Roof insurance claim: what evidence to gather

Photograph the damage and the debris the same day, get a written report from a roofer saying what failed and why, and find a weather record for your own address on the date. Roof claims are rarely lost on whether there was a storm. They are lost on whether the storm caused the damage.

The short version

The ombudsman decides these disputes on three questions, and roof claims almost always turn on the third: were storm conditions the main cause, or would the damage have happened anyway.
The most valuable photograph in a roof claim is one taken before the damage. Hardly anybody has one, which is the whole argument for spending two minutes on it every autumn.
Photograph the debris on the ground before you clear it up. It is the evidence that the material came off during the event and not months earlier.
If your claim came back declined for wear and tear, you are not required to prove a negative. An insurer relying on an exclusion has to show that the exclusion applies.
Emergency work to stop further damage is expected of you. A permanent repair before anybody has assessed the roof destroys the evidence you need.

Read this first

What we can put in writing, and what we cannot do for you

We are not part of your claim. We can quote for the repair and we can put in writing what we found and what caused it. We do not handle claims, we do not deal with your insurer on your behalf, and we are not loss assessors. Claims management is a regulated activity and this firm is not in it. Everything below is about what you gather, so that whoever does handle it has something to work with.

That is a narrower job than it sounds, and it is still the most useful document in most files. A report from somebody who has been on the roof, describing what failed and what condition the surrounding work was in, is the only evidence in the bundle that speaks directly to cause. Photographs show what happened. A report says why. Ask for it dated, with the address on it, and ask for the photographs they took up there.

If the roof is not yours alone, because you rent or hold a lease, read who is actually responsible for storm damage to a roof first. Claiming on the wrong policy wastes weeks.

The test that decides it

The three questions the ombudsman asks

Gather evidence against the test that will actually be applied. If your claim ends in a dispute, the Financial Ombudsman Service asks three questions about storm damage, and it publishes them, in this order, in these words:

“Do we agree that storm conditions occurred on or around the date the damage is said to have happened?”
“Is the damage claimed for consistent with what we generally see as storm damage?”
“Were storm conditions the main cause of the damage or were there other factors that meant the damage might have happened anyway?”

All three have to be answered yes, and the second half of the third decides most roof claims: or were there other factors that meant the damage might have happened anyway. That is the gradual deterioration argument, written out by the body that settles the dispute. A slipped tile on a roof with corroded nails, soft battens and perished underlay is, on that test, a roof that was going to shed a tile sooner or later, and the storm was the occasion, not the cause. It is a legitimate argument, and it is the one your evidence has to answer.

Question one is the easiest to satisfy and the one people worry about most. The Association of British Insurers describes a storm as gusts of at least 55mph, rain of at least 25mm an hour, 30cm of snow in 24 hours or damaging hail. Treat that as an industry reference point rather than a rule: your policy need not use it, and the ombudsman applies its own looser definition where the policy is silent, saying explicitly that rain, hail or snow alone can amount to a storm without high winds. Unnamed weather is not fatal either, though a named storm and its warning colour settle question one faster.

The mapping

Which piece of evidence answers which question

The items below are not interchangeable, and forty photographs of the same slipped tile answer only one of the three questions. Work down the table and check you have something against each stage of the test. It is ordered by value, not by when you collect it.

Which of the ombudsman’s three questions each piece of evidence answers, and when you can still get hold of it
Evidence	Which question it answers	When you can get it
A dated photograph of the roof taken before the damage	Three, outright. Nothing else shows the roof was sound the week before	Only if you already took it. Two minutes from the lawn, every autumn
Photographs of debris on the ground: tile fragments, ridge sections, torn felt, mortar, lead	Two and three. Fresh breaks show recent failure	The same day, before anybody tidies up
Photographs of the roof, wide and close, from the ground and from upstairs windows	Two. Wide shots show the extent, close shots show what failed	The same day, from ground level only
Photographs inside: stained ceiling, wet loft insulation, damaged contents	Two, and they establish the size of the loss rather than its cause	The same day, and again as it spreads
A written contractor report on what failed and what caused it	Three. The only document that addresses causation directly	Once the weather has cleared. Still worth getting weeks later
Weather records for your own address on the date	One, and only one. It proves nothing about causation	Any time. The ombudsman uses EuroTempest and WeatherNet
Maintenance records, previous invoices, an earlier roof survey	Three. Rebuts the argument that the roof was neglected	Whatever exists. Old invoices count
The insurer’s own report, and any aerial photograph it relied on	Three, from the other side. It shows how the exclusion was argued	Ask for it in writing as soon as a claim is declined
Receipts for emergency work, temporary accommodation, drying	None of the three. They set the amount, not the outcome	Keep every one from day one

The top row is the one worth changing your habits over. A dated photograph of a sound roof, taken before anything happened, answers question three on its own, and it can only be taken in advance. That is the real reason for the pre-winter roof checks you can do from the ground: not what you spot from the lawn, but the pictures you keep.

Take all of it from the ground. The Health and Safety Executive says not to consider going on any roof in poor weather conditions, and puts the wind speed that affects a person’s balance at 23mph. No photograph is worth a ladder in a wind, and binoculars from an upstairs window show you more anyway.

If you cannot date it

What to do if you do not know when the damage happened

Not knowing the date does not sink the claim. Plenty of roof damage announces itself weeks late: a stain appears on a bedroom ceiling in March, and there have been four spells of bad weather since Christmas.

The ombudsman’s position on damage that shows up gradually is that where the customer does not know when the damage happened, because they were away or it was not noticeable straightaway, it is reasonable to look further back in the records. Say so plainly. Give the date you found it, say why you could not have found it earlier, and let them search a window rather than a day.

The weather data is less precise than people assume, and that cuts in your favour more often than against. The ombudsman names its providers, EuroTempest and WeatherNet, and is open about the limits: a station can be a few miles from the property, the weather you actually got could differ from what it recorded, and more than one station is sometimes looked at. If you are on an exposed site, a hilltop or a seafront, say so in writing. A reading taken four miles inland is not a description of your roof.

Write down what you remember while you still remember it: what you heard, what was in the garden the next morning, who else in the street lost tiles. A dated note made at the time reads very differently from a recollection offered eight weeks later.

If it has already been declined

Wear and tear, and who has to prove what

If your claim came back declined for wear and tear, fix the assumption first. Most people in that position start trying to prove a negative, that the roof was not worn out, which is close to impossible and is not what is being asked of them. The burden sits the other way round. The ombudsman tells insurers, in guidance published for them rather than for you:

“Remember, if you’re relying on an exclusion then you must show that the exclusion applies. For example, if you think a flat roof has deteriorated, then you need to provide evidence to support this.”

So the first letter you write is not an argument. It is a request. Ask for the evidence the exclusion rests on: the surveyor’s report in full, every photograph, and the finding that the roof had deteriorated. Then ask whether what comes back shows deterioration or merely asserts it.

The aerial photograph, and why it may not be enough

Drone and aerial imagery is now routine in claims handling, and plenty of refusals rest on one picture taken from above without anybody setting foot on the roof. The ombudsman addresses that directly, again in guidance written for insurers:

“Sometimes we see reports where the roof hasn’t been inspected properly and the insurer has relied on an aerial photo. Unless the photo clearly shows deterioration, and this is explained in the report, then we may not be persuaded that you’ve shown the exclusion fairly applies.”

If that describes your letter, say so. An aerial photograph on its own, with no commentary explaining what in it shows deterioration, may not carry the exclusion. Nails, battens, underlay and mortar are what actually fail on a pitched roof, and not one of them is visible from above. That is where a report from somebody who has been on the roof earns its keep.

The rule behind the complaint

Two more things give you footing. The Financial Conduct Authority requires insurers to handle claims promptly and fairly and not to unreasonably reject a claim. That is a rule in the FCA Handbook, not a courtesy, and quoting it puts you on firmer ground than being cross. The insurer then has eight weeks to answer a formal complaint before you can take it to the ombudsman, which costs you nothing. Keep the complaint to the three questions and attach your evidence against each one.

The mistake that cannot be undone

Do not have the roof rebuilt before it has been seen

Rebuilding the roof before the insurer has seen it cannot be walked back. Emergency work to prevent further damage is expected of you and is normally fine: a tarpaulin, a temporary cover, buckets, pulling wet insulation clear.

Permanent reinstatement before the insurer has inspected the roof or agreed a process destroys the evidence and hands over the gradual deterioration argument for free. Once the old covering is in a skip, nobody can say what the nails and battens were like.

Ring the claims line before you authorise anything permanent, and ask three things: what emergency work you can instruct, whether they need to inspect first, and what happens to the material that comes off. Write down who you spoke to and when. If a section has to be stripped to make it safe, ask for the removed material to be kept and photographed.

The same goes for tidying up. The instinct after a bad night is to sweep the drive before the children are up, and it is the wrong instinct on the one morning it matters. Photograph first. The running order for the first day is in what to do in the first 24 hours after storm damage.

Photograph the debris where it landed, then the roof from the ground and from upstairs windows, then the damage indoors. Use a phone, so the date travels with the file.
Ring the claims line before authorising anything permanent, and write down what they tell you.
Get a written report from a roofer saying what failed and what caused it, dated, with the address on it, and ask for their photographs.
Find a weather record for your own address, or ask the insurer to search a window if you cannot pin the day down.
Dig out anything historical: old invoices, a previous survey, any photograph of the roof from before.
If it is declined, ask for the evidence the exclusion rests on before you argue.

When you want somebody to look at it properly, that is what our roofing work covers, and the written findings come with the visit. Thomas comes out himself, goes over the roof and puts in writing what he found, what caused it and what it would take to put right, itemised.

You can ask for a written quote or get in touch and describe what you are looking at. If the water is coming in through the stack rather than the covering, that is a repointing job, and it is worth knowing before you claim, because the cause on the report is the part that matters.

Questions

Common questions

What evidence do I need for a roof damage claim?

Photographs of the debris before it is cleared, photographs of the roof and the damage indoors, a written report from a roofer saying what failed and what caused it, and a weather record for your own address on the date. The report is the one that addresses cause.

My claim was declined for wear and tear. Do I have to prove the roof was sound?

No, the Financial Ombudsman Service tells insurers that if they are relying on an exclusion, they must show that the exclusion applies and provide evidence to support it. Ask for that evidence in full before you argue with the decision.

Can an insurer decline a roof claim on an aerial photograph?

Not comfortably, the ombudsman says that where a roof has not been inspected properly and the insurer has relied on an aerial photo, unless the photo clearly shows deterioration and the report explains it, the ombudsman may not be persuaded the exclusion fairly applies.

What if I do not know which storm caused the damage?

Say so: the ombudsman's position is that where the customer does not know when the damage happened, because they were away or it was not noticeable straightaway, it is reasonable to look further back in the weather records.

Can I get the roof repaired while the claim is being decided?

Emergency work to prevent further damage is expected and normally fine. A permanent repair before the insurer has inspected the roof or agreed a process removes the evidence and makes the gradual deterioration argument much easier to run against you.

Related advice

The guides below pick up where this one leaves off, and the roofing page covers the work itself and the places we cover, if you would rather have the job looked at.

Roofing, and where we cover All advice articles

Who wrote this

Thomas Hannen

Thomas owns Bournemouth Roofing & Building and prices every job himself instead of sending somebody else. The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, number 15471719, registered in England and Wales. If you want to talk something through before you commit to anything, the site visit and the written itemised quote are both free.

Making an insurance claim for roof damage: what evidence to gather