Roof Repairs in a Rented Home: Is It the Landlord or the Tenant Who Pays?
Written by the AJR Roofing team, Sheffield roofers working across South Yorkshire. Published 15 September 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026.
Almost every argument we get called into about a leaking roof in a rented house turns on the same misunderstanding: the tenant assumes the tenancy agreement decides it, and the landlord assumes a clause in that agreement can move the job across. It cannot. Landlord roof repair responsibility in England is set by statute, not by the contract, and section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 puts the structure and exterior of the dwelling — including drains, gutters and external pipes — squarely on the landlord.
That single sentence resolves most disputes before they start. What it does not do is tell you what happens next, who has to be told what, how quickly work must happen, or where the boundary sits in a converted flat. This guide covers all of that, from the point of view of a roofer who turns up after the argument has already happened.
What the Law Actually Says
Section 11 applies to most residential tenancies granted for a fixed term of less than seven years, which covers the overwhelming majority of private lets in Sheffield. It is an implied term: it sits in the tenancy whether or not anyone wrote it down.
Two features make it unusually strong.
First, it cannot be contracted out of. A clause making the tenant responsible for the roof is not merely unfair, it is ineffective. Landlords occasionally believe an “internal and external repairs” clause on a standard assured shorthold template has done the job. It has not.
Second, it names the parts, rather than leaving “structure” to argument. Gutters and external pipes are written into the section explicitly, which matters because guttering is exactly the item most often described to us as “only maintenance”.
Which Roof Parts Are Covered
In practice, the landlord’s side of the line takes in everything we would normally quote for on a domestic roof:
- The roof covering — tiles, slates, ridge and hip tiles, verges, the underlay and the battens beneath them.
- Flat roofs over a rear outrigger, bay or garage, including the felt, EPDM or GRP layer and its upstands.
- Chimney stacks and their flashings, flaunching and pots, where they form part of the structure of the dwelling.
- Rainwater goods — gutters, hoppers, downpipes and the gullies they discharge into.
- Fascias, soffits and bargeboards, as part of the exterior.
- Roof timbers — rafters, purlins and wall plates, which is where a long-ignored leak ends up.
What follows from that is the point most tenants miss: the landlord’s duty is to repair, not to improve. A roof that is old, ugly and cold but not failing is not automatically a disrepair claim. A roof that is letting water in is.
What the Tenant Is Responsible For
The tenant’s obligations are real, just much narrower. They come down to three things.
Use the property in a tenant-like manner. That is the old phrase and it still does the work: don’t break things, don’t let small jobs become big ones through neglect of the day-to-day, and do the minor tasks any occupier would do.
Report problems promptly. This is the one that changes outcomes. A damp patch reported in October is a slipped tile. The same damp patch reported the following April is a rotten ceiling, a stained chimney breast and a wall plate that needs splicing.
Allow access. A tenant who refuses entry for a repair is obstructing the landlord’s ability to comply, and a landlord who is repeatedly refused access has a defence. Access should be at a reasonable time of day and with proper written notice — twenty-four hours is the usual standard.
Damage caused by the tenant is a separate matter. If a tenant puts a satellite dish through a slate or drags a ladder across a flat roof, that repair is chargeable to them. That is not section 11 doing anything unusual; it is ordinary liability for damage.
Nothing Starts Until the Landlord Is Told
This is the single most expensive misunderstanding in the whole subject, and it costs tenants money.
For a defect inside the property, the landlord’s duty to act generally does not begin until they have notice of it. A tenant who waits nine months for the landlord to “notice the roof” has usually just lost nine months.
So report it in writing. An email or a message with a date on it is enough. Photographs, the date the patch appeared, and a note of which room and which wall are worth two hours of argument later. Government guidance for private tenants is explicit that repairs should be reported to the landlord or agent straight away, particularly where the fault could affect health.
How Long Is a “Reasonable Time”?
There is no fixed number of days in the statute, and anyone quoting you one is quoting a rule of thumb rather than the law. What the law requires is repair within a reasonable time, and “reasonable” is measured against the severity of the problem.
In roofing terms, that scales roughly like this:
- Water actively entering the property — live leak over a bedroom, water near a light fitting, a section of covering gone after a storm. This is an emergency. A temporary make-safe should happen within days, not weeks, even if the permanent repair waits for scaffold.
- Damp, mould or a stained ceiling with no active drip — weeks rather than months. Mould is a health issue, and councils treat it as one.
- Deteriorating but not failing — a cracked fascia, a sagging gutter run, moss build-up. Normal planned timescales apply.
Waiting for good weather is a legitimate reason to delay a full re-roof. It is not a reason to leave a hole open. A competent roofer can sheet, tarp or temporarily patch almost anything in a day, and the existence of that option is usually what makes a long delay unreasonable.
Flats, Freeholders and HMOs
Converted flats are where the simple answer stops being simple, and Sheffield has a great many of them.
If you rent a flat on an assured shorthold tenancy, your immediate landlord still owes you section 11. But your landlord may themselves be a leaseholder who does not own the roof. The roof usually belongs to the freeholder, and the cost typically comes back through the service charge. That does not change who you chase: you chase your landlord, and your landlord chases the freeholder.
Two practical consequences follow. Repairs to a shared roof take longer, because a third party controls the decision. And the landlord cannot use the freeholder’s slowness as a reason to do nothing at all — the interim make-safe is still theirs.
In a licensed house in multiple occupation, the roof sits inside the property standards the licence depends on, so the council has a direct interest in it beyond ordinary disrepair.
If the Landlord Will Not Act
When reporting has failed and the roof is still open, tenants in England have a route that does not require a solicitor.
The local authority can inspect the property under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. A leaking roof causing damp and mould is assessed as a hazard, and where a serious hazard is identified the council has enforcement powers it is obliged to use. In Sheffield that is the private housing standards team at the city council.
Deducting repair costs from rent is sometimes suggested online. It is a genuine remedy, but it is hedged with procedural steps that are very easy to get wrong, and getting them wrong turns a disrepair complaint into rent arrears. Take advice before going near it.
For Landlords: Why Early Beats Cheap
From the other side of the same job, the economics are not close.
A slipped slate replaced in autumn is a short access job. The same slate left through a winter takes water into the underlay, then the batten, then the plaster, and the eventual bill covers a roofer, a plasterer, a decorator and a period where the room is unusable. Meanwhile the tenant has a documented, dated complaint sitting unanswered.
Three things keep that from happening, and none of them are expensive:
- An inspection between tenancies. The void period is the only time access is free and nobody is inconvenienced. Our guide to what a roof inspection actually covers sets out what a proper one looks at.
- Clearing gutters annually. Blocked rainwater goods cause more internal damp in rented property than failed coverings do, and they are the cheapest item on any roof.
- Acting on the first report, even provisionally. A make-safe visit costs very little and resets the clock on what counts as reasonable.
If you have had a leak reported and you are not yet sure whether it is a repair or a replacement, our breakdown of what to do when a roof is leaking covers the triage, and our roof repairs service covers the rest.
AJR Roofing works with landlords, letting agents and tenants across Sheffield and the wider South Yorkshire area, including Rotherham, Chesterfield and Barnsley.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can a tenancy agreement make the tenant responsible for the roof?
No. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 is implied into most residential tenancies of less than seven years, and it cannot be contracted out of. A clause that tries to move responsibility for the structure and exterior onto the tenant has no effect, even if the tenant signed it.
Are gutters the landlord’s responsibility or the tenant’s?
The landlord’s. Gutters and external pipes are named in section 11 alongside the structure and exterior, so repairing them is a landlord duty. Routine clearing sits in a greyer area and is often handled by the landlord as sensible maintenance, but a gutter that is split, sagging or leaking is a repair.
How quickly does a landlord have to fix a leaking roof?
Within a reasonable time, measured against how serious the problem is. There is no fixed statutory deadline. A live leak entering a room is treated as urgent and should get at least a temporary make-safe within days; cosmetic deterioration can follow a normal planned timescale. Delay is far harder to justify once the tenant has reported it in writing.
Who repairs the roof of a rented flat in a converted house?
Your immediate landlord still owes you the repairing obligation, but the roof itself usually belongs to the freeholder and the cost is normally recovered through the service charge. Report it to your landlord or agent as usual. The fact that the freeholder controls the timing does not remove the landlord’s duty to make the property safe in the meantime.
What can a tenant do if the landlord ignores a roof leak?
Report it in writing and keep the dates, then contact the local council’s private housing standards team, who can inspect under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System and take enforcement action where a serious hazard is found. Citizens Advice and Shelter can advise on the further options, including a disrepair claim.