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Shared Owership - Solar PV Panels

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henrygregory
henrygregory Posts: 535 Forumite
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in House buying, renting & selling
Good morning there,

I am (if it ever happens) in the process of purchasing a Shared Ownership property. When we paid the deposit for this property, we were told it boasts energy efficiency as it has Solar PV Panels on the roof which would save our energy bills.

I have read online that this can actually be an issue of concern as energy companies can refuse to credit your account with the energy generated by the solar panels as you don't actually own all of the panels, as you don't yet own the whole house.

Are there any Shared Ownership home owners out there who can clarify this for me? Sadly, our Housing Association are very inexperienced in Shared Ownership, dealing mainly in rental, so they have not been much use in answering my questions on this, which only came to light when I was reading about them on another forum and found many posts back in 2010 from owners saying that the panels were a waste of time, and just a way for builders to get 'free' money from the government as with the panels, the home was considered an eco home.

Any clarification or experiences would be much appreciated.

Comments

  • ProDave
    ProDave Posts: 3,721 Forumite
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    You need to understand who owns the panels (and therefore the feed in tariff contract) it may be you, it may be the HA, it may be someone completely different (often known as rent a roof)

    If you own the panels, then the FIT contract can be transfered to your name and you will receive the FIT payments.

    Even without the FIT payments, they will refuce the amount of electricity you need to import and so refuce your bills, but that only reduces what you use in the daytime (using big appliances like washing machine tumble dryer etc in the middle of the day)
  • kingstreet
    kingstreet Posts: 38,766 Forumite
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    Newbuild, or re-sale?

    Has your solicitor received a copy of the lease?

    Has your mortgage lender asked questions about the panels?
    I am a mortgage broker. You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a Mortgage Adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice. Please do not send PMs asking for one-to-one-advice, or representation.
  • Grenage
    Grenage Posts: 2,899 Forumite
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    Normally with these things unless you own the panels and the FIT, you don't get any money off the panels. You can use as much of the juice being produced as you can, but the surplus feeds the coffers of the owners.

    They rent your roof space, and your payment is whatever lecky you can use when it's produced.

    Is it a problem? Apparently some lenders have an issue, but others do not. Mine didn't when I bought a house with a rent-a-roof. I imagine it's far less of a problem in a starter home than higher up the ladder.
  • henrygregory
    henrygregory Posts: 535 Forumite
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    kingstreet wrote: »
    Newbuild, or re-sale?

    Has your solicitor received a copy of the lease?

    Has your mortgage lender asked questions about the panels?

    Newbuild, Mortgage lender [Nationwide] has not asked anything about it. Mortgage has been issued and valuation etc were done several months back.

    No copies of the lease yet, Housing Association are quite out of their depth by the sounds of it. We should have been moved in by mid August.
  • teddysmum
    teddysmum Posts: 9,471 Forumite
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    Our council did a deal ,for council estates in 'deprived' areas, allowing the rent a roof people to erect panels on suitable houses.


    This cost the council nothing, but the roof panel company takes all the pay in; just like with private homes. This could create difficulties should a tenant wish to buy.
  • henrygregory
    henrygregory Posts: 535 Forumite
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    My solicitor has just come back to me with the results of their searches. Would now be a good time to ask him again about the solar panels and see if he can find out about the ownership?

    This is my first time buying somewhere so not really sure when is the best time to ask some of these questions.
  • sevenhills
    sevenhills Posts: 5,885 Forumite
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    I had solar panels fitted to my council house, the council received the feed-in tariff payments, and I get a little free electricity when I am at home.
    The council may get around £2/300 per year, and I probably save a similar amount on my bills.
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