Is a Roof Guarantee Transferable When You Sell?

Two kinds of guarantee

A new roof can come with two separate guarantees, and mixing them up causes most of the confusion. The first is the roofer's workmanship guarantee. It says the roofer will put right faults in the installation, such as a badly laid tile, a leaking flashing or a failed seam, for a set number of years. It is a promise from the firm to the customer. The second is a manufacturer's product guarantee, which covers the material itself against defects, whether that is a tile, a slate, a membrane or a roof window.

They protect against different things. A tile that crumbles from a manufacturing fault is the maker's problem, and a tile that slips because it was nailed badly is the roofer's. Neither is the same as insurance, which responds to events such as storms and fallen trees. Our workmanship guarantee is ten years, in writing, and it is a promise from us, not an insurance-backed policy.

What the wording needs to say

Read the document for four things. First, who is covered: does it name the person who ordered the work, or the property? Second, what is covered and what is excluded, since many guarantees exclude storm damage, lack of maintenance and later work by other trades. Third, what you must do to keep it valid, which might be a duty to keep gutters clear or to use the same firm for any repair. Fourth, what happens on a sale: whether it passes automatically, whether the buyer must be notified within a set time and whether there is any charge.

If the document does not say, ask. A reputable firm will answer plainly, and the answer should be written on the guarantee or in an email you keep. We show our wording at the survey, including how it treats a change of owner, so you read it before you agree to the work.

Why buyers ask

A buyer's solicitor will often ask for evidence of work done to the house, and the roof is a major item. They may ask for the invoice, the guarantee, any building control completion certificate and a description of the work. A guarantee that clearly passes to the buyer is an asset; one that does not is still useful as evidence that the work was done and who did it. The page about whether you get a certificate for a new roof explains the other paperwork a buyer may want.

It also helps to hand over photographs. Pictures of the underlay, battens, flashing and ridge, taken while the roof was open, show a buyer what lies under the tiles. They are cheap to keep and hard to recreate after the event.

Manufacturer guarantees and registration

Product guarantees often have conditions of their own. Some must be registered within a few weeks of installation, some depend on the product being fitted by following the maker's instructions and some can be transferred once. Check the small print and register on the day, or ask the roofer to do so. Keep the batch numbers and the receipt. Where a product guarantee is long, it is only as useful as your ability to prove the product was fitted correctly, which is where the workmanship record and photographs help.

Keeping the paperwork together

Make a roof folder the day the job ends. Put in the signed quote, the invoice with the materials listed, the guarantee, the photographs, any building control certificate and the manufacturer's registration email. Scan it and store a copy somewhere other than the house. When you sell, hand the folder to your solicitor early, because the question usually arrives in the enquiries stage, when delays are costly. If you ever need to claim, the folder is also your proof of the date, the product and the contractor.

It is also sensible to write down any later work to the roof by other people, such as an aerial fitted or a solar array installed. Some guarantees are voided by alterations from another trade, and a note of who did what, and when, helps to show that a fault is not related.

If a firm closes

A workmanship guarantee depends on the firm still being around to honour it. That is a practical limit on every roofer's promise, and it is one reason to value the documents you hold and the quality of the original job. Choose a roofer that explains its guarantee in plain terms, offers the wording before work starts and does not make promises it cannot keep. To see a guarantee next to the life of the covering itself, read the lifespan answer.

Before you commit to any job, ask three questions: who is covered, for what and for how long, and what happens if I sell? We answer those at the survey, with a fixed written quote beside them. The job itself is covered under roof replacement.