Question answered
Roof insurance claim rejected: next steps
The short answer
If your roof insurance claim has been rejected, find the exact reason in the letter first. Then complain to the insurer and ask for its final response. Should that fail, or if eight weeks pass with no answer, the Financial Ombudsman Service can review the case at no cost. The deadline for that step is six months, counted from the day the final response was issued.
A refusal is a decision you are allowed to question. Pin down the reason, put your case in writing and, if the answer stays no, there is a free independent body that can look again.
Start with the reason written in the letter
Insurers seldom turn down a roof claim without naming a ground, and the ground tells you what to argue. The usual ones are that no storm took place on the date given, that the damage looks like age, that it crept up slowly, or that the policy excludes the cause altogether. Each calls for a different reply.
For storm cases the Financial Ombudsman Service looks at whether the weather that day really was a storm, whether the damage matches what such weather tends to do, and whether something else was behind it. Wear is the standard example: Which? points to a leak that comes through a roof nobody maintained, and the Ombudsman notes that slow deterioration is a frequent exclusion.
The burden also matters. The Ombudsman's position is that it falls to the insurer to demonstrate that any exclusion it relies on genuinely fits. So check whether the letter simply states a cause or explains how it got there. A bare assertion is worth querying in writing, politely and with a date for the reply.
Complain, wait for the final response, then escalate
Your first complaint goes to the insurer. Write to its complaints team, quote the claim number, name the finding you dispute and attach what you have. Ask for the final response in writing and keep a copy of everything you send.
Once eight weeks have passed without that final response, or if the one you get leaves you unhappy, the next stop is the Financial Ombudsman Service, which charges nothing. The clock then matters: six months run from the date shown on the final response itself, so note it in your diary the day the letter lands.
Read what the letter says about your right to go to the Ombudsman. That wording is how you know it is a final response and not an interim holding reply. The Ombudsman's storm damage page explains the process, and our wider emergency roof repairs section covers the practical side of getting the roof sorted while you wait.
Evidence that answers the insurer's stated cause
A rejection built on age is answered by showing what failed and how. Dated records help: the weather on the day, when you first saw the problem and pictures taken before anything was moved. Our page on photos for a roof claim lists what to capture, and from where.
A roofer's written findings can add weight, particularly when they say where the water got in, what shape the tiles, lead and timbers around it were in, and whether the fault looks sudden or long standing. When we survey a roof we trace the point of entry and photograph it, so the account of the cause rests on pictures of your own roof.
That report describes the fault. It does not settle cover. The insurer decides first and the Ombudsman reviews if you ask it to. Be wary of anyone promising the appeal will succeed, because nobody can know in advance how a claim will go.
Keep the roof protected while the dispute runs
A rejected claim does not stop rain. Further harm that follows from leaving a known opening unprotected can itself be argued against you, so keep the house covered and keep every receipt. Fixing the cause, whatever happens to the claim, is what ends the leak.
If the problem is a flat roof, the holding measures are described in our guide to an emergency flat roof leak. If a stack has come down, a chimney damaged in a storm covers the order of events. Where you are unsure whether the situation needs a roofer today, when to call an emergency roofer sets out the signs.
Before permanent work starts, photograph the fault once more and keep any removed material that shows how it failed. After a defect has been repaired and thrown away, the proof for any later review goes with it.
Weighing the cost of repairing against the cost of waiting
Occasionally the repair costs less than the excess plus the time a long dispute eats up. MyBuilder's national guide (updated 21 August 2026) lists £150 to £1,500 for a roof repair, with storm fixes at £500 to £1,500. Those figures are general. Your own price comes from the written quote we send after surveying your roof.
Appealing and repairing are not alternatives. You can protect the home now and carry on with the complaint at the same time, provided the evidence was recorded first. For a larger fault the sensible order is evidence, repair, then the complaint continuing on the paperwork you kept.
Where a roof has been damaged repeatedly, it may be worth asking what a more lasting repair would involve, so that the same opening does not feed a second claim.
Rejected roof claims: two further points
Does a rejected roof claim mean the insurer was right?
Not necessarily. Financial Conduct Authority figures reported by Which? show that only 32% of storm-related claims made in 2024 resulted in a payout, so refusals are common and some are overturned. Whether yours stands turns on the policy wording and the evidence about what actually caused the damage.
Should I wait for the appeal before getting the roof repaired?
Waiting leaves the building open to more water. Record the fault thoroughly first, with dated pictures and a short note on the likely cause, then make it safe. Ask the insurer in writing whether it wants to inspect, and file the reply with the rest of your paperwork.
Tell us about your roof
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