The short answer
It depends on your lease, and in many flats the freeholder or a management company repairs the roof and recovers the cost from leaseholders through the service charge. A top-floor flat owner may still be liable if the lease includes the roof in the demise. Read the repairing covenants and the schedule of the building's structure before anyone books work.
Where the lease puts the roof
A lease is a contract, and the answer sits in its wording. Two clauses matter most. The first is the demise, the description of what you actually own for the length of the lease. In most blocks the demise stops at the inside face of the walls and the underside of the ceiling slab, which leaves the roof outside it. The second is the repairing covenants, which say who looks after the structure, the roof and the common parts, and who pays.
Where the freeholder or a residents' management company holds that duty, leaseholders usually contribute through a service charge, in the proportion the lease sets. Occasionally the lease is written differently, particularly in older conversions and in small blocks of two or four flats, where the top-floor flat may own the roof above it. That is why we never say who is responsible without seeing the lease. If you are unsure, ask a solicitor who handles leasehold property to read it.
Look also for a schedule that lists the parts of the building the landlord maintains. Words such as roof, roof structure, main walls and foundations normally appear there, and a flat roof over a single-storey rear extension may be named separately from the main roof. Share-of-freehold flats, where the leaseholders jointly own the building, follow the same logic but the residents themselves arrange the work.
Freeholders, managing agents and residents' companies
Three different parties often appear in these conversations, and each does something different. The freeholder owns the building and normally holds the repair duty. A managing agent is hired to run the block day to day, which includes arranging inspections and contractors, collecting the charge and keeping records. A residents' management company, where there is one, is owned by the leaseholders themselves and often takes over the freeholder's duties.
For a leak, the right contact is usually the managing agent, in writing, along with pictures that carry a date, and say where the water appears and when it started. Put the request in an email or letter, because that creates a record of the day you reported it and what you asked for. If no agent exists, write to the freeholder at the address on your lease or service charge demand.
It is reasonable to ask for the roof's inspection history and any planned works. That information helps you understand whether a fault is isolated or part of a pattern.
Flat roofs and what tends to go wrong
Flat roofs on flats are commonly covered with felt, EPDM or GRP, and each ages differently. MyBuilder's flat roof guide, updated in August 2026, says a flat roof typically lasts 15 to 30 years, and the spread reflects workmanship and upkeep. Failures usually start where the covering ends: at upstands, parapet junctions, rooflight kerbs, outlets and laps. Ponding adds weight and speeds wear.
The effects reach leaseholders long before the roof is replaced. Stains appear on top-floor ceilings, water tracks along walls and damp spreads to flats below. Because the roof is shared, the damage may show in a flat that is not directly under the fault, which is why one resident's complaint can point to a building-wide problem.
Water that travels through a floor void can emerge several metres from where it entered, so a neighbour's stain and your own may share a single source. Comparing notes with other residents is often the quickest way to narrow down where the roof has failed.
Our flat roof condition survey page explains how a survey records the covering, falls and details, with photographs to share with the managing agent.
Getting repairs agreed and paid for
Larger repairs and replacements can bring formal steps, such as notices to leaseholders before the work starts. Those steps are legal matters, so ask a leasehold adviser or solicitor what applies to your block, because we do not advise on them.
What we can do is give the managing agent something concrete to work with. Our survey produces pictures of the roof, taken at the points that matter, and the written quote that follows covers either a repair or a replacement. Our approach is to put forward the lightest job that cures the problem. A patch to one failed joint costs less and disrupts residents less than a new covering, and the pictures show whether a patch is realistic or whether the membrane is worn out across the whole roof.
If agent and leaseholders disagree on whether the roof needs replacing, an independent survey provides a neutral reference point. It also gives the residents a shared document to discuss at a meeting, instead of each person relying on a different contractor's opinion. The overview of roof inspections and surveys explains what a visit includes.
When it leaks and nothing is moving
Delay is the frustrating part of leasehold repairs. If the water is coming in now, protect belongings, photograph the damage each day, and put your report in writing to the agent or freeholder. Keep a copy of every message. If you have contents or buildings cover, tell your insurer promptly too, and keep receipts for any emergency work.
Keep a simple log of dates, messages and replies, and ask for a reference number if the agent has a repairs system. Do not go onto a communal roof yourself, and do not hire a roofer to repair a roof you do not own without the freeholder's agreement, since that can cause disputes over who pays. The usual route is that the managing agent instructs the work or approves a contractor.
For the practical steps in a wet-weather leak, see our page on roof inspection in the rain, and for a landlord who owns the whole building, landlord roof inspections.