Why Your Roof Is Suddenly a Big Deal to Insurance Companies?

If you’ve purchased or sold a home recently — or even renewed your homeowner's insurance — you may have noticed something that wasn’t nearly as common five or ten years ago: insurance companies are paying much closer attention to the age and condition of roofs.

We’ve seen this firsthand in several real estate transactions. A buyer applies for homeowners' insurance, the insurance company reviews the property, and suddenly the roof becomes an issue. In some cases, the insurer has required the roof to be replaced before it will provide coverage. In others, we’ve seen buyers required to obtain a roofing estimate and make arrangements for replacement after closing.

So why has a roof that may not be leaking — and may still have years of useful life — suddenly become such an important insurance issue?

Why Insurance Companies Are Looking More Closely

There isn’t one single reason. The homeowner's insurance industry has been dealing with a combination of higher property losses, more costly severe-weather events, sharply higher construction and repair costs, and increasing reinsurance costs.

Reinsurance is essentially insurance purchased by insurance companies to protect themselves against major losses. According to the Congressional Budget Office, reinsurance rates doubled between 2017 and 2023. Those costs ultimately become part of the overall cost and risk of providing homeowners insurance.

At the same time, repairing a home has become considerably more expensive. Labor, building materials and replacement costs have all increased. When insurers are paying more claims — and those claims cost more to repair — they naturally become more selective about the properties they are willing to insure.

That’s where the roof becomes particularly important.

Why the Roof Matters So Much

A roof isn’t simply another component of a house. It’s one of the home’s primary defenses against wind, hail and water. When a roof fails during a storm, the insurance loss may extend far beyond replacing shingles. Water intrusion can damage roof decking, insulation, ceilings, walls, flooring and personal property inside the home.

An older or deteriorated roof represents a greater potential risk to an insurer, particularly when severe weather occurs. The Insurance Information Institute says the age and condition of a roof are major factors in how an insurer assesses a property and determines coverage. It also reports that when a roof is over 20 years old, many insurers will require it to pass an inspection when someone applies for coverage, while some insurers may decline the property altogether.

Is There a Certain Age When a Roof Becomes a Problem?

There is no universal age at which a roof becomes uninsurable. Insurance companies establish their own underwriting guidelines, and the type of roof, its condition, installation quality and previous damage can all make a difference.

However, the 15- to 20-year range has clearly become important for asphalt-shingle roofs. As roofs approach or exceed that age, some insurers may require an inspection or additional documentation, decline to write coverage, or change the way roof damage is covered.

One possibility is changing the roof from replacement-cost coverage to actual-cash-value coverage. With replacement-cost coverage, a covered loss generally provides for replacement without deducting depreciation, subject to the policy’s terms and deductible. Actual-cash-value coverage takes depreciation into account. That can make a significant difference in what an owner receives following a covered loss involving an older roof.

It’s also important to understand that the manufacturer’s advertised life of a shingle doesn’t necessarily mean an insurance company will view the roof that way. A shingle carrying a 25-, 30- or even longer warranty isn’t necessarily guaranteed to perform for that entire period. Many warranties primarily address manufacturing defects and aren’t a guarantee of how the roof will perform after years of exposure to wind, hail, heat and other weather conditions.

Technology Has Changed the Game

Another major difference between today and ten years ago is the amount of information available to insurance companies.

Insurers increasingly use property databases, high-resolution aerial imagery and sophisticated computer models to evaluate homes. Artificial intelligence can also be used to analyze property and roof information. In other words, an insurance company doesn’t necessarily have to send someone to your house to identify a roof that appears older or shows visible signs of deterioration.

This helps explain why homeowners and buyers may feel as though insurance companies have suddenly become much more interested in roofs. The risk has always existed, but insurers now have considerably more information — and better tools for evaluating that risk — before agreeing to insure a property.

What Are Insurance Companies Looking For?

Age is important, but condition matters too. Insurers may be concerned about missing, cracked, curled or lifted shingles; granule loss; unrepaired storm damage; deterioration; moisture intrusion; multiple layers of roofing; poor installation; or other conditions that increase the likelihood of a future claim.

That’s why it’s important not to assume that every 20-year-old roof needs replacement or that every 10-year-old roof is fine. Two roofs of exactly the same age can be in very different condition depending on the materials, installation, maintenance and weather exposure.

How This Can Affect a Real Estate Transaction

This issue affects buyers and sellers equally.

A buyer obtaining a mortgage generally needs homeowners insurance in place before closing. If the buyer’s insurance company won’t insure the property because of the roof, that can quickly become an obstacle to completing the sale.

We’ve encountered situations where roof concerns weren’t identified as a major issue until the insurance process was underway. At that point, the parties may need to obtain a professional roof inspection, negotiate repairs or replacement, provide documentation about the roof’s age, obtain estimates, arrange for replacement after closing, or find another insurance company willing to insure the property.

For sellers, an older roof can therefore affect the sale even if it isn’t leaking. For buyers, a satisfactory home inspection doesn’t necessarily mean the insurance company will be satisfied. The home inspector and the insurance underwriter are evaluating the roof for different purposes.

Virginia Is Changing the Rules

This issue has become significant enough that Virginia lawmakers passed new protections specifically addressing asphalt-shingle roofs. The new provisions take effect January 1, 2027.

Under the new law, an insurer cannot refuse coverage, cancel or refuse to renew an owner-occupied dwelling policy solely because an asphalt-shingle roof is less than 15 years old. But the law also provides important protections for older roofs.

When an asphalt-shingle roof is 15 years old or older, an insurer must allow the homeowner or purchaser to have the roof inspected by an authorized inspector, at the owner or purchaser’s expense, before requiring complete replacement as a condition of issuing or renewing coverage.

If that inspection determines that the roof has at least five years of useful life remaining, the insurer generally cannot require complete roof replacement solely because of the roof’s age or condition.

That does not mean an insurer has to ignore legitimate problems. The law specifically allows insurers to address unrepaired damage, deterioration, material defects, installation deficiencies, inadequate maintenance, structural concerns, moisture intrusion and other documented problems. An insurer can also require damaged or deficient portions of a roof to be repaired or replaced.

The law also gives homeowners and purchasers several ways to document a roof’s actual age, including installation or replacement receipts and contracts, building permits, or a report from an authorized inspector.

What Buyers, Sellers and Homeowners Should Know

The biggest takeaway is that roof age has become an insurance issue, not just a maintenance or home-inspection issue.

If you own a home, keep documentation whenever your roof is replaced. An invoice, contract or building permit that seems unimportant today could become extremely valuable years from now when you’re obtaining insurance or selling the property.

If you’re selling a home with an older roof, knowing its age and condition before accepting an offer can help avoid an unexpected problem later. And if you’re buying a home — particularly one with a roof approaching 15 to 20 years old — it’s wise to begin talking with your insurance professional early rather than waiting until a few days before closing.

It’s also worth remembering that insurance companies don’t all have identical underwriting requirements. A roof that creates a problem with one carrier may be viewed differently by another.

An Issue We’re Likely to Keep Hearing About

Five or ten years ago, we rarely encountered a situation where the age of an otherwise functional roof threatened to complicate a real estate closing. Today, we’ve seen it happen multiple times.

The combination of higher insurance losses, increasing construction costs, rising reinsurance costs and better technology for evaluating individual properties has changed the way insurers look at risk. The roof has become one of the most visible parts of that change.

For homeowners, buyers and sellers, the lesson isn’t that every older roof needs to be replaced. It’s simply that knowing the age and condition of the roof — and addressing the insurance question early — has become much more important than it used to be.