Quick Answers
Who pays for a leaking roof in a block of flats?
The block — through the service charge. The roof is part of the structure and exterior, which is the freeholder's or RTM company's repairing obligation in virtually all long leases. The cost of repairing the roof itself and reinstating any damage caused by the leak inside communal areas is recoverable through the service charge. Making good damage inside an individual flat may fall partly to the leaseholder depending on the lease terms.
Is a leaseholder responsible for their flat's internal condition?
Yes — for the non-structural internal elements of their own demise. Floor coverings, internal decorations, non-structural partition walls, kitchen and bathroom fixtures, and windows where they are within the flat's demise are typically the leaseholder's responsibility. The lease defines exactly what falls within the demise. Where a leaseholder's obligation is qualified by "fair wear and tear excepted", ordinary deterioration from normal use does not trigger a repair obligation.
What does the RTM company have to repair?
The structure and exterior of the building and the common parts — typically the roof, external walls, foundations, load-bearing elements, stairwells, communal entrance, and shared services. The exact scope is defined in the lease. The RTM company takes on the freeholder's management obligations, which includes ensuring these repairs are carried out and funded through the service charge.
The short answer: the lease draws the repair responsibility boundary — it defines what the freeholder (or RTM company) must maintain, what the leaseholder must maintain, and where the demise of each flat ends and the common parts begin. Structural defects to the building's fabric are almost always the freeholder's or RTM company's obligation, recoverable through the service charge. Wear and tear within a leaseholder's own demise is their responsibility. The difficult cases — water ingress, inter-tenancy damage, defects that originate in one leaseholder's demise and affect another's — require careful reading of the specific lease.
The most common failure: RTM companies and managing agents treating a grey-area dispute as resolved by common sense when it requires a careful reading of the lease. The lease is the document. Arguments based on "obviously the block should pay for this" or "obviously the leaseholder should sort this out" that are not grounded in the lease terms do not withstand Tribunal challenge.
Key Takeaways
The lease is the primary source — every case starts there
Repair obligations in a block of flats are defined by the lease, not by statute, convention, or what seems reasonable. Different leases in the same building can define demises differently. An RTM director or managing agent who answers a repair dispute without first reading the relevant lease clause is not starting from the right place.
"Structure and exterior" is the block's core obligation — but the exact scope varies
Most long residential leases place the obligation to repair the structure and exterior of the building on the freeholder — which passes to the RTM company when RTM is exercised. What counts as "structure" varies: in some leases it includes the floor and ceiling slabs between flats; in others those are within the leaseholder's demise. The specific wording controls, not the general concept.
Wear and tear is a qualification on an obligation — not a category of problem
The phrase "fair wear and tear excepted" appears in many leases as a qualification on the leaseholder's repairing covenant. It means the leaseholder is not required to remedy deterioration that results purely from normal use over time. It does not mean that all gradual deterioration is the block's problem — it is a limited carve-out that applies specifically to the leaseholder's own obligations.
Damage caused by a leaseholder is different from wear and tear
Where a leaseholder's flood, unauthorised alteration, or neglect causes damage to the structure or to another leaseholder's flat, that is not wear and tear — it is damage caused by breach of a lease obligation or by negligence. The responsible leaseholder can be required to remedy it. Where the RTM company carries out the repair, it can seek to recover the cost. This distinction matters enormously for service charge allocation and insurance claims.
Inherent defects create a recurring tension between repair and improvement
An inherent defect — a fault in the original design or construction — can create an ongoing maintenance burden that goes beyond ordinary repair. A repairing obligation does not generally require the obligor to remedy the underlying design fault, but it does require them to address the consequences. In practice, fully remedying the ongoing consequences often means addressing the root defect. This is a grey area that regularly surfaces in Tribunal disputes about service charge reasonableness.
Block insurance and the repair obligation interact — understand both
Block buildings insurance typically covers damage to the structure caused by insured events — fire, flood, storm, escape of water. Where structural damage occurs and the insured event is covered, the insurance claim may meet the cost of repairing the structure. Internal redecoration within a leaseholder's flat following an insured event may or may not be covered depending on the policy. RTM directors should read both the lease and the insurance policy before allocating repair costs, not after a dispute has already started.
The Lease Decides — Not Common Sense
This is the point most repair disputes in blocks of flats fail to start from correctly. The question "who is responsible for this repair?" is not answered by what seems reasonable, what has happened in the past, or what managing agents in similar buildings do. It is answered by the lease.
The lease does three things that determine repair responsibility:
- It defines the demise. The demise is the precise extent of what the leaseholder owns or occupies. A lease might demise the flat from "the inner face of the external walls and the upper surface of the floor slab to the underside of the ceiling slab" — which means the floor slab, ceiling slab, and external walls fall outside the demise and are common parts. A different lease might include the floor and ceiling within the demise. The exact words control what is inside and outside the leaseholder's responsibility.
- It sets out the leaseholder's repairing covenant. The lease will include a clause requiring the leaseholder to keep their demise in repair. This clause may or may not be qualified by "fair wear and tear excepted". Without the qualification, the obligation is absolute within the demise. With it, the leaseholder is not required to remedy normal deterioration from ordinary use.
- It sets out the landlord's (or RTM company's) repairing covenant. The lease will also set out what the freeholder — and therefore the RTM company — must repair and maintain. This typically covers the structure and exterior, the common parts, and shared services. The service charge clause then allows the cost of these obligations to be recovered from leaseholders.
In many blocks, leases were granted at different times or by different solicitors and contain subtly different demise definitions and repairing covenants. RTM directors should not assume all leases are the same. When a repair dispute arises, read the lease of the specific flat involved — not a general assumption about what the block's leases say.
What Is a Structural Defect?
A structural defect is a fault in the structural fabric of the building — its load-bearing elements, its envelope, or its designed waterproofing — that causes the building to perform below the standard it should. Structural defects fall into two categories:
Inherent defects
An inherent defect originates in the original design or construction of the building. The building was built with a fault that was not apparent at the time but manifests over time as the building ages or is exposed to weather. Common examples in older East London blocks and converted stock include:
- Flat roof designs that were always likely to fail in waterproofing within a shorter lifespan than expected
- Cavity wall construction that allows water ingress through defective ties or missing cavity fill
- Inadequate drainage falls on flat roofs or balconies, causing standing water and eventually penetration
- Original single-skin external walls in Victorian conversions that were never designed to exclude water under modern weather exposure
- Structural movement in buildings on clay subsoils that was predictable from the outset but was not addressed in the original foundation design
Acquired defects
An acquired defect develops in a building that was originally sound, through deterioration, damage, or a failure of maintenance. The building was constructed correctly but has degraded to the point where it no longer performs its structural function. Common examples include:
- Roof coverings that have reached the end of their designed lifespan and require replacement
- Failed pointing to external brickwork that allows water penetration behind the skin
- Corroded lintels causing cracking above window and door openings
- Failed flashings at roof-to-wall junctions that have lost their seal through thermal movement
- Spalled concrete to external surfaces exposing reinforcement to corrosion
Both inherent and acquired structural defects are the repairing obligation of whoever holds the structural repairing covenant — in most blocks, the freeholder or RTM company. The cost is recoverable through the service charge, subject to the Section 20 consultation requirements for major works.
What Is Wear and Tear?
Wear and tear describes the gradual deterioration of a property or its internal fixtures through normal use over time. It is not a category of building defect — it is a qualification on a leaseholder's repairing obligation.
In practical terms, wear and tear covers things like:
- Carpet that has thinned or worn through normal daily foot traffic over several years
- Internal paintwork that has faded, scuffed, or lost adhesion through normal use
- Kitchen and bathroom fittings that have aged and lost their original finish through years of use
- Door handles, hinges, and other hardware that have loosened through repeated use
- Internal joinery that has shrunk or swollen slightly through normal seasonal movement
What wear and tear does not cover:
- Damage caused by the leaseholder or their occupants through misuse, negligence, or deliberate acts
- Deterioration caused by a failure to address a known problem — allowing a small damp patch to spread into a significant mould problem because nothing was done about it is not wear and tear
- Structural deterioration to elements within the demise that the lease requires the leaseholder to keep in repair
- Defects that originate from outside the flat's demise — a leaseholder is not obliged to remedy water damage to their ceiling caused by a leak from the flat above; that is the block's or the upper flat leaseholder's problem
The Repair Responsibility Boundary
In most long leases, repair responsibility divides broadly as follows. This is a general guide — the specific lease controls in every case.
Block pays — via service charge
- Roof — covering, structure, flashings, gutters
- External walls — brickwork, pointing, rendering, cladding
- Foundations and substructure
- Load-bearing walls and columns
- Floor and ceiling slabs between flats (typically)
- Communal entrance, stairwells, corridors
- Communal services — boilers, lifts, electrical mains
- Communal gardens and external areas
- Windows and external doors to common parts
Leaseholder pays — their own cost
- Internal non-structural walls and partitions
- Internal plaster and decorations
- Floor coverings (carpets, tiles, boards)
- Kitchen and bathroom fittings and appliances
- Internal joinery — doors, skirtings, architraves
- Internal plumbing within the flat (pipes serving the flat only)
- Windows where within the demise (lease-specific)
- Balcony surfaces where within the demise
Depends on the specific lease
- Windows in external walls — within demise or common parts?
- Balcony waterproofing — structure (block) or surface (leaseholder)?
- Inter-flat pipes — serving only one flat or shared?
- Internal damage caused by structural water ingress
- Shared drainage stacks where access is within one flat
- Roof terraces — structure vs. surface finishing
- Party wall repairs between flats
The Most Disputed Cases in Practice
Most repair disputes in blocks of flats cluster around a handful of recurring problem types. Here is how the law typically approaches each of them.
| Problem | How Responsibility Typically Falls |
|---|---|
| Roof leak causing internal damage | The roof is a block obligation. Repairing the roof and making good damage to communal areas is recoverable through the service charge. Internal damage to a leaseholder's flat caused by the leak — ceiling plaster, flooring, decoration — is a more complex question: the block's insurance may cover it as an insured event, or the lease may place the cost of making good internal damage on the leaseholder. Read the lease and the insurance policy before allocating. |
| Flat above floods flat below | The leaseholder of the flat from which the flood originated is liable if it was caused by their negligence or breach of lease obligation (failure to maintain their plumbing). They must remedy the damage to the flat below, either directly or through their contents insurance. Where the flood originated from a shared pipe, the block may hold the repairing obligation. Block buildings insurance will cover the structural damage; recovery of internal redecoration costs depends on the specifics. |
| Damp and mould in a flat | The cause determines the obligation. Penetrating damp from an external source — failed external wall, roof defect — is the block's problem. Rising damp from the foundations may be a structural defect. Condensation damp arising from insufficient ventilation or heating within the flat is typically the leaseholder's issue to manage, though the Decent Homes Standard and HHSRS may impose obligations where the damp creates a health hazard that the building's design contributes to. |
| Windows letting in drafts or water | Depends entirely on the lease definition of the demise. If windows are within the leaseholder's demise, replacement is their obligation. If windows are part of the external envelope and not included in the demise, they are a block obligation. Many standard leases exclude windows from the leaseholder's demise; others include them. This is one of the most important clauses to check before any window replacement programme is agreed. |
| Cracking to internal walls | Non-structural cracking to plasterwork or internal finishes is within the leaseholder's demise and is their cost to remedy. Cracking that originates in or reflects movement in a structural element — load-bearing wall, floor slab, lintel — is a structural issue and the block's obligation. A structural engineer's assessment is usually required to distinguish the two. The block should not refuse to investigate simply because the crack appears internally. |
| Balcony deterioration | The structural element of the balcony — the slab, the loadbearing supports — is typically the block's obligation. The waterproofing membrane on a flat balcony and the finishing surface may be the leaseholder's, depending on the demise definition. Where a balcony waterproofing failure causes water to penetrate the structure, the repair involves both elements and the cost may need to be split between the block and the leaseholder. |
Large Structural Works and Section 20
When the block's structural repairing obligation requires major works — roof replacement, external wall repair, structural remediation — the Section 20 consultation process must be followed before the works are contracted.
The threshold is £250 per leaseholder. Any qualifying works where a single leaseholder's contribution through the service charge will exceed £250 require a two-stage consultation: a Notice of Intention (before contractors are approached) and a Statement of Estimates (before a contract is placed). Failure to follow the process properly limits what can be recovered through the service charge — the recovery cap for non-consulted works is £250 per leaseholder regardless of actual cost.
For structural defect work specifically, three additional points matter:
- Emergency works are exempt from full Section 20 consultation — but "emergency" is interpreted narrowly by the Tribunal. A roof that has been leaking for months and finally fails completely is not an emergency; it is a failure of planned maintenance. Emergency exemption applies where works are genuinely urgent for safety or to prevent imminent serious damage and there is no time to complete the consultation process.
- The reserve fund should be meeting planned structural repair costs — not triggering emergency Section 20 dispensation applications. RTM directors who manage the reserve fund proactively against a component replacement schedule will rarely face the choice between emergency works and a Tribunal challenge.
- Leaseholders can challenge the reasonableness of structural repair costs at the Tribunal even after proper Section 20 consultation. The consultation is procedural — it does not make the costs automatically reasonable. The standard of works, the quality of the specification, and the level of contractor pricing are all challengeable.
For a full guide to the Section 20 consultation process, see Structural Repairs in Blocks of Flats: Who Pays and How Section 20 Protects You. For reserve fund planning against structural cost profiles, see Reserve Funds and Sinking Funds: How Much Should Your Block Be Saving?
When It Is Disputed: The Process
When a leaseholder and the RTM company or managing agent cannot agree on who is responsible for a repair, the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) is the forum for determination. The Tribunal can determine whether a service charge demand is reasonable, whether works fall within the scope of the block's repairing obligation, and whether costs have been properly allocated between the block and individual leaseholders.
Read the lease and obtain a professional assessment
Before any formal dispute process, read the relevant lease clause carefully and, where the nature of the defect is in question, obtain a structural engineer's or surveyor's report confirming whether the problem is structural, inherent, or within the leaseholder's demise. An opinion that is not grounded in the lease and a professional assessment of the defect will not withstand challenge.
Attempt resolution through correspondence
Set out the RTM company's position in writing, with reference to the specific lease clause and the professional assessment. Give the leaseholder an opportunity to respond and to obtain their own advice. Many disputes resolve at this stage when the lease clause is clearly identified and the professional evidence is unambiguous. Keep all correspondence — it is relevant if the matter proceeds to Tribunal.
Consider mediation
For disputes where the liability is genuinely uncertain or where the relationship between the RTM company and leaseholder is ongoing and worth preserving, mediation is faster and cheaper than Tribunal. The Tribunal itself may direct parties to consider mediation. It is not binding, but it frequently resolves disputes that would otherwise consume months of management time and legal cost.
Application to the First-tier Tribunal
Either party can apply to the Tribunal for a determination. The application fee is modest. The Tribunal will consider the lease, the professional evidence, and the parties' arguments, and will issue a binding determination on whether the service charge demand is payable and whether the cost allocation is correct. Tribunal decisions create precedent within the specific block — a determination that a certain category of repair falls within the block's obligation is relevant to future disputes about the same issue.
Cost recovery where leaseholder is found liable
Where the Tribunal determines that a leaseholder is responsible for a repair and they fail to carry it out, the RTM company can carry out the works and seek recovery through the service charge (if the lease permits) or through a debt claim. Persistent refusal to comply with a Tribunal determination can ultimately be grounds for forfeiture proceedings, though these are rarely a proportionate remedy for ordinary repair disputes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Determined by the lease. In most long leases, the freeholder — or the RTM company where RTM has been exercised — holds the repairing obligation for the structure and exterior: roof, external walls, foundations, load-bearing elements, and common parts. The cost is recoverable through the service charge. Where a structural defect affects a leaseholder's flat from an external source, the cost of remedying the defect source is typically a block obligation, while making good internal damage may fall partly to the leaseholder depending on the specific lease wording.
Wear and tear has no single statutory definition. In leases, "fair wear and tear excepted" qualifies the leaseholder's repairing covenant — meaning they are not required to remedy deterioration from normal, reasonable use over time. It does not mean all gradual deterioration is the block's responsibility. Where the qualification is absent from the lease, the leaseholder's repairing obligation may be absolute within their demise. The boundary is assessed case by case by reference to the specific lease terms and the Tribunal where disputed.
Yes, in most cases — structural repairs to the building's fabric fall within the block's repairing obligation and the cost is recoverable through the service charge under most long leases. The Section 20 consultation process must be followed for works where a single leaseholder's contribution exceeds £250. Leaseholders can challenge service charges at the First-tier Tribunal on reasonableness grounds even after correct Section 20 consultation. The consultation is procedural — it does not make the costs automatically reasonable.
Where a leaseholder causes structural damage — through unauthorised alterations, a flood, or neglect of their own repairing obligations — the RTM company can require them to remedy it or can carry out the repair and seek recovery. Recovery can be pursued as a debt claim or, where the lease permits, through the service charge with individual allocation to the responsible leaseholder. Persistent failure to comply can ultimately ground forfeiture proceedings, though these are a disproportionate remedy for most cases.
A defect is a fault in design or construction. A repair obligation requires the relevant party to maintain the building in a defined condition — it does not generally require improvement beyond the original standard. A repairing obligation covers the consequences of a defect (ongoing water ingress, for example) but does not necessarily require remedying the underlying design fault itself. In practice, fully addressing the ongoing consequences often means addressing the root defect — which is why the distinction is frequently argued in Tribunal disputes about service charge reasonableness.
Repair dispute in your block — or not sure what your lease requires?
Neon manages blocks across East London and Essex and handles repair obligation disputes as part of day-to-day management — reading the lease, obtaining professional assessments, and allocating costs correctly before disputes escalate to the Tribunal. If your current agent is making decisions without reading the lease, that is a problem waiting to surface.
Talk to Neon about your block →