Divorce Housing Insights

The Roof Nobody Mentioned: Who Pays for House Repairs in a Divorce

Oct 02, 2026

Divorce Housing Insights

Every house needs something. Maybe it's a roof near the end of its life, a water heater on borrowed time, or the bathroom nobody uses anymore. In a divorce, whether the house has problems is rarely the real question. What matters is whether your agreement says who pays for them, and when.

An illustrative example

She is keeping the house. The agreement is signed and the divorce is final. A few months later she applies to refinance, so she can pay him his share and take his name off the loan. The lender's appraiser walks the house and notes that the roof needs repair before the loan can close. Nothing in the agreement mentions the roof. The refinance is on hold, her deadline is still running, and he has already moved on and has no reason to help pay.

Nobody in that story did anything wrong. The repair simply had no owner, because nobody wrote one into the agreement.

Two kinds of repairs

The ones you already know about

If you both know the roof leaks or the furnace is failing, deal with it now, on purpose. There are only a few ways to handle a known repair:

Lower the value of the house used to figure out the buyout.
Take the cost off the buyout payment, so the spouse keeping the house pays a little less to the other.
Fix it before the house changes hands, with the agreement saying who pays.
Leave it as it is, with both of you agreeing in writing that you knew about it.

Any of these can be the right answer. The trouble starts when nobody chooses one and everyone assumes the house's value already accounts for it.

The ones nobody has found yet

This is the part most agreements miss. If you are keeping the house and need to refinance, the lender will order its own appraisal, and that usually happens after the divorce is final. So when you sign, nobody knows what the lender's appraiser will find.

That matters because lenders generally will not close a loan on a house with problems that affect safety or the structure of the home until those problems are fixed. A cosmetic issue usually won't stop a loan. A leaking roof or an unsafe condition can. If the agreement is silent, the spouse keeping the house usually ends up paying, often in the middle of a refinance with a deadline running.

A repair nobody has found yet is still a repair somebody will pay for. The question is whether your agreement decided who.

Questions to ask your attorney before you sign

You don't need to know what the lender will find. You only need the agreement to say what happens if it finds something. Bring these questions to your attorney:

If the lender requires a repair, who pays? One of you, both of you, or a split?
How do we decide what it costs? For example, the estimate in the lender's report, or the lower of two contractor quotes.
Is there a limit? For example, one of you pays up to a set dollar amount and you split anything above that. Without a limit, nobody knows what they are agreeing to.
Can it come off the buyout payment? Money is already changing hands, so this is often the simplest way to settle it.
Does my refinance deadline move while the work gets done? Repairs and the lender's follow-up inspection take time.
Will my ex cooperate if needed? Sometimes access to the house or a signature is required after one of you has moved out.

Why the lender's appraiser may notice more

The appraisal done for your divorce and the appraisal done for your lender are written for different purposes. Starting November 2, 2026, lenders are moving to a new appraisal report that lists problems with the house in more detail, including an estimated cost to repair. Some lenders may keep using the current report into 2027 under a temporary exception.

Either way, the lender's report can describe the condition of the house in more detail than the one your settlement was based on. That is why it helps to settle the repair question before you sign, not after the lender's report arrives.

What you can do now

Make a list of what you already know is wrong with the house and share it with your attorney.
Tell whoever orders the divorce appraisal if condition matters, so the appraiser knows it is important to you.
Get a contractor estimate for anything big, so the conversation is about a number instead of a guess.
Test the refinance before the agreement is final. A Certified Divorce Lending Professional (CDLP®) can check whether the spouse keeping the house can actually refinance and fund the buyout, and help make sure the repair terms fit that plan. Learn about the Divorce Mortgage Planning Report.

Keeping the house? Make sure the plan holds.

A free strategy review looks at your refinance, your buyout and the questions your agreement still needs to answer, before you sign.

Book your free Strategy Review ›

This article is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial, or mortgage advice. Mortgage qualification, tax treatment, and divorce outcomes depend on individual circumstances and applicable state law. Consult a qualified attorney, tax professional, or Certified Divorce Lending Professional® regarding your specific situation.