As with all types of insurance, its purpose is to protect the policyholder from unexpected events that cause damage. Specific roofing insurance that covers roof leak repair and routine damage repairs, does not appear to be commonly available in the UK for householders. If you put ‘roofing insurance’, into an internet search engine, you will likely get search results for public liability insurance geared towards roofing contractors and builders.
Roof insurance is integral to the buildings insurance element of home insurance. If you have a leaking roof or your roof is damaged, as a result of the following, it may be covered by your buildings insurance policy.
This list is not exhaustive. Other unexpected events may be covered by general buildings insurance not listed here. It is unlikely, even in these circumstances that the whole of your roof will be covered. The insurance will pay for damage caused by an unexpected event and the definitions can be narrow.
The age and general condition of your roof are considerations taken into account by building insurers when deciding whether to allow a claim, what elements to pay for, and how much to pay. If your roof is less than ten years old, it is considered relatively new, and it’s likely that you will receive a larger amount for its repair and restoration.
If your roof is older than ten years old, it can be proved it has been poorly maintained, or it’s obvious the extensiveness of the damage is due to the poor condition, rather than the unexpected event, only part of the cost may be met or the claim may be disallowed.
Damage caused to the roof by an unexpected event is a key phrase in your buildings insurance policy affecting all aspects of building damage, not just roof damage.
If the leaking roof is caused solely by damage rendered by an unexpected event, then the necessary roof leak repair should be covered. If the roof leaks in heavy rain or the damage caused by water leaking from roof are due to previously broken roof tiles, an existing hole in the waterproof roofing membrane, damaged flashing or blocked guttering, your building insurance probably will not cover your roof leak repair cost. Unless you can prove this damage resulted from the unexpected event. These types of roof damage are often a result of poor maintenance, or expected wear and tear on the roof, and not considered a coverable insurance risk.
The roofing insurance element of a buildings insurance policy is designed to protect you against roof damage requiring a roof leak repair and the resultant roof leak repair cost if something untoward happens to your roof. If the roof leaks in heavy rain because of an existing fault, this is considered avoidable, through routine roof maintenance, and not covered by your insurance policy.
If you have a non-standard building construction, then this may require a different type of insurance cover, not offered by all home insurance companies. Flat roof insurance is an example of this.
From an insurance point of view, a flat roof is considered riskier to insure than a standard gable roof. This is because they have a gentle pitch, usually 10 degrees, which may allow water and snow to build up. Consequently, they are often more prone to storm damage. Water leaking from roof into the property, is more likely after heavy rain and snow, than for a roof with a steeper pitch that allows better drainage.
Even when offered, flat roof insurance will only cover your roof damage if caused by natural disasters, adverse weather conditions, and the other standard inclusions. Damage and leaks resulting from inadequate roof maintenance and expected wear and tear will usually be excluded from the insurance cover.
The best ways to protect yourself against roof damage and water leakage from roof is twofold:
Roof fall protection relates to protecting professional roofers against falls from a roof when they are working on residential and commercial property. Whilst the term is more common in North America, such protection should be part of any public and employers liability policy your roofing contractor has. This type of risk is not usually covered in your buildings insurance policy and is usually the responsibility of your roofing or building contractor.
You should check that your builder or roofing contractor has appropriate employers liability and public liability insurance.
Your contractor should also undertake a risk assessment of the job before it commences for health and safety purposes. Appropriate safety equipment should be used, such as scaffolding so that the contractors can work safely.
We Beat or Match Any Quote
Call 0330 912 4843 and we’ll beat or match any quote.
Serious About Service
24/7 claims support & rated Excellent on Trustpilot
Cover Match Guarantee
Get a £50 gift card if you find something we don’t cover
All Gas Boilers Covered
All makes and models, regardless of age
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
__cfruid | session | Cloudflare sets this cookie to identify trusted web traffic. |
AWSALBCORS | 7 days | This cookie is managed by Amazon Web Services and is used for load balancing. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement | 1 year | Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category . |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
CookieLawInfoConsent | 1 year | Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. |
PHPSESSID | session | This cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed. |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_uetsid | 1 day | Bing Ads sets this cookie to engage with a user that has previously visited the website. |
_uetvid | 1 year 24 days | Bing Ads sets this cookie to engage with a user that has previously visited the website. |
AWSALB | 7 days | AWSALB is an application load balancer cookie set by Amazon Web Services to map the session to the target. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_ga | 2 years | The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors. |
_ga_X89BZ20HEM | 2 years | This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. |
_gat_UA-77274851-4 | 1 minute | A variation of the _gat cookie set by Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to allow website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to. |
_gcl_au | 3 months | Provided by Google Tag Manager to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services. |
_gid | 1 day | Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. |
_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress | 30 minutes | Hotjar sets this cookie to detect the first pageview session of a user. This is a True/False flag set by the cookie. |
_hjFirstSeen | 30 minutes | Hotjar sets this cookie to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether it was the first time Hotjar saw this user. |
_hjIncludedInPageviewSample | 2 minutes | Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's pageview limit. |
_hjIncludedInSessionSample | 2 minutes | Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's daily session limit. |
_hjTLDTest | session | To determine the most generic cookie path that has to be used instead of the page hostname, Hotjar sets the _hjTLDTest cookie to store different URL substring alternatives until it fails. |
CONSENT | 2 years | YouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data. |
MR | 7 days | This cookie, set by Bing, is used to collect user information for analytics purposes. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
__qca | 1 year 26 days | The __qca cookie is associated with Quantcast. This anonymous data helps us to better understand users' needs and customize the website accordingly. |
_fbp | 3 months | This cookie is set by Facebook to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website. |
IDE | 1 year 24 days | Google DoubleClick IDE cookies are used to store information about how the user uses the website to present them with relevant ads and according to the user profile. |
mc | 1 year 1 month | Quantserve sets the mc cookie to anonymously track user behaviour on the website. |
MUID | 1 year 24 days | Bing sets this cookie to recognize unique web browsers visiting Microsoft sites. This cookie is used for advertising, site analytics, and other operations. |
test_cookie | 15 minutes | The test_cookie is set by doubleclick.net and is used to determine if the user's browser supports cookies. |
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE | 5 months 27 days | A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface. |
YSC | session | YSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages. |
yt-remote-connected-devices | never | YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. |
yt-remote-device-id | never | YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_dlt | 1 day | No description |
_hjSession_549866 | 30 minutes | No description |
_hjSessionUser_549866 | 1 year | No description |
hometree_landing | session | No description |
hometree_qs | session | No description |
hometree_referer | session | No description |
outbrain_cid_fetch | 5 minutes | No description available. |
wisepops | 2 years | No description available. |
wisepops_activity_session | session | No description |
wisepops_session | session | No description available. |
wisepops_visits | 2 years | No description available. |