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iscamaid
Posts: 297 Forumite
We had solar panels fitted in 2012 from Homesun under the free rent a roof scheme. They are now administered by Anesco we believe. We want to sell our house in the next couple of years and realise just how difficult it will be. Has anyone had similar problems - the cost of buying them out seems excessive now the feed in tariff is so low. I would love to just remove them but don't know the legal implications. I am even wondering about hiring a solicitor to enquire about getting out of the contract. Any advice at all please on this. Please don't judge - at the time I thought this was a great green scheme and now regret it bitterly.
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If you had the panels fitted in 2012 then the FIT won't be at a low rate (the particular banding is set effectively at the installation date so what FIT rate is available now (or not) does not impact what 'your' panels will be earning).2
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We bought a house in March that has the rent a roof solar panels fitted.
Ours are from A Shade Greener and we had no problems other than ensuring the mortgage company would lend on a house with rent a roof scheme, that the company who owned them was up to the standards required and we had a bit of delay while the solicitors got all the info and paperwork signed over to us. It only delayed by a couple of weeks.
We get the benefit of free electric during the day and to us buying a house with solar panels.....despite all the scare stories I'd read.... it didn't put us off buying at all.1 -
If you buy them out, you get the original contract and the original FIT rate (now over 50p per unit) transfered to you for the remainder of the original 25 year FIT contract. That may be worth doing, look at how much they want to buy out the contract and compare it to what it's likely to pay over the remaining period. Make sure it's done properly. They can assign the existing contract to anybody they like, but the panels must stay with that house (more strictly with the MPAN of your electricity meter) You can't start a new FIT with second hand panels.
To sell the house with them in situ on the rent a roof you may find it devalues the house. In theory if you have the contract and the FIT it should add value to the house, but only if the buyer understands the income he is likely to get. But even that is not a given. A friend of mine nearly bought a house with solar PV and the FIT contract. I advised her it was a good deal and she should buy the house, but the surveyor warned the roof structure may have been compromised and could not be guaranteed so she pulled out of the purchase.
You would have to look at the rent a roof contract you signed to see what other options you have to end their contract. Perhaps if there is a terminate clause, that may make them offer you a more attractive buy out option.
I will be interested to see how this pans out, and from a slightly selfish point of view I personally would be interested to buy a set of second hand panels for a non FIT application if they do get decomissioned.0 -
They are not your property to remove-doing so would render you liable to be sued by the administrators for both the value of the panels, and the FITS revenue. There is no other way out of the contract other than buying it out, unless the other party agrees to void it without penalty-and why would they do that?No free lunch, and no free laptop
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sevenhills wrote: »If you find a buyer that does not mind the look of the panels, why would £100/£200 worth of free electricity put them off?
It tends to be the mortgage lenders who are wary of these schemes, and may refuse to lend.
As a minimum, the lease for the roof needs to be comply with 'Council of Mortgage lenders' guidelines.
If the lease isn't currently compliant, you have to ask the solar panel company if they would agree to change it.
The key change that's often required is a clause saying that if the house is repossessed, the solar panel agreement terminates. (I guess the solar panel company would then lose money, so they may not be keen to add this clause.)0 -
I am doing a RTB and I have solar panels, no issues have come up, I have a mortgage offer, just waiting for searches.0
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Yes, but are they rent a roof?0
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Huge thanks for all the advice here. I have been thinking about moving for a while but have only been half looking as very little is coming on the market (I think it is the Brexit Effect). I was told by a colleague who has just sold she was warned by her solicitor not to purchase a house she was interested in because it had solar panels fitted under a rent a roof scheme. This scared me.
I think my first action will be to contact the company who own the contract now and ask them to provide me with information for any prospective buyer. Your advice here means I am armed with the right questions to ask. Once I get this information I might pay for a conveyancer to look at it and get everything in order to speed the process up should I ever find my dream home to move to. PLEASE keep adding to this thread, any help and advice is very helpful. I will carry on posting with information as I find it - there must have been many thousands of homeowners who had panels fitted under this scheme who 5-6 years later are moving home...0 -
Once I get this information I might pay for a conveyancer to look at it and get everything in order to speed the process up should I ever find my dream home to move to.
It's more of a mortgage related issue than a conveyancing issue.
A strategy I've used when selling a property that may be difficult to mortgage (for other reasons) is to contact one or two mortgage brokers, and say something like...
"I've going to be selling a property with solar panels. Do you have experience in getting mortgages for such properties? If so, can I pass your name on to prospective buyers?"
And ask them general questions about how easy/difficult it is to get a mortgage. (But they're all likely to say they can arrange a mortgage - try to find one who's actually done it.)0
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