Can I Sell My Home If It Has a Damaged Roof?
- 53% of UK homeowners believe that damage negatively impacts the salability of their homes.
- 78% of buyers considered a sound roof as a top priority when searching for a new home.
First things first, it’s not impossible to sell a house with a bad roof, but it is difficult. Today’s buyers, looking to keep costs low, are looking to buy homes that ae ready-to-move-in. In the market’s current climate of rising costs of materials and skilled workers like roofers mean that buyers want to buy homes that do not need any work, which might mean you’ll have to replace your roof before selling your home or have the home’s value impacted. Let’s dive deeper into the problem.
Is it worth replacing the roof?
The answer to this question is always going to boil down to cost. Depending on the extent of damage to your roof, and the type of material you use to re-roof your property, then you might be able to save your profit. But if your roof is about to cave in, it might not be worth repairing as there’s no guarantee you can recoup your investment if you need a full refurbishment. So, you might want to price up the job first or consider the cost of replacing a roof here.
The cost to reroof a house in the UK
A watertight property will appeal to any buyer, making it mortgageable and easier to sell. Typically, replacing a roof can take up to one week, but this will depend on the damage and the extent of the damage caused by your problematic roof. Costs will also typically include:
- The hiring and installation of scaffolding at the property could cost £1,000 or more for larger homes.
- New roof tiles that match the existing roof tiles. See types here.
- New joists if existing joists are rotten.
- New treated timber roof battens.
- Breathable roof membrane sheets for the roofing underlay.
- Labour costs to remove and dispose of the old roof tiles.
- A skip for any rubbish or builder’s waste, including a permit.
The typical 3-bed property that’s semi-detached could cost around £10,000 for a new roof. However, costs will depend on your roof material, the roof’s condition, damage extent, and location. Costs can extend up to £18,000 or more. However, remember that the average roof replacement cost is between £3,700 and £12,000. The bigger the problem, the more expensive the fix. New roof costs.
You’ll have to disclose problems
UK laws and regulations dictate that sellers must disclose as much information as possible about their property to prospective buyers, which means telling them about a bad roof.
You should never hide a bad roof from a buyer because they will inevitably find out anyway, which could result in a court case against you for not disclosing the fact.
Sadly, we understand that disclosing this information can make prospective buyers lose all interest in buying your home, making it difficult to sell.
Evaluating the impact on sale price
- Minor repairs required = 5-10% decrease
- Major repairs required = 15-30% decrease
- Structural damage/extensive leaks = 30-50% decrease
Selling a home with a leaking roof
- Assess the extent of the roof’s damage by hiring a professional roofer.
- Obtain multiple quotes from roofing companies to compare prices and services.
- Consider the cost of repairs vs selling the property as-is
- Be transparent and disclose the roof damage.
- Implement effective marketing strategies that highlight the property’s unique selling points despite the roof’s damage.
- Negotiate the sale price, knowing the true value of the property and the cost of necessary repairs.
Click here to learn how to identify damage to your roof after storms.
Houses can sell with a leaking roof, but a building survey will quickly highlight the problem and recommend a damp or dry rot survey as a follow-up. If this is the case, you likely won’t be able to achieve full market value for the property. So, instead of wasting time and paying holding costs for mortgages, council tax and insurance, you might consider selling the home for cash as a workaround. Learn how to fix a leaking roof.
When coming to sell your home, you’ll have to decide whether to invest in repairing or replacing the bad roof or to sell “as is”, which means that you’ll take no action to fix the issue and instead seek a buyer for the property in its current state. To understand which direction will be the right move, you’ll need to draw up a budget for the sale of your property, which includes how much time and money you have available to repair or replace the roof, as well as how quickly you want to sell the home and the amount of profit you want to make on the sale. Can you replace only half a roof?
So, calculate whether fixing the bad roof is within your budget, and in the meantime, do not pursue such work if it means you have to sell the house or are at a loss once you have deducted the costs for addressing the bad roof problem.
Fixing the problem could be helpful because you could attract buyers again and increase the value of the home because of the work you’ve done. It’s not a requirement to sell your home. Still, if you ignore the problem, then you should prepare to sell your home at a reduced asking price because prospective buyers will realise that it’s a cost they’ll have to encounter once they own your home and will naturally want to discount this cost from the total property of the purchase.
