Rooftop MortgagesPublic Complaints & Decisions Archive

Research question

Can Rooftop charge interest on fees?

This page does not give a legal answer. It sets out the published material relevant to the question so that a reader can look at the sources directly.

Why the question arises

Where a fee — an arrears fee, a legal fee, a field agent fee or a receiver cost — is added to a mortgage account balance rather than billed separately, interest may be charged on the balance that now includes that fee. Whether that is permitted in a particular case depends on the mortgage contract, the tariff of charges in force at the time, and the regulatory rules applying to that mortgage. Published complaint decisions examine those questions case by case.

What to look at

  • The mortgage terms and conditions in force for the account, and what they say about adding costs to the balance.
  • The tariff of charges applicable at the date the fee was applied. Tariffs change, so the version and effective date matter.
  • Whether the mortgage is a regulated mortgage contract, which affects whether the FCA's MCOB rules on charges in arrears apply.
  • What published Ombudsman decisions record about the specific fee and the specific interest treatment complained of.

FCA Handbook, MCOB 12 — charges (fca.org.uk)

Nothing on this page constitutes legal advice. Individual mortgage terms differ, and a decision in one complaint does not determine the position in another.

Relevant published Rooftop terms and tariffs

Published Rooftop tariff and terms documents held in the archive, with effective dates and source links.

The charges themselves are set out, line by line, on the tariff of charges page. What matters for your account is the tariff in force on the date each fee was applied, not the current one.

Company documentCompany document – Rooftop3 February 2025

Rooftop Mortgages – Tariff of Mortgage Charges, effective 3 February 2025

Rooftop Mortgages Limited publishes a tariff of mortgage charges on its website. The version archived here states that it is effective from 3 February 2025 and sets out the fees the business says it may apply during the life of a mortgage, including fees connected with arrears, field agent activity, instructing solicitors, instructing receivers on buy-to-let accounts, repossession and redemption.

ChargesArrears feesLegal feesField agentsSolicitorsReceivership
Company documentCompany document – Rooftop1 May 2019

Rooftop Mortgages – Tariff of Mortgage Charges, effective 1 May 2019

The earlier version of Rooftop's tariff of mortgage charges, printed as effective from 1 May 2019 and still hosted on the company's own website. It sets out the fees the business said it might apply during the life of a mortgage, including arrears, field agent, solicitor instruction, repossession, ground rent and service charge, and redemption fees. It contains no receiver instruction fee.

ChargesArrears feesLegal feesField agentsSolicitorsRedemption

Examples where interest applied to fees was refunded or recalculated

Records where the source states that interest on fees was removed or the account reworked.

Complaint upheldOfficial source – Financial Ombudsman12 October 2019

DRN5725301 – Arrears and unpaid direct debit fees; £1,685 refund ordered and interest on fees removed

A complaint brought through a claims management company about fees and charges added to a mortgage taken out in August 2006. Arrears fees, the cost of possession proceedings and unpaid direct debit fees had been added to the account. The Ombudsman upheld the complaint and required Rooftop to refund 31 monthly arrears management fees of £50 and six unpaid direct debit fees, totalling £1,685, and to rework the account to remove interest added to those fees.

DRN5725301ArrearsArrears feesChargesInterest on feesFinancial difficulty

Examples where the charges were not disturbed

Records where the complaint about charges was not upheld.

Complaint not upheldOfficial source – Financial Ombudsman11 October 2024

DRN-4702049 – Overpayment balance, interest rate rises and arrears charges; complaint not upheld

An interest-only mortgage taken out with Rooftop in 2006, fixed for two years and then reverting to LIBOR plus 4.1%. Payments from the borrowers and the Department for Work and Pensions cleared the arrears and built an overpayment balance, which was eroded from 2022 as interest rates rose and payments reduced. The complaint concerned the erosion of that balance, the interest rate increases and the charges applied, and was not upheld.

DRN-4702049ArrearsArrears feesAdditional interestChargesCommunicationMortgage prisoners