The short answer
A leaking conservatory roof may or may not be covered, and only your policy wording can say. Insurers generally distinguish sudden damage, such as a storm, from gradual deterioration, such as an ageing seal, and policies often treat the two differently. Check that the conservatory is included, read the exclusions, and tell your insurer before you repair.
How the cause of a leak decides the claim
An insurer does not ask whether the roof leaks. It asks why. Insurers tend to separate a sudden, identifiable event from slow decline. A branch coming through a sheet in a gale, or hail cracking a pane, is a one-off event. A seal that has dried out over a decade, a gasket that has shrunk or a sheet that has crazed and let water through is wear, and policies commonly set wear and tear apart from insured damage.
Policies differ, so we do not promise any outcome. The one safe prediction is that the cause is what you will be asked about. A roofer's report that records the cause, with photographs, is therefore valuable evidence. When we survey a leaking conservatory roof, we photograph the failed part, note where water is entering and describe what we find, which gives you something factual to put in front of your insurer. If the failure was sudden, the report says so. If the evidence points to a worn seal or an ageing sheet, it says that instead, and you are better off knowing before you ring than after the claim form has gone in. If you want to understand the usual causes first, our guide to conservatory roof leaks, causes and repairs covers them.
What to look for in the policy before you phone
Many homeowners assume a conservatory is covered because the house is, and that is not always so. Read the schedule and the wording for these points.
- Is the conservatory named or defined as part of the building, or listed separately?
- Exclusions for wear and tear, gradual damage and poor maintenance, which are the ones most often cited when a leak is declined.
- The storm wording, and whether storm damage requires a particular event.
- Any excess that applies to a claim.
- Whether the roof material matters, for example a different treatment of glass.
- Conditions on notifying changes, such as altering the roof type.
If anything is unclear, ask the insurer in writing. Should a claim be refused and you disagree, the Financial Ombudsman Service handles unresolved complaints about an insurer's decision. Advice on your policy or a claim is for the insurer or an adviser; our part is to describe the roof accurately.
What to do the day a leak appears
The order of events affects both the damage and the claim.
Limit the damage
Shift furniture and electrical items, put containers under the drips and dry the floor. Insurers generally look for sensible action to stop the problem growing. We give leaks and storm damage priority, and a dripping roof gets made safe ahead of any repair.
Write down what happened
Note the date, the weather and what you saw: where the water came in, how much, and whether it has happened before. Memory fades quickly, and a short dated note written at the time reads better than a recollection weeks later. If there was a storm, record that too.
Photograph everything
Take dated photographs of the leak, the stained ceiling or frame, and the roof from outside if you can see it safely. Do not climb onto a conservatory roof. Polycarbonate and glass are fragile.
Tell the insurer before you repair
Ring or write to the insurer first, and ask what they need. A temporary make-safe is normal. Doing the full repair or replacement before an adjuster has looked can muddy a claim. Keep receipts for everything you spend.
When the roof is simply at the end of its life
If the leak comes from an old roof, a claim may be declined because the cause is age. Published lifespans for polycarbonate roofs are around 10 to 15 years, so a roof older than that is likely to be seen as worn. Our answer on keeping a conservatory comfortable deals with another common reason owners revisit the roof.
MyBuilder's 2026 guide gives £2,000 to £5,000 for replacing a polycarbonate conservatory roof, £3,000 to £8,000 for glass and £5,000 to £10,000 for solid. Those figures are nationwide typical ranges, never a price for your roof. Ours comes after the survey, so if part of the work does fall within a claim you can show an insurer exactly what the work involves.
Guarantees, insurance and who is responsible for what
Policies commonly expect the conservatory to be kept in reasonable repair, which is a quiet reason to deal with a failing seal early rather than waiting for water to arrive. A small, documented repair is easier to explain to an insurer than a roof that has been allowed to deteriorate over several winters.
Home insurance responds to events such as storm and accidental damage. A workmanship guarantee is a different thing. It is a written promise about how a job was done, and it applies if our work fails, not if weather damages the roof. Ours runs for 10 years and is in writing, and our page on the conservatory roof guarantee sets out what it covers.
Keep the survey photographs, the quote, the invoice and any building control certificate in the same folder as your policy papers, along with any earlier repair records, as the maintenance history can matter to an insurer. They help if you ever need to make a claim, and they help a buyer's solicitor when you sell. The conservatory roof replacement page explains what we do from survey to clear-up.