Hiring a roofer

When you have a roof repaired or replaced, several sets of rules come with the work. It covers England and Wales.

Getting quotes

Citizens Advice suggests getting written quotes from at least 3 traders before you choose one. A quote is a fixed price. An estimate is only a rough guess, so the final bill can be higher.

Citizens Advice says a trader cannot charge more than the quoted price unless you ask for extra work, or agree to pay for extra work they find. A genuine mistake in working out the price is the other exception. Citizens Advice says to be wary of a trader who will not put a quote in writing.

Before you say yes, check the trader has the right insurance. Try to get a written contract before you tell them to go ahead.

Planning permission

The Planning Portal says work to the roof of a house that does not materially change how it looks will usually not need planning permission. Re-roofing is its example.

Some changes, such as adding roof lights, fall under permitted development rights for houses. A roof light must not stick out more than 150 millimetres from the slope of the roof. These rights do not apply to flats.

If your home is listed or in a conservation area, Citizens Advice says to check with your local council before any work. A listed building may need listed building consent.

This guidance is for England. The Planning Portal notes that policy in Wales may differ.

Building regulations

GOV.UK lists replacing the covering of a pitched or flat roof among the work that may need building regulations approval. The Planning Portal says that in most cases, re-roofing does.

Changing to a different material, such as slate to tiles, is likely to need approval. A much heavier or lighter covering can mean the roof structure needs strengthening. The Planning Portal advises checking with a structural engineer or surveyor first.

When a roof is re-covered, the work should also improve its insulation.

A roofer registered with a competent person scheme can certify their own work, so you do not have to apply for approval. GOV.UK keeps the list of schemes approved for roof coverings.

Without approval you will not have the certificates you may need when you sell your home.

Scaffolding and working at height

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says the law requires all roof work to be planned so it is carried out safely. Almost one in five deaths in construction work involve roofs.

On a sloping roof, HSE says scaffolding is needed to stop people or materials falling from the edge. Edge protection must be fitted at the eaves, and on a terraced house at the back as well as the front. For short tasks lasting minutes, properly secured ladders and roof ladders may be used.

When the work is on your own home, the client's legal duties under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 normally pass to your roofer, where the roofer is the only contractor.

Bats in the roof

All bat species, and the places where they breed and rest, are protected by law. GOV.UK lists repairing or replacing a roof among the work that can harm bats.

It is against the law to deliberately injure or kill a bat, to damage or destroy a roost, or to block access to one. Anyone found guilty can be sent to prison for up to 6 months, given an unlimited fine, or both.

If you think bats roost in your house, the National Bat Helpline gives free advice on behalf of Natural England. It cannot advise on building work that needs planning permission. An expert's bat survey shows how bats use a building. If harm to bats cannot be avoided, you can apply to Natural England for a licence.

Party walls

In England and Wales, you must tell your neighbours before building work on a party wall. That is a wall shared with the house next door.

GOV.UK gives examples, including cutting into a party wall, making one taller, and removing chimneys from one. If roof work includes any of these, the rules apply.

When the work is not done properly

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, a roofer must carry out the work with reasonable care and skill. If no time was agreed, the work must be done within a reasonable time.

What the roofer says or writes about the work becomes part of the contract if you take it into account in deciding to go ahead.

If the work falls short, you can require the roofer to do it again. They must then do so within a reasonable time and at their own cost. If that is impossible, or they fail to put it right in reasonable time, you can claim a price reduction. Where it is appropriate, the reduction can be the full price.

Cancelling a contract agreed at home

A contract agreed with a roofer in your home, rather than at the roofer's premises, normally carries a right to cancel.

For repair or fitting work alone, you usually have 14 days from the day you agreed the contract. A contract that also supplies goods, such as new roof windows, can count as a sales contract. For those, the 14 days usually start when the goods reach you. If the roofer never gave you the information about your right to cancel, the time limit runs for up to 12 months longer. If they give it to you later, you have 14 days from the day it reaches you.

The roofer must not start work in that period unless you ask them to. For a contract agreed at home, that request must be on paper or another lasting form. If you then cancel, you pay for the work done so far, in proportion to the full price. You pay nothing if the roofer did not tell you about your right to cancel. Once the work is finished, the right to cancel ends.

If you asked a roofer to visit for urgent repairs, the right to cancel does not cover those repairs. It still covers any extra work or goods they sell you on that visit.

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