Does Home Insurance Cover Roof Repairs? What’s Actually Covered — and What Isn’t

Buildings insurance covers sudden, unexpected damage to your roof — a storm, a fire, a falling tree. It does not cover wear and tear, gradual deterioration, or damage caused by poor maintenance. That single distinction is where most refused roof claims are decided, and it is the reason a documented maintenance history matters far more than most homeowners realise.

Below we explain what is normally covered, what isn’t, why claims get turned down, what actually counts as a “storm”, and the one thing that genuinely strengthens your position. This is general information rather than advice about your policy — always check your own policy wording, and speak to your insurer or broker about your specific circumstances.

Does home insurance cover roof repairs? The short answer

It depends entirely on what caused the damage.

Usually covered — damage caused by an insured event:

• Storm damage — tiles lifted by high winds, damage from driving rain, hail or snow load

• Falling trees, branches and debris — including chimney pots and objects dislodged in a storm

• Fire and explosion

• Impact — a vehicle, or something else striking the property

• Vandalism and malicious damage

Usually not covered — things insurers treat as your responsibility:

• Wear and tear — the natural ageing of the roof

• Gradual deterioration — slipping tiles, perishing felt, corroding flashing, rotting timber

• Poor maintenance — including blocked gutters, tiles left unreplaced, and leaks not dealt with when first noticed

• Pre-existing damage — anything already there when the policy started

• Damage from DIY work or from defects in the original construction

Insurance is built for the sudden and unexpected. It was never designed to pay for a roof getting older.

What actually counts as a “storm”?

This catches people out constantly, because “it was really windy” and “there was a storm” are not the same thing to an insurer.

The Association of British Insurers describes storm conditions in terms of measurable thresholds — broadly, wind gusts around 55mph, or heavy rain around 25mm an hour. Definitions vary between providers, so your policy wording is what counts. But the practical implication is this: if your tiles came off in a 40mph blow, your insurer may reasonably argue there was no storm — and that the tiles came off because of how they were fixed, or how old they were.

Which is, of course, a maintenance question.

Why roof claims get refused

Most refusals come down to cause. The common reasons are:

• The damage is judged to be wear and tear rather than the result of an insured event

• The roof was already in poor condition, so the storm merely finished off what age had started

• Wind speeds were below the policy’s storm threshold

• There is no evidence of upkeep — nothing to show the roof was being looked after

• The damage was reported late, allowing further damage the insurer won’t cover

When a claim is disputed, the Financial Ombudsman Service typically looks at three things: did storm conditions actually occur at or near the property; is the damage consistent with storm damage; and was the storm the main cause, rather than wear and tear or gradual deterioration. That third test is where a lot of claims fail.

The wear and tear trap

Here is the uncomfortable part. A well-built, well-maintained roof should last somewhere in the region of 20 to 30 years. But once a roof passes roughly 15 years old, some insurers will start treating leaks as wear and tear by default — which means the older your roof gets, the more of the risk quietly shifts back onto you.

It is worth checking your policy for exactly this. Some policies limit or exclude cover on older roofs entirely; others are silent on it and leave it to be argued at claim time. Either way, the older the roof, the more the burden falls on you to show it has been maintained.

The thing that actually protects you: a maintenance record

You cannot control the weather, and you cannot control how an insurer defines a storm. What you can control is whether there is evidence that you looked after your roof.

Insurers expect homeowners to take reasonable care of their property. If a loss adjuster turns up to a house with blocked gutters, moss-choked valleys and three tiles that have been off since last spring, “neglect” is an easy conclusion to reach. If instead you can produce a dated record showing the roof was inspected each year, the gutters were cleared, and defects were put right when they were found, that argument becomes very hard to make.

It is standard advice for a reason: keep the paperwork for any work done on your roof, so you can show it was well maintained. The problem is that most homeowners have no paperwork, because they have never had anything done — and you cannot produce a record of maintenance that never happened.

You also cannot see your own roof. That is the whole difficulty. An annual inspection with photographs is the only practical way most people ever find out what condition their roof is actually in — and it doubles as the evidence.

What we are — and what we’re not

We want to be completely straight about this, because the distinction matters.

Roof Helpline plans are service and maintenance agreements. They are not insurance, and they are not a substitute for buildings insurance. We don’t indemnify you against storm damage, and we’d never suggest you drop your buildings cover.

What our plans do is the other half of the equation: carry out the maintenance your insurer already expects of you, catch the small defects while they are still small and still your choice, and produce the dated record that shows it all happened. Buildings insurance handles the sudden and unexpected. Maintenance handles everything else — and everything else is what most roof problems actually are.

What to do if your claim is refused

If you believe a refusal is unfair, you have options. Ask your insurer to explain the decision in writing and to reassess. An independent roofer’s report on the cause of the damage often carries real weight, as does local weather data for the date in question, and any photographs or records you have from before the damage. If you’ve been through your insurer’s complaints process and still disagree with the outcome, you can generally refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, usually within six months of their final response.

Again — this is general information, not advice on your policy. Your insurer or an independent broker is the right person to talk to about your specific claim.

Roof Helpline plans

Roof Helpline is a proactive roof and gutter care service. Every plan starts with an onboarding inspection, then an annual maintenance visit, so you always know the condition of your roof — and always have the record to prove it:

• Gutter Care — £9/month: annual gutter clean, annual maintenance visit, 24/7 member support, 15% off repairs.

• Roof Care — £14/month: water ingress prevention, annual maintenance visit, 24/7 emergency call-out and member support, 25% off repairs.

• Gutter & Roof Combined — £19/month (most popular): both of the above, with 50% off repairs.

• Solar-Shield — £29/month: everything in Combined, plus roof penetration seal checks, debris and drainage checks, solar panel maintenance, and an annual professional PV clean and performance check.

Plans are service and maintenance agreements, not insurance. 12-month minimum term.

Want a roof you can actually evidence? Call 0800 135 7663 — Mon–Fri 7am–5pm, and 24/7 for members — or email hello@roof-helpline.co.uk.

Frequently asked questions