kitchen ceiling collapsed (water leak from tank) and I had to have a dehumidifier above and under the floorboards for a number of days/weeks, along with a couple of joists replaced.

Jx

googler

Whether your house insurance covers it or not will depend on your policy. Have you read yours?

Surveyors will report on what they can see. If they can't get access to an underfloor area because the house is fully carpeted with furnishings in place, they won't be inclined to move the furniture outside the house and lift the carpet to look. Would you expect them to?

Likewise, if a loft is full to the gunnels with the previous owner's possessions, what would you expect? That the surveyor takes them all out, one by one, until the loft is clear?

punkaboo

Hi,

Surveyor recommended a roof survey, which we had done - he said he couldn't see the whole roof from ground level. Roof survey only looked outside too - nobody got up in the loft at all. Had another roofer in after too and he said didn't need anything done.

Googler - no I wouldn't expect him to move furniture and lift the carpets, but it seems a bit galling that someone so qualified (who told us we didn't need the full survey) really just looked at what we could see ourselves. Not sure why you're being so rude about it - are you a surveyor?

I have read the insurance policy - it doesn't really say, other than storm damage, which it wasn't really - just heavy rain with a strong wind blowing the wrong way!

I'll just phone the insurance company. Thanks for your help

hazyjo

What actually caused the leak though - blocked gutters? Missing tile? Roof at end of its lifespan (if that were the case, I'm sure a roofer would have spotted that from the outside! Mine did when I bought my last house, and I negotiated a reduction). It is possible that the roof was okay a year ago. We have had a VERY wet year!

Jx

punkaboo

Not sure yet - we had a roofer in around March this year, the roof is in pretty good nick. Think we'll just get a builder round to look at it and get to the bottom of it.

Fire_Fox

Welcome! Maintenance is part of home ownership unfortunately: you need to call a roofer in again. Next time you have a survey done get consent from the vendor for the surveyor and roofer to go into the loft or cellar and to lift carpets, also ensure there is a safe ladder available. Full structural surveys are not a waste of money you could have purchased something with a lot worse problem than a leaking roof.

LittleMissGiggles123

In our previous home, which was a victorian mid terrace, we had a similar problem. Our insurance company wouldnt pay to fix the roof tiles & where the water cam in, but then paid to rectify the damage internally i.e ceiling, decorating etc

x

googler

punkaboo wrote: »

- no I wouldn't expect him to move furniture and lift the carpets, but it seems a bit galling that someone so qualified (who told us we didn't need the full survey) really just looked at what we could see ourselves. Not sure why you're being so rude about it - are you a surveyor?

I've re-read my post, and don't regard it as 'rude', merely 'full of questions'

If others agree with you, they, as well as you, can always use the 'report' button to alert the mods, but I won't hold my breath.

somethingcorporate

googler wrote: »

I've re-read my post, and don't regard it as 'rude', merely 'full of questions'

If others agree with you, they, as well as you, can always use the 'report' button to alert the mods, but I won't hold my breath.

It's not remotely rude, it is full of good reasonable questions.

It appears the OP is incredibly defensive - no wonder why, looks like they've got a big bill coming to repair the roof!

It's a year later so anything in the report would be out of date anyway and you would be incredibly hard pushed to find a surveyor that will provide guarantees against things like this so long after the event. Sorry, OP, I think you are going to have to argue this one with your insurance company - have you checked your policy yet?