The roof survey that finds where the water is really getting in

£350 for a typical London house or flat - one dwelling, up to three storeys, with the roof viewable from ground level, windows, garden or loft. The fee is the same whether the roof is a 60 m² terrace or a 100 m² semi, because the time goes into access and the number of roof elements, not the area. Where a detail cannot be seen from any of those positions, a drone inspection is added for £50 in the same visit. Blocks of flats, properties of four storeys or more, multiple buildings and commercial roofs are quoted from the scope, including any access equipment the inspection needs.

Roof coverings and junctions - tiles, slates, exposed membranes, valleys, ridges, hips, abutments, flashings, rooflights and service penetrations. Chimneys and parapets - stacks, flaunching, pots, lead flashings, copings and the masonry around them. Gutters and rainwater drainage - gutters, valley gutters, outlets, downpipes and discharge. Flat roofs - back-addition roofs, terraces and balconies, their upstands, outlets and ponding. The loft where accessible - timbers, underlay, insulation and the underside of the covering - and the ceilings and walls below with moisture readings. A written roof condition report with annotated photographs, a conclusion on the cause, what could and could not be reached, and a prioritised action order follows within 48-72 hours.

Yes, wherever there is a hatch. The loft is half the evidence: the underside of the covering, the timbers, the underlay and the insulation show where water has been coming in long before it reaches the ceiling. A ladder is brought to the visit, so none is needed from you. Stored items are worked around, not moved, and if the loft is boarded over or the hatch is sealed, the report records what could not be seen.

No. Walking a pitched roof is unsafe and cracks tiles and slates underfoot; HSE guidance is that work at height is avoided wherever there is a safer way and that fragile roof materials are never walked on. The roof is inspected from the ground, windows, garden and loft, from a secured ladder at the eaves where it helps, and from a flat-roof door or hatch where one exists. Where a detail cannot be seen from any safe position, a drone inspection is added for £50 in the same visit - which is how the surveyor gets a close view of a chimney or valley without anyone leaving the ground.

Almost never. Scaffold to a London terrace typically costs £800-£2,500 before anyone has looked at the roof, with a minimum hire of several weeks, and a cherry picker adds road closures, permits and parking suspensions. The roof is inspected from the ground, windows, garden, loft and roof access where it exists; where a detail cannot be seen from any safe position, a drone is flown for £50 in the same visit and photographs it at close range. Scaffold or a platform is only ever for the repair, or for a block or commercial roof where the inspection itself needs it - and the report says whether it will.

Clear a route from the hatch to the area below the stain if you can, and leave the hatch unlocked with a light working. Nothing else is needed - no ladder, no clearing the whole loft. If the loft is full, the survey still goes ahead: the surveyor inspects what can be reached safely and records the rest in the report.

No. Roof ingress is one possibility; plumbing leaks, condensation and historic moisture that never fully dried produce similar stains, and water that does come through a roof often travels along timbers and plaster before it shows, so the stain is rarely directly below the entry point. That is why the survey starts inside with moisture readings and works upwards, and why a tired flashing above a stain is treated as a suspect, not a conclusion.

Get the evidence first. In most London flats the roof is the freeholder's or managing agent's to repair under the lease, and a stained ceiling on its own rarely moves anyone. An independent, photographed report that shows the defect, the pathway to your ceiling and the repair needed is what makes a freeholder, managing agent or their insurer act - and what a solicitor or the First-tier Tribunal will want to see if it goes further. The survey records what was inspected, what could not be reached, and which roof element is responsible.

If the homebuyer survey has flagged the roof, said it could not be inspected, or the property has a flat roof, a loft conversion or chimney stacks, yes. A pre-purchase roof survey goes up close - roof, loft and the ceilings below - and tells you what the roof will cost you before exchange, with a report you can use to negotiate the price or ask the vendor to repair. Access is arranged through the estate agent.

It means the surveyor saw something from the ground and could not get close enough to say how serious it is. The same phrase covers a slipped slate and a roof at the end of its life. A roof survey turns it into a specific finding - what the defect is, whether it is letting water in, and what it will cost to put right - so you can decide whether to proceed, renegotiate or budget after completion.

A roofer's inspection is free because it is priced into the repair it recommends - some firms say so openly by refunding the survey fee against the works. An independent survey has no repair to sell, so a sound roof is reported as sound, and a leak that is actually plumbing or condensation is called what it is. Where repair is justified, the report defines the defect and the scope, so the roofer's quote covers that and nothing else.

Roof survey, £350 - the starting point for a leak, a purchase or a dispute: roof, loft and ceilings below, inspected on site, with a written report. Drone roof survey, from £249 or £50 added to a roof survey - for the chimney, valley or parapet that cannot be seen from any safe position. Electronic leak detection, from £450 - for a flat roof that looks sound but keeps leaking; the membrane is tested electrically and every breach marked. Damp and mould survey, £350 - where the damp may not be roof-related at all. Not sure? Start the free assessment and the right one is recommended before anything is booked.