Roofs and flat roofs
Who repairs a gutter that runs across a terrace without a break?
The survey cannot award ownership. A continuous eaves gutter can serve several houses, and a blockage over one roof wets another. The surveyor should say if the gutter is shared or if they could not tell. Your solicitor asks what the deeds say. A condition comment about rust or a sag is not a decision that the neighbour must pay.
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?
From the ground, a terrace gutter looks like one length because it is one length. Joints fail between houses. The survey may rate what it can see on this frontage only. Access over the neighbour’s garden may be needed to repair it. That access is not included in the survey and is not a party-wall award, though work to a shared wall can raise the Act separately.
Get a roofer’s view of the length that is actually failed, and ask your solicitor who is responsible before you demand the whole street be replaced. There is no national gutter price in the RICS guide. Do not multiply a one-house guess by the number of doors.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Is the gutter continuous, and where does it discharge?
- Could you see the joints over this house only?
- Are you stating a legal duty on the neighbour, or a defect you could see?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask the solicitor about responsibility and access before you instruct a roofer to work from next door.
- Price the failed length, not the whole terrace, unless the quote explains why.
- Clear leaves only if it is safe from your own side. Do not walk the gutter.
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
Is a shared gutter a party wall?
Not in the sense GOV.UK uses for walls and floors. It can still be shared repair under the deeds. Different question.
Does a new length on this house solve a fall that is wrong next door?
Not always. Water may still sit if the run falls the wrong way. The roofer should say so.