Chimneys and parapets
The back gutter lead behind a chimney is split and the pots are sound. What leak path is local to that gutter?
The leak path is the split in the back gutter lead behind the chimney, and it is local to that gutter. Water that should be carried around the stack can drop through the split into the roof at the abutment. The pots being sound does not close that path. The survey has seen a split lead gutter and sound pots. It has not tested the flues, and it has not blamed the pots for a leak that starts in the gutter metal.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
A back gutter is the channel formed in lead behind a chimney where the roof meets the stack. It is a common place for splits, pinholes and failed laps, and rain then tracks into the loft beside the chimney rather than down a pot. Sound pots tell you the terminals looked intact. They do not dress the lead. The visit recorded the split it could see. It did not lift the rest of the gutter to map every hole, and it did not water-test the roof.
Ask a roofing contractor to repair or renew the split back gutter and to check the lead laps that were not fully opened. Tell the solicitor the leak path named here is that gutter, not the pots. Keep any flue question separate, because the survey has not tested the flues. Do not rebuild the stack in the specification when the finding is a split in the lead behind it.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Is the split in the back gutter lead behind the chimney?
- Were the pots recorded as sound, and kept out of the leak path?
- Was the rest of that lead gutter left unlifted?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the split back gutter as the local leak path.
- Ask a roofer to deal with that lead, not to condemn the pots.
- Keep any flue check separate from the gutter repair.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the loft is dry today, has the split stopped leaking?
A dry loft on the day does not heal a split in the lead. The path is still the back gutter. The survey has not water-tested the roof, and sound pots do not close a hole in the gutter metal.
Should the chimney pots be replaced because the gutter is split?
Not from this note. The pots were sound. The leak path is the split lead behind the stack. Replacing pots would not repair that gutter, and the survey has not asked for new pots. The gutter metal is the part that needs the roofer.