Gutters, autumn leaves, and the water that finds its way in

Gutters are the least interesting part of a building until the day they are the most expensive. For most of the year nobody looks at them. Then the leaves come down in October and November, a single outlet blocks, and the next heavy rain runs over the edge and down the face of the wall instead of down the pipe.

That water does not stop at the brickwork. It soaks into the wall behind the overflow, it gets into the head of a window, it finds a gap at the eaves. By the time it shows as a stain on an internal wall, usually in the depth of winter, the cause has been there for weeks.

What the survey found

The English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025 headline report, published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 29 January 2026, found 1.4 million dwellings in England with a problem with damp in 2024. That is 5% of the stock, and an increase compared with 2022.

The survey splits damp into three kinds. Severe condensation was the most common, at 3% of homes. Penetrating damp, where water gets in from outside, was found in 2%. Rising damp was at 1%. Damp was more common in the private rented sector (10%) than in social rented homes (7%) or owner occupied homes (4%).

Penetrating damp is the kind a gutter causes. It is also the kind that is most directly within a building manager's control, because the cause is usually a defect on the outside of the building that someone can see, reach and fix.

Why the timing matters now

In social housing, Awaab's Law has applied to damp and mould since 27 October 2025. Under the Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025, a landlord has to investigate a potential significant damp and mould hazard within 10 working days of becoming aware of it, and deal with emergency hazards within 24 hours. The investigation will ask what caused the damp. If the answer is an overflowing gutter that was last cleared two years ago, that is a difficult conversation.

Outside social housing the duties are less prescriptive, but damp and mould growth is a hazard under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System in any rented home, and repairing covenants in most leases cover the structure and exterior, which includes the rainwater goods. In every case the same question follows a complaint: when was it last checked, and by whom.

What to check before the leaves come down

This is one visit per building, ideally in late September or early October, with a follow-up once the trees are bare.

Clear gutters, outlets and hoppers, and check the downpipes run freely to the bottom. A gutter can look clear from the ground with a blocked outlet at one end.

Look for staining on the walls below gutter joints and outlets. A green or dark streak on the brickwork is a record of where the water has already been going.

Check the falls. A gutter that has sagged holds standing water in the middle, which overflows long before the outlet is the problem.

Look at the gullies and drains at the foot of each downpipe. Water that reaches the ground and cannot get away sits against the base of the wall.

Note which elevations sit under trees, and record them against the building, so the clearance frequency matches the risk. A terrace backing onto mature trees may need two visits in the autumn. An open site may need one a year.

On roofs that need access equipment, the gutter clearance is roof work. It needs the same planning, the same permit where one applies, and the anchor or edge protection checked before anyone uses it.

Why the record matters

A gutter that is cleared in October can be full again by December. Nobody expects a building's rainwater goods to be clear every day. What an investigating officer, an insurer or a tribunal will look for is evidence of a sensible system: that the gutters were inspected, that the frequency matched the trees around them, that defects found were repaired, and that a damp report was traced back to its cause.

That evidence usually sits in a contractor's invoice, a photo on someone's phone and a note in an email. It rarely sits against the building.

Where SAMRISK puts it

SAMRISK holds the building and the land it sits on across thirty connected systems, twenty for the building and ten for the land.

Gutter and downpipe clearance, repairs to falls and joints, and the photographs of what was found go through maintenance with sign-off against the building. Gullies, soakaways and the drainage at the foot of each pipe are recorded in drainage and SuDS, and the trees that overhang each elevation sit in grounds and landscape.

The autumn clearance, and the second visit for buildings under trees, go on the compliance calendar as dated tasks with a name against them. When a damp report comes in, the first question has an answer already written down.

Sources: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025: headline findings on housing quality and energy efficiency, published 29 January 2026; Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025; MHCLG, Awaab's Law: guidance for social landlords; Housing Health and Safety Rating System operating guidance, Housing Act 2004.