People move to Basingstoke for the rail line to London and Southampton, the schools, the open country on the edge of town and a choice of housing from Victorian terraces to estates built in the last twenty years. Whatever the attraction, the house you buy comes with a roof, and the roof is both the most expensive single repair on most homes and the one most often skimmed over in a viewing. A good survey will flag problems, but you will make better use of it, and a better offer, if you have already looked for yourself. This guide is a checklist for the two or three visits before an offer and the weeks between offer and completion.
Start with the era of the house
The age of a house tells you what the roof is probably made of and what it tends to need. A terrace or semi from the Victorian or Edwardian period will usually have slate or clay tiles, with lead at the junctions and chimneys in lime mortar. A 1930s or 1950s house is often clay or early concrete tile, and may have no felt at all. The big estates of the 1960s and 1970s, such as Winklebury, Viables and Kempshott, mostly have low-pitched concrete tile roofs and flat-roofed garages. Houses from the 1980s and later have steeper concrete tile roofs, and the newest are usually dry-fixed. Our guide to Basingstoke housing and roof types goes through each era and its common faults.
What to see from the street
Stand across the road, preferably in daylight after a dry spell, and take your time. Binoculars help, and a phone camera zoomed in can capture what you cannot see by eye. Check these in turn:
- The ridge line. Is it straight, or does it dip or bow? A sag can mean a structural problem or old timbers under strain.
- Tiles or slates. Look for slipped, cracked or missing ones, patches of different colour that mark old repairs, and areas of heavy moss.
- Ridge and hip tiles. Look for gaps in the mortar, tiles that sit crooked, or a ridge that appears to have been re-bedded unevenly.
- Chimney stacks. Look at the mortar, the pots, any lean, and the lead flashing where the stack meets the roof.
- Gutters, fascias and soffits. Look for sagging runs, stained walls below the joints, peeling paint on timber boards and gaps at the eaves.
- Flat roofs. Check any on garages, porches, bays and extensions for ponding, bubbling and cracks at the edges.
- Roof windows and dormers. Look at the seals, flashings and any tile hanging round them.
None of these alone is a reason to walk away. Together they build a picture, and they give you something specific to ask the seller and surveyor about. Our checklist in roof inspection checklist goes into more detail.
What to see inside the house
A roof leak shows indoors. Look at ceilings on the top floor for brown rings, faint tide marks, cracks or fresh paint on one patch only. Check the corners of bedrooms and the area round chimney breasts and any roof windows. Smell for damp, particularly in cupboards and on landings. Ask directly whether the roof has ever leaked and when it was last repaired, and watch how the answer is given. A fresh patch of paint on an otherwise old ceiling is worth a polite question.
The loft is the most useful room in the house
Ask to go up. A torch and your phone camera are all you need. In the loft, look for these:
- Daylight showing through the roof covering, which means missing or broken tiles.
- Dark staining or water tracks on the underside of the felt and on timbers.
- Wet or compressed insulation, and mould spots on rafters, which suggest condensation or a leak.
- Cut or sagging rafters, particularly where a loft has been converted or a chimney breast removed.
- The type of felt: old bitumen felt that is brittle and torn, or a modern breathable membrane.
- Any spray-applied foam on the underside of the roof.
Our guide to inspecting your loft explains what each sign means. If the seller refuses access to the loft, treat that as information.
Spray foam: a check specific to modern buying
Spray foam insulation on the underside of a roof deserves its own caution. RICS published a consumer guide in March 2023 that describes how foam changes a ventilated cold roof into an unventilated warm one, and warns that a careless job can set off condensation and damage hidden behind the foam, where the visible face of a timber may read dry. Foam also makes the roof harder to inspect. Some lenders have declined mortgages on homes with it, though positions vary and change, so tell your broker early if you see it. Removal and a ventilation check are part of the fix. Our pages on spray foam and mortgages and selling a house with spray foam explain where that leaves a buyer.
Garages and asbestos
An old garage or outbuilding with a corrugated cement sheet roof may contain asbestos cement. It is not dangerous while it is intact and left alone, but breaking, drilling or pressure-washing it releases fibres. If the garage is in sound condition you can live with it, though the cost of eventual removal is a fair point in negotiation. Our guide to selling a house with an asbestos garage roof looks at it from the other side, and is my garage roof asbestos explains how to tell.
Flats, shared roofs and who owns what
In a flat or a maisonette the roof usually belongs to the freeholder, and repair costs are passed on through a service charge, sometimes as a large one-off bill. Ask for the last few years of service charge accounts, any planned major works and whether a roof repair is on the list. In a terrace or semi, the roof is yours but the ridge, the party wall and the gutters between houses may be shared. Our answers on who pays for a shared roof and party walls and roof work explain what to ask.
Solar panels and other things on the roof
Panels, aerials, satellite dishes and roof windows are all fixed through the covering, so each is a place to check for leaks and each can change the cost of a future re-roof. Panels may need removing and refitting by the right people, and they may be leased, which is a legal matter for your solicitor. If the house has panels, ask for the installation paperwork and look at the tiles around the fixings from the loft.
What a survey will and will not tell you
The level of survey you choose changes what is looked at. A mortgage valuation is for the lender and is not a roof inspection, and a more detailed building survey looks at the roof covering from the ground and, where access allows, from the loft. Surveyors usually inspect from ground level with binoculars, and they note what they can see, not what is hidden. Our pages on survey levels and roofs and whether a mortgage valuation spots roof problems explain the difference. If the survey flags the roof, you can ask for a closer look from a roofer before you decide. Our answer on what to do when a homebuyer survey flags the roof sets that out.
The paperwork worth asking for
Ask for anything that records work done on the roof. That means invoices for re-roofing or repairs, any guarantee, and Building Regulations completion certificates for notifiable work such as a full re-roof, a solid conservatory roof or a loft conversion. Our guide to Building Regulations for roofing work explains which jobs need them. A missing certificate is a matter for your solicitor, not a reason to panic, but it is worth raising early. Ask also about any roof windows, solar panels, aerials or satellite dishes fixed to the roof, and about shared or leasehold arrangements for flats, where the freeholder usually owns the roof.
Questions for the seller or agent
A few direct questions often get useful answers. When was the roof last worked on, and by whom? Has it ever leaked, and where? Is there a guarantee that transfers to a buyer? Has any insulation been added to the loft or the roof slope, and who did it? Have the gutters and fascias been replaced, and when? Was a Building Regulations certificate issued for any of it? Write the answers down, and compare them with what you see and with what your surveyor says. Gaps between the two are worth following up before you exchange.
Using what you find
A fault is a negotiating point as much as a worry. If the roof has a few years left, you might ask for a price reduction that reflects a likely re-roof, or for repairs before completion. If the faults are minor, you can budget for them. And if the survey flags something you cannot judge, a roofer's report with photographs gives your solicitor and the seller something concrete to respond to. Get any figure in writing. Our guide to how often roofs need to be replaced will help you judge how much life is left.
In the first year after you move in
Whatever the survey said, a moving-in checklist pays for itself. Clear the gutters once the first leaves have fallen. Look in the loft after the first heavy storm. Note any stains on top-floor ceilings. If you find a problem in the first months, photograph it, because it may be evidence in a dispute with the seller or an insurer. Our annual roof maintenance checklist sets out a simple routine, and the answer to roof problems after buying a house explains where you stand if something turns up.
How we can help a buyer
We offer a free survey with photographs of the roof in question, and a written report you can show your solicitor and the seller. If the roof is sound, we say so, and you can offer with more confidence. If it needs work, the report says what and gives a firm price, which is a stronger basis for negotiation than a guess. Any work we then carry out is backed by a ten-year guarantee on the workmanship, in writing. Start from our homepage, or call 01256 213956 when you have a house in mind.
