Do Roofers Ask for a Deposit? Your Rights Before You Pay

Do roofers ask for a deposit? Most do, and asking is not in itself a warning sign. What matters is how much, what it is for, how you pay it, and one legal right that applies to almost every roofing job agreed in a homeowner’s kitchen and that almost nobody on either side of the table knows about.

This page answers the money and paperwork questions, with the actual statutory position rather than general advice. The technical questions are covered elsewhere on the site; this is the one about protecting yourself before any money moves.

Do roofers ask for a deposit, and should you pay one?

Yes, routinely, and there are legitimate reasons. A re-roof means ordering tiles, membrane, battens and often a bespoke item like a lead saddle or a made-to-measure ridge, and booking scaffold. A small firm should not be expected to carry several thousand pounds of your materials on its own account before it has started.

What a reasonable deposit looks like:

• It is tied to materials and scaffold, not to labour. A deposit that covers the goods the contractor has to buy up front is a normal commercial request. A deposit described as being for “labour” or “to secure the booking” is not, because the labour has not happened yet.
• It is proportionate to the job. A single slipped tile does not require money up front. A full strip and re-tile with a scaffold does.
• It is itemised on the quote. If the quote does not break the deposit out and say what it buys, that is the thing to fix before you pay, not afterwards. Our guide to reading a roofing quote covers the rest of the document.

The hard fact worth knowing: there is no deposit protection scheme for building work. Unlike a tenancy deposit, money handed to a roofer is not held anywhere protected. If the firm folds, you are an unsecured creditor. That is not an argument for never paying a deposit. It is an argument for the payment method in the next section, and for keeping the deposit as small as the job allows.

The 14-day right that changes everything

This is the part almost never mentioned in roofing advice, and it is the most useful thing on this page.

If you agree a roofing contract at home rather than at the contractor’s premises, which is how nearly every domestic roofing job is agreed, it is an off-premises contract under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. Four consequences follow.

1. You can cancel within 14 days, for no reason. Regulation 29 says the consumer “may cancel a distance or off-premises contract at any time in the cancellation period without giving any reason”. Regulation 30(2) sets that period, for a service contract, as ending “at the end of 14 days after the day on which the contract is entered into”. You do not need the contractor’s agreement and you do not need a fault.

2. The roofer must not start inside those 14 days without your written request. Regulation 36(1) is explicit: “The trader must not begin the supply of a service before the end of the cancellation period … unless the consumer (a) has made an express request, and (b) in the case of an off-premises contract, has made the request on a durable medium.” Durable medium means in writing, on paper or by email, not a verbal yes on the doorstep.

In practice, most roofing work is wanted sooner than a fortnight away, so you will normally give that request. Give it in an email, keep the email, and understand what it costs you: under regulation 36(4), if you then cancel, you pay for the service supplied up to that point. That is fair, and it is far better than the alternative of a contractor who started without asking.

3. If they never told you about the cancellation right, you get twelve months. Regulation 31 says that where the trader has not provided the required information on the right to cancel, and does not provide it within the following 12 months, “the cancellation period ends at the end of 12 months after the day on which it would have ended under regulation 30”. If they supply the information late but within that year, you get 14 days from the day you receive it. A cancellation right that lasts a year is a serious remedy, and it exists precisely because so many traders skip the notice.

4. If you cancel, the money comes back within 14 days. Regulation 34 requires the trader to reimburse all payments “without undue delay”, and no later than 14 days after being told of the cancellation, using the same means of payment you used, with no fee for doing so.

The practical version, then: before you pay a deposit, check the paperwork contains a notice of your right to cancel. If it does not, you have not lost anything, you have gained eleven and a half extra months of cancellation right. If it does, and you want the work to start quickly, email your express request and keep a copy.

How to pay, so the money is recoverable

Use a credit card for the deposit if you can. Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 makes the card issuer “jointly and severally liable” with the supplier for misrepresentation or breach of contract. It applies where the cash price of the single item is over £100 and not more than £30,000. That means a deposit paid on a credit card is recoverable from the card company if the roofer takes the money and disappears, which is exactly the scenario a bank transfer leaves you exposed to.

Note the detail that catches people out: the cash price of the item decides eligibility, not the amount you put on the card. A part payment by credit card towards a job priced within those limits still engages section 75.

Stage the rest against completed work, not against dates. Materials on delivery, an interim payment when the roof is stripped, felted and battened, and the balance on completion is a normal structure. Payments tied to calendar dates rather than milestones are how a job stalls half done with the money gone.

Hold a final payment until you have inspected. Walk the loft with a torch on a bright day, and look for daylight, for felt sagging between rafters, and for mortar debris. Then look at the outside from the ground with binoculars: ridge line straight, verges consistent, flashings dressed and not just smeared with mastic.

Never pay in cash without a receipt, and never pay for work you did not ask for. Cold-call roofers who spot a “problem” from the street are the single most common pattern in the complaints we see. Our page on roofing scams and rogue roofers covers the tactics.

VAT, and why the cheapest quote is sometimes cheap for a boring reason

A business must register for VAT once its total taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000, or if it expects to go over £90,000 in the next 30 days. It can also register voluntarily below that.

So a genuinely smaller firm may not charge VAT at all, which makes its quote look better by a fifth against a VAT-registered competitor doing identical work. That is not a trick and it is not a discount either. What it tells you is the scale of the business, which is worth knowing when you are also asking about insurance and how long the guarantee is likely to outlive the company.

Two things to be clear about:

• Compare like with like. Ask every quote whether the figure includes VAT. A quote that says nothing about VAT and comes from a registered firm is an argument waiting to happen.
• “Cash, no VAT” is a different proposition entirely. A registered business offering to leave VAT off for cash is offering to break the law with you, and the paperwork you would need for any later claim will not exist.

The related question people ask is whether roofing work can ever be zero or reduced rated. Some specific situations do qualify, mainly conversions and long-term empty properties, and they are HMRC rules rather than contractor discretion. If you think you might qualify, ask the contractor to confirm the VAT liability in writing before signing.

If the work is bad

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 puts a term into every contract to supply a service. Section 49 states that “every contract to supply a service is to be treated as including a term that the trader must perform the service with reasonable care and skill”. That is a statutory term. It applies whether or not the roofer’s own paperwork mentions quality at all.

If it is breached, section 55 gives you the right to require repeat performance: the trader must perform the service again to the extent needed to bring it into conformity with the contract, “within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to the consumer”, and must “bear any necessary costs incurred in doing so (including in particular the cost of any labour or materials)”. You do not pay again for putting right work that was not done properly the first time. If repeat performance is impossible, the Act’s next remedy is a price reduction.

That is separate from, and stronger than, whatever the firm’s own guarantee says. A workmanship guarantee is a contractual promise from a company that may not exist in five years; section 49 is law. Both matter, and our page on roofing guarantees and warranties explains what the insurance-backed versions actually cover.

Put the complaint in writing, be specific about the defect, and give a reasonable deadline. Photographs taken from the ground on the day you noticed the problem are worth more later than a description written from memory.

Timing questions

How long should a re-roof take? It depends on the size and the weather, and the honest answer is that scaffold up to scaffold down is the number to ask for, not days on the roof. We cover the realistic ranges in how long does a new roof take.

Who pays for the scaffold? It is usually inside the quote, and it is frequently the largest single line in it. Check whether the price assumes a set hire period, because overruns on the scaffold are billed by time. See roof scaffolding costs.

What if it rains? A competent contractor strips only what can be made watertight before the end of the day. If a firm proposes stripping a whole roof in one go in November, ask what the temporary covering plan is and who carries the risk if water gets in.

Frequently asked questions

How much deposit should I pay a roofer? Enough to cover the materials and scaffold the contractor must order up front, itemised on the quote, and no more. There is no legal cap and no protection scheme for building deposits, so the practical protections are keeping it proportionate, paying by credit card and checking the cancellation notice is in the paperwork.

Can I get a deposit back from a roofer? Often yes. If you cancel within the 14-day cancellation period for an off-premises contract, regulation 34 requires reimbursement without undue delay and within 14 days, by the same payment method and with no fee. If the roofer never gave you notice of the cancellation right, that period can run for up to 12 months longer. Outside cancellation, you are into a contract dispute, and a credit card payment gives you a second route through section 75.

Do roofers have to give me a written contract? For an off-premises contract the trader must give you specified information, including notice of the right to cancel, and failing to do so extends your cancellation right substantially. In practice, treat a quote with no terms, no cancellation notice and no company details as a reason to get another quote. Our list of questions to ask a roofer covers what else to establish first.

Should a roofer charge VAT? Only if the business is VAT registered, which is compulsory once taxable turnover passes £90,000 in a 12-month period and optional below it. A smaller firm not charging VAT is normal. A registered firm offering to drop the VAT for cash is not.

What can I do if the roof leaks after the work? Complain in writing straight away. Section 49 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires the service to be performed with reasonable care and skill, and section 55 entitles you to repeat performance at the trader’s cost, including labour and materials. That right stands separately from any guarantee. If the leak needs stopping urgently, document everything before it is disturbed, and see emergency roof repair.

Is it safe to pay a roofer the full amount up front? No, and no reputable contractor will ask. Payment in full before work starts removes every commercial lever you have, and there is no scheme holding that money. Materials and scaffold up front, then stages against completed work, is the structure to insist on.

Before you get to any of this, the harder problem is choosing the firm at all: start with how to find a good roofer.

Sources, all read on 28 August 2026: the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, the Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and GOV.UK on VAT registration. This page is general information, not legal advice.