Does Home Insurance Cover Roof Leaks in Peterborough? What Decides a Claim

This guide sets out how insurers and the Financial Ombudsman Service tend to look at a leaking roof, using examples from the kinds of houses found across Peterborough. It explains how things usually work. It cannot tell you what your own policy says, and the wording in your policy is what counts.

Two Kinds of Leak: Sudden Damage and Slow Decline

A buildings policy lists the events it insures against, and storm is almost always on the list. The same policy will exclude loss caused by wear and tear, gradual deterioration or a lack of maintenance. Put simply, the insurance pays for things that happen to a roof. It does not pay for a roof getting old.

Real claims are rarely that tidy. A roof in good order can come through a gale untouched while the roof next door, already tired, loses a row of tiles in the same wind. So when an insurer looks at a claim, it is asking one practical question: did the weather cause this damage, or did the weather only reveal a fault that was already there and would have leaked sooner or later anyway?

What Counts as a Storm

The Financial Ombudsman Service settles disputes between insurers and their customers, and it has published how it reads the word. It says a storm "generally involves violent winds, usually accompanied by rain, hail or snow". It also accepts that very heavy rain, hail or snow falling in a short space of time can amount to a storm on its own, even without strong winds. That is worth knowing if you have a flat roof on a garage or extension, where a sudden cloudburst can overwhelm an outlet on a night with barely a breeze.

Many policies quote wind-speed or rainfall thresholds in their own definition of a storm, so check yours. The Ombudsman says it looks at historic weather data for the area and weighs all the evidence, rather than treating one wind-speed figure as the whole test.

The Ombudsman's Three Storm Questions

When someone complains that a storm claim was turned down, the Ombudsman works through three questions. In its own words:

1. "Do we agree that storm conditions occurred on or around the date the damage is said to have happened?" 2. "Is the damage claimed for consistent with what we generally see as storm damage?" 3. "Were storm conditions the main cause of the damage or were there other factors that meant the damage might have happened anyway?"

The first question is about the weather, and it is answered from recorded data for your area rather than from anyone's memory of a rough night. The second is about what the damage looks like. Whole tiles on the lawn, a ridge tile in next door's garden or a strip of felt torn back from the edge of a flat roof all read as wind. A damp patch that has been spreading across a bedroom ceiling since the spring does not.

The third question is where most disputes end up. It asks whether the storm was the main cause, or whether the roof was in such a state that it would have failed regardless. The Ombudsman is clear about who has to prove what here: "the onus is on the insurer to show that an exclusion applies". An insurer that wants to call damage wear and tear needs evidence that the roof was in poor condition before the storm, and the Ombudsman says a single aerial photograph is not usually enough on its own to show that.

Why the Roof's Condition Before the Storm Matters

Three examples from the housing around Peterborough show how the third question plays out.

The estate ridge. Peterborough was designated a New Town in 1967, and the new townships followed, Bretton from 1970 and Orton from the mid-1970s. Houses of that era were typically roofed in concrete interlocking tiles, with the ridge tiles bedded on mortar. Mortar does not last forever. On plenty of estate roofs it has been cracking and dropping out of the ridge for years, and the crumbs turn up in the gutter or on the path long before any water gets in. If a ridge tile finally works loose after that kind of slow decline, and rain follows, an insurer is likely to call it gradual deterioration. The third question tends to go against the claim, because the ridge was on its way out whatever the weather did.

The lifted row. Now take a house on the same street with a ridge that was sound. One night's gale catches the lower edge of the slope and lifts a whole row of concrete tiles, which land intact in the back garden. The weather records show strong gusts that night, two neighbours have lost tiles too, and the roof was fine the week before. That looks like storm damage on all three questions, and a refusal would be much harder for an insurer to justify.

The garage roof. Felted flat roofs on garages and extensions were common on estates of that period. A felt roof that has been blistering and splitting for several summers, with water sitting in the dips after every shower, is likely to be treated as wear and tear when it finally lets water through, even if the leak first appears during a wet and windy week. The same roof, sound until a gale peeled the felt back from its edge, is a different claim altogether.

The lesson in all three is that history counts. Photographs of your roof taken before any damage, invoices from earlier repairs and the survey from when you bought the house can all help show what state the roof was in. Keep them somewhere you can find them.

The First 48 Hours

What you do in the first two days shapes most of what happens next.

• Make the house safe first. Put buckets under drips, move furniture and electrics away from the water, and if tiles are hanging loose, ask a roofer to make the roof safe. Most policies expect you to take reasonable steps to stop further damage. Stay off the roof yourself.
• Take photographs before anything is moved or fixed. Photograph the ceiling, the tiles on the ground, the ridge and the gutters, from the garden and from an upstairs window if you can. Photos with the date recorded on them are the strongest evidence you will have.
• Write down the date and the weather. Note which night it happened and what the weather was doing. If the storm was named or warned about in the news, save a copy.
• Call your insurer before any permanent repair. A temporary make-safe is one thing. A full repair is another, and most insurers want the chance to see the damage, or at least a roofer's photographs and report, before it is put right.
• Keep every receipt. Tarpaulins, the emergency visit, a dehumidifier hired to dry out a room. Keep them all together.
• Ask the roofer for a written report on the cause. A report that says what failed and why, in a roofer's words, carries far more weight than your own description of the night.

The Excess and Small Repairs

Every policy has an excess. It is the fixed amount you pay towards each claim yourself, and it is set out in your policy schedule. Some policies also set a different excess for water damage inside the house, so check what applies to a leak that has reached a ceiling.

Compare that excess with what the repair is likely to cost. If a few tiles came off and the fix is small, the excess may swallow most of it, and a claim could still count against your no-claims record at renewal. In that situation many people pay the roofer directly and keep the claim for something bigger. Where a whole slope has been stripped and water has come through two ceilings, that is exactly what the policy is for. Our guide to roof repair costs sets out typical UK ranges, so you can see which side of that line your job is likely to fall.

If Your Claim Is Refused

A refusal is not always the final word, and challenging it costs nothing.

Start by complaining to the insurer, in writing, and ask for a final response. Explain why you believe the damage was caused by the storm, and send your photographs, the weather details and the roofer's report. The Ombudsman says a business has up to 8 weeks to consider most complaints.

If the final response does not resolve things, or 8 weeks pass without one, you can take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You need to do that within 6 months of the date on the insurer's final response. The service is free, and it says you do not need to pay anyone, such as a claims management company, to represent you. It will apply the same three questions described above.

What This Guide Is, and What It Is Not

This page describes how UK buildings insurance usually treats a leaking roof and how the Financial Ombudsman has said it approaches storm damage. It is general information only, not advice about your own policy — check your policy wording and speak to your insurer. Policies vary in their definitions, exclusions and excesses, and nothing on this page means that any particular leak will be paid for.

It depends on the cause. Buildings policies usually include storm as an insured event and usually exclude wear and tear and gradual deterioration. A leak caused by sudden storm damage is often within the scope of a policy, while a leak from a roof that has been failing slowly is often not. Your policy wording and the evidence decide which applies.

It can be. The Financial Ombudsman accepts that very heavy rain falling in a short time can amount to a storm without strong winds. The insurer will still look at whether the rain was the main cause, or whether a blocked outlet, cracked flashing or worn felt let the water in.

Make it safe, but hold off on the permanent repair until you have spoken to your insurer. A temporary cover to stop more water getting in is usually expected. Photograph everything before and after, keep the receipts, and ask the roofer to write down what they found.

Ask for the reason in writing and for any evidence behind it. Complain to the insurer first, with your photographs, weather details and a roofer's report. If you are still unhappy after the final response, or after 8 weeks, you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service for free.

Sometimes not. If the repair costs little more than your excess, a claim may gain you very little and could affect your no-claims record. Get a written quote for the repair first, compare it with the excess in your schedule, and then decide.

Getting a Quote in Peterborough

If the weather has damaged your roof, tell us what has happened and we will pass your enquiry to a local roofing firm covering your part of Peterborough. They can make the roof safe, photograph what they find and put the cause in writing for your insurer. Our page on storm damage repairs explains how that route works, and our roof repairs page covers everything else, from slipped tiles to leaking flashing.