Can You Cancel an Emergency Roof Repair?

When a roofer surveys your house and you sign a contract at home, the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 normally give you a cancellation period. For services, the period ends at the end of 14 days after the day on which the contract is entered into. That covers a lot of ordinary roofing jobs, such as a re-roof or a new set of fascias agreed after a survey.

What does regulation 28 say?

Regulation 28(1)(e) carves out one situation. The Part 3 cancellation rights fall away when the customer, not the trader, specifically requested the visit in order to have urgent repairs or maintenance done. If water is coming through your ceiling and you phone a roofer to stop it, you made that request. The exception is built around a customer who needs help quickly and cannot sensibly wait a fortnight to find out whether the work was wanted.

It follows that you should not assume a cooling-off period exists on an emergency visit. Decide before you agree, not afterwards, and treat the first conversation as the point at which you are choosing.

The exception removes a statutory right. It does not take away your freedom to decline an offer. Until you have agreed to the work, you can say no, ask for time, or ring someone else.

What should you ask before agreeing?

Ask what the visit is for and what it will cost to stop more water coming in. A temporary fix is a different job from a lasting repair, and you can accept the first without committing to the second. Ask for the terms in writing, including what you would owe if you stopped part-way through. Ask if the price takes in VAT and any scaffolding.

Resist pressure to sign on the spot. A roofer who has read the roof properly can show you photographs of the fault taken during the visit, and explain it in plain words. If you cannot see what you are being told, ask for the picture again, or ask to see the fault from inside the loft.

A calm minute at the start is worth more than any right to cancel later, because it stops the dispute from arising in the first place. If the person on the phone cannot tell you what they plan to do, wait for someone who can.

Losing the cooling-off right does not leave you unprotected. Section 49 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 sets the standard for the work itself: reasonable care and skill. If a repair fails because it was done badly, you have a claim, however you came to call the roofer out.

Where do you turn if there is a dispute?

Raise it with the roofer first, by email or letter, quoting dates and attaching photographs. If that stalls, the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 0808 223 1133 can explain your options. Section 308 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 also obliges a trader to tell a consumer about any dispute-resolution arrangement open to them when they are unhappy, so ask what the roofer offers.

Keep every message, invoice and photograph. If the first visit was only a make-safe, keep a note of what was done and what was left for later, since that record settles most disagreements before they grow. A short list written on the day is better than a memory reconstructed a month on.

If you paid by card, your card provider may also be worth contacting, although the roofer should always be your first call.

An emergency visit often ends with a larger recommendation: a new valley, a stretch of re-slating, or a full re-roof. That is a separate decision, made once the water has stopped coming in and you have time to think.

Does the same rule apply to the follow-up work?

Do not assume it does. A later contract for planned work is not the urgent repair you asked for, so get its cancellation terms on paper before signing, and check with Citizens Advice if you are unsure how they apply to you. A sensible roofer gives you time and does not expect an answer while a bucket is still catching drips.

It also helps to know what the market looks like before you decide. Our answer on what an emergency roofer costs gives published ranges, and the page on temporary roof repairs shows how a stop-gap differs from the permanent job. The main hub, emergency roof repairs, links the rest.

When you are ready, send us photographs of the damage. The survey comes first, you see pictures of the fault, and the follow-up work is priced as one written total.