Roofing issues advice

gjones85 · 7 April 2023 at 9:42PM

In summer 2021, I employed a large, local roofing company to complete a re-roof of my property (this was after I was victim of a rogue roofing company the previous year). Once completed, I was provided with a 10-Year Guarantee. This is a large company who are NFRC members and they complete roofing work for large housing development companies.

Fast forward 15 months (in January this year), I noticed water coming through my child’s bedroom ceiling. The area where leak was coming through is below a chimney breast (which ends in the loft). The lower part of the chimney breast was removed by previous owners.

I now have damp stains on the ceiling near the wall, below coving and further away from the wall, which I believe is where the outer wall of chimney ends in the loft.

I got in touch with the roofing company via email and was later contacted on the phone by a roofer who previously worked on my property. I was told he would get back to me to arrange a visit. After a lot of chasing, he finally sent out a colleague 8 weeks later. He looked at the chimney breast in the loft, which showed signs of damp. However, he didn’t go up on the roof to investigate fully, and said he would come back another day.

Another 4+ weeks have now passed, and no one has been out to visit. I have chased on the phone and rarely get through, or I’m told someone will “try to” visit, yet they never confirm an actual date/time.

The conditions of my guarantee stated that I should report leaks within 10 days, yet I’ve been waiting over 3 months for them to properly look at the issue.

I’m a woman in my 30’s, living alone with a primary-school aged child, and it feels like I’m constantly being fobbed off. Am I right in thinking that 3 months to investigate an reported issue following a large job, with a 10 year guarantee is not acceptable?

tacpot12 · 8 April 2023 at 4:32PM

Yes, you are right. You need to write to them giving them 10 days (from your date of posting) to review the leak otherwise you will send them the bill for any repair that is due to poor workmanship. Get a proof of postage from the post office.

If you have home insurance and have legal expenses cover as part of this, you should check with the legal helpline before doing so, to see if they advise anything different.