Roofing for Ann Arbor Rental Property
Ann Arbor is a renters' city. Census figures for 2020-2024 count 27,544 renter-occupied homes against 22,955 owner-occupied, so only 45.5 percent of occupied homes are lived in by their owners. Fewer than half of the city's housing units, 41.6 percent, are detached houses, and 5,653 units sit in buildings of 50 or more. That leaves a lot of roofs whose owner doesn't sleep under them, and a lot of tenants who do.
Low-Slope Roofs on Apartment Buildings
Many apartment buildings, from older walk-ups to mid-rise blocks, have a flat or low-slope roof behind a parapet. The membrane is usually EPDM, TPO or modified bitumen; what each is and how it fails is on our flat roofing page. The apartment-specific parts are everything else on the roof: rooftop condensers and exhaust fans for each unit, plumbing vents from every bathroom stack, a roof hatch that tenants or maintenance staff use, and internal drains that clog with leaves.
Our view: on a building with dozens of penetrations, the membrane brand matters less than the flashing detail around each one. Ask the contractor to count and price the penetrations, and to say how they'll be flashed, before comparing totals. For larger buildings with commercial-style drains and overflow scuppers, see commercial roofing.
Shingle Roofs on Rental Houses
Older rental houses near campus and duplexes across the city often carry a shingle main roof and, often, a low porch or rear addition roof too flat for shingles. One estimate should cover both, because a roofer pricing only the main roof will leave the porch roof to leak into the front room next spring.
In our view, rental houses also take rougher wear at the edges: gutters that nobody cleans, satellite dishes screwed through the shingles, and attic hatches that tenants never open. For the replacement itself, see roof replacement; for shingle grades, asphalt shingle roofing.
Scheduling Around Tenants
Most roof work happens outside, but checking a leak means going inside, into the unit with the stain and up into the attic. Ann Arbor's housing code sets rules for that. An owner may enter a leased unit only if the lease allows it, after a good-faith effort to tell the tenant in advance, after knocking and announcing, and if the tenant doesn't refuse. If tenants have invoked the code's stricter entry restrictions, entry for repairs needs written notice mailed at least 5 days ahead or hand-delivered 3 days ahead. Emergencies, the kind that would cause serious damage if not fixed right away, are the exception.
Beyond the code, our checklist for a re-roof on an occupied building:
- give tenants the dates, the daily hours, and where the dumpster and trucks will sit;
- tell them to move cars from under the eaves and take things off balconies and porches;
- keep at least one entrance clear and covered at all times;
- ask the crew to run magnetic sweeps of walks and parking at the end of each day, not just at the end of the job.
Repair Logs and Inspections for Property Managers
A roof log turns leak calls into a plan. For each building, keep the roof's age and material, every leak with date, unit and photo, what was repaired and by whom, and the contractor's notes on remaining life. Two or three years of that tells you whether to keep patching or put replacement in next year's budget.
It also helps with the city. Ann Arbor's rental inspectors visit every rental unit every 30 months, and no unit may be leased without a Certificate of Compliance in effect. The housing code requires every roof to be reasonably weathertight and watertight and to be maintained so it doesn't leak, and the city's pre-inspection checklist repeats it: "Roof must be weather tight and free from leaks." If a tenant files a complaint, the city typically sets a fix deadline of 24 hours for a life-safety issue and 72 hours for a non-emergency one.
Why Ann Arbor homeowners call Ann Arbor Roofing Co.
- Written estimate, free of charge
- Shingle line, underlayment and ice barrier named in the price
- Deck repair priced per sheet before the tear-off
- One independent local roofer per request, not a call list
- No fee to the homeowner for the referral
How Does a Roof Project Fit Ann Arbor's Green Rental Rules?
For rental inspections from January 6, 2026 on, Ann Arbor's Green Rental Housing ordinance adds an energy step. A unit passes either with a HERS energy score of 110 or below, or with a checklist score of at least 70 out of 308 points for inspections through July 5, 2028, rising to 110 points after that. A re-roof is the cheapest time to work on the attic above it, because the crew is already there. What insulation levels make sense in a Michigan attic is on our attic insulation page, and vent sizing on roof ventilation.
One more rule for older rentals: the EPA's lead-safe renovation rule applies to rental housing built before 1978 even when the owner does the work, so painted fascia and trim on an old rental house need a certified firm. Details are on our soffit and fascia repair page.
What a Property Manager's Roofing Estimate Should Include
For a portfolio or a multi-building property, ask for one estimate per building, with the same line items on each so they can be compared: roof area and material, layers to remove, deck repair priced per sheet, number of penetrations and how each gets flashed, gutters and downspouts, and the start date and expected duration. Ask for photos of the problem areas and a short written note on remaining roof life for the buildings that aren't being replaced this year. Those notes are what you'll want at the next 30-month inspection.
Associations that own the roofs together have a different process; see HOA roofing.