Flats and shared roofs

Who is responsible for the roof on a block of flats or a converted house?

Who must repair a shared roof is set by paperwork, not by who lives under it. Below: where to look, and the rules that apply to the work.

The short answer

Your lease and the title to the building decide it, so read those before anyone orders work. In a block or a converted house, a lease can place the roof with the freeholder or a management company for the whole building, with the cost shared among leaseholders. Never assume the top-floor flat owns the roof above it. Whoever is responsible, flats have no permitted development rights, so planning and Building Regulations questions still arise.

4 min read · Part of Roofing in Folkestone

A hipped red-tile roof on a white-rendered bungalow — A converted house with a shared pitched roof over three flats

Where the answer is written down

Responsibility for a roof is a matter of ownership and contract, and both are on paper. Look in these places, in this order.

Your lease. It sets out who repairs the structure, roof included, and how any bill reaches leaseholders, which is why it comes first.
The title registers for the flat and for the building, which show who owns the freehold and the roof space.
Any management company or residents' company agreement, if the freehold is held collectively.
Your service charge accounts, which show past roof spending and any reserve.

A converted house can differ from a purpose-built block, because the conversion may have split the building into flats with a shared freehold, a freeholder who lives elsewhere, or leases of different ages. The same roof can therefore be one party's job in one converted house and a shared bill in the house next door, which is why you read your own documents rather than a neighbour's.

If the documents are unclear, ask for copies from the managing agent or the freeholder, and for a solicitor's view before you agree to pay a share of a bill. Do not rely on what a previous owner told you.

What a roofer can and cannot decide

A roofer can survey a shared roof and say what it needs. What a roofer cannot do is decide who pays, or order work on a roof that someone else owns. Those choices follow the lease and the owner.

So a survey of a shared roof is best commissioned by whoever holds responsibility for it, with the other leaseholders told in advance. It also explains why a quote for a block names the party giving the instruction. On a converted house, a single leaseholder who orders work on the whole roof without agreement can end up carrying a bill that the lease says is shared.

Where the roof is a flat roof over part of the building, the same rule applies: the lease says who looks after it, and the roofer's survey describes the condition. For how the survey notes and quote fit together, see the page on what a roofing quote should include.

We tell you whether the roof wants mending or renewing, and why; the person responsible then decides.

Planning, building control and neighbours

Rules that apply to roof work on flats
Subject	What to know
Planning	A flat has no permitted development rights, so a change to the outside needs permission
Building Regulations	The Planning Portal test applies to the roof and building envelope
Party walls	Work to a shared wall can need a notice from the building owner
Listed or conservation area	Listed building consent, or a check with the council first

The planning point comes from the permitted development order, whose definition of a dwellinghouse leaves out any building holding one or more flats, and any single flat inside it. In Canterbury City Council's words, flats and maisonettes do not have permitted development rights, and changes to the outside of a flat need planning permission.

On the Building Regulations side, an application is normally unnecessary for a re-roof under the Planning Portal's two thresholds, and a heavier covering needs approval at any size, so ask building control, or a registered approver, which applies to the building. Our party wall page covers notices where a shared wall is involved.

Practical steps for a shared roof

When a shared roof needs work, a steady order of events saves argument.

Photograph the damage, from inside and outside where safe.
Tell the freeholder or managing agent in writing, and keep a copy.
Ask for a survey of the whole roof, not only the part above your flat.
Ask what the lease says about consultation and cost.
Keep any temporary repair simple, such as sheeting, and keep the receipts, because the freeholder may need to see what was done and when.

Where a landlord intends to charge leaseholders for major works, a consultation process can apply. Our shared roof page and the guide on section 20 roof works explain the wider picture, so you know what to expect before a bill arrives. Ask the managing agent for any notice in writing, and keep it with your lease.

If the roof is listed or in a conservation area, check with the council before anything is ordered, since consent can be needed. Back to roofing in Folkestone for the full range of work.