How should I approach about shared leaking roof

[Jem57]

We share a flat roof with next door which covers our garages and kitchen extensions.Been leaking for the past year,seen neighbour on roof with sealant £60 a tin,hubby asked have you got a leak,he replied he didn’t??? Hubby said we really need the roof redoing as we have got leaks,he just changed the subject.Last week after all the heavy rain,water was leaking through our spotlights.
It needs doing ASAP but it’s no good us doing half a roof but going on past experience,dropped kerb,new fencing etc ,they have never offered to go halves.
They both work,kids all left home,same as us.
Any idea how we approach this without falling out?

If your neighbours are determined not to pay then a fall out is inevitable. If they refuse to get their half done could you go through house insurance?
We had a joint garage roof, our was new but the neighbours section was old. When water from their leaking roof started causing damage to our walls the insurance sent an assessor/surveyor round. Once his report detailed their roof was the issue our insurance contacted theirs & the whole thing was sorted really quickly.

Do the deeds/lease/whatever mean they have to contribute to maintenance, or are you hoping to persuade them on good will?

I'd be doing my half- letting them know they are welcome to get a quote from the same builder. Fence usually belongs to one person or the other with the deeds, and I'd assume to chose to make the drop kerb wider- they didn't request that? You can't force them to fix their roof, fix yours and if you then find that they do have a leak, you'd be able to then take it up with them and their insurance.

Flat roof not covered on insurance unfortunately,most roofers I have had round are saying it’s pretty pointless getting half done as problem could still occur.
Regarding the drop kerb,he was going to pay half but it never materialised.Fences fair enough,but I always go half with my neighbour the other side out of goodwill

I’d just pay to do the whole lot if it was affecting my property and they didn’t want to do it . Had this with a large Victorian chimney once that needed rebuilding , neighbours didn’t want to do it but I did , they gave us access ( to put scaffolding up etc ) and we got it done .

They were happy as it didn’t cost them anything , I was happy as I got what I wanted doing without any grief 👍

Sometimes that’s how it is with shared buildings . You have to pay to do it , or put up with ( in your case a leaking roof ).

We had reverse problem, our loft extension eventually resulted in a leak into property next door. Builder was incommunicado and had wrapped up his company. We got a stern letter from the owner ( who is an estate agent ) threatening legal action if we didn’t put it right. We got a roofer in as quickly as we could.