Free solar power system. Is it a scam?

larkim

Later in the article:

Sue Anderson, who represents the Council of Mortgage Lenders, cautions against reading too much into one case. "I am not aware that there has been any wholesale policy change from lenders – it has always been a commercial decision for lenders, and they take different views. But I certainly haven't heard of any universal move not to allow remortgage business for properties with leased solar panels," she says.

There must be only a handful of transactions that have taken place so far on houses with RaR systems installed. I suspect the reality is that there will take some time for a large number of these to be completed and for the industry to really get up to speed with sorting them out.

(But then, I've got a RaR system and I am a perennial optimist!)

Matt

busser

Watch out for a crowd from Stockport called Solar 397. I sent off after much discussion with this company for their free system, the only cost was for a survey of the roof for £397 by a company they allegedly use called SPL who subsequently were also hard to find. The guarantee was that if the roof was not suitable then the fee was fully refundable, I was assured of this several times over the phone in calls which were taped. I was given a date for the survey to be carried out but nobody turned up and after much toing and froing was told the surveyor was running late and another date would be set. As it turns out that was not forthcoming so they took my information about my roof from me and sent it off as gospel to the fitting company. As it turns out the company who do the actual fitting said the roof was not suitable so I asked for my fee back and have been blocked with every possible excuse under the sun from talking to the Manager or indeed anybody of a senior position within the company, seems everytime I phone they are in a meeting! Result is now that Cheshire Trading Standards are involved and my Soliocitor is or will be issuing a writ shortly.AGAIN BE WARNED—– NAME OF THIS COMPANY IS SOLAR 397 IN STOCKPORT. BEWARE OF THESE FRAUDSTERS. Address for these people are; Think Green Earth, 20, Hollins Lane, Stockport, SK6 6AW.

grahamc2003

busser wrote: »

Watch out for a crowd from Stockport called Solar 397. I sent off after much discussion with this company for their free system, the only cost was for a survey costing of the roof for £397 by a company they allegedly use called SPL. The guarantee was that if the roof was not suitable then the fee was fully refundable, I was assured of this several times over the phone in calls which were taped. I was given a date for the survey to be carried out but nobody turned up and after much toing and froing was told the surveyor was running late and another date would be set. As it turns out that was not forthcoming so they took my information about my roof from me and sent it off as gospel to the fitting company. As it turns out the company who do the actual fitting said the roof was not suitable so I asked for my fee back and have been blocked with every possible excuse under the sun from talking to the Manager or indeed anybody of a senior position within the company, seems everytime I phone they are in a meeting! Result is now that Cheshire Trading Standards are involved and my Soliocitor is or will be issuing a writ shortly.AGAIN BE WARNED—– NAME OF THIS COMPANY IS SOLAR 397 IN STOCKPORT. BEWARE OF THESE FRAUDSTERS. Address for these people are; Think Green Earth, 20, Hollins Lane, Stockport, SK6 6AW.

Sorry that it looks like you lost £400 - but I think you have been very lucky not to have reantaroof panels on your roof for the next 25 years - you would have been much worse off had the installation gone ahead imv. Have you read the recent posts?

busser

Live and learn, eh Have posted the info above to stop other people getting involved with mob led by M.D. Paul Barrington Metcalfe. Be wary of them and their methods.

DonSwan

https://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/mar/23/solar-panels-dim-mortgage-prospects

"A spokeswoman for the Skipton told us the society does accept applications where a PV lease scheme exists. However, its guidance to brokers, updated on 20 February, clearly states: "The society will NOT lend where the panel provider is supplying and fitting panels free of charge, is taking income from the grid tariff scheme and is creating a long-term lease against the roof and roof air space."

"The Nationwide told Money it was committed to lending on such projects, but the Weltons' broker was told, on two occasions, by Nationwide staff that it would not lend on a home where a PV lease was in place, unless it had been agreed by Nationwide originally."

LittleVermin

busser wrote: »

Watch out for a crowd from Stockport called Solar 397. <snip>
Result is now that Cheshire Trading Standards are involved<snip> AGAIN BE WARNED—– NAME OF THIS COMPANY IS SOLAR 397 IN STOCKPORT. <snip> Address for these people are; Think Green Earth, 20, Hollins Lane, Stockport, SK6 6AW.

Longer reply posted here. (This follows your post in the 'Solar Panel Guide Discussion' thread about Solar 397 and Think Green Earth and links with posts on the bust Energy Saving Group thread and Energy Reduction UK which also offered/offer 'free solar').
..

larkim

DonSwan wrote: »

https://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/mar/23/solar-panels-dim-mortgage-prospects

"A spokeswoman for the Skipton told us the society does accept applications where a PV lease scheme exists. However, its guidance to brokers, updated on 20 February, clearly states: "The society will NOT lend where the panel provider is supplying and fitting panels free of charge, is taking income from the grid tariff scheme and is creating a long-term lease against the roof and roof air space."

"The Nationwide told Money it was committed to lending on such projects, but the Weltons' broker was told, on two occasions, by Nationwide staff that it would not lend on a home where a PV lease was in place, unless it had been agreed by Nationwide originally."

I made the point of adding some of my own commentary after just quoting from the Guardian, to balance your original synopsis (which I felt stated only one side of the article - you may disagree). I'm not sure that just copying and pasting other bits really moves the question on much.

Bottom line is that there is some uncertainty here, and at least one (or only one?) householder has had issues with obtaining further credit as a result of their RaR scheme. Even the sections that you've quoted highlight inconsistencies between messages given out by the same organisation.

My RaR system was installed under the Eon scheme, and the legals were handled by Eversheds. My current mortgage provider (Nationwide, as it happens) had no problems with it, and had sight of all of the relevant information.

As I said above, I suspect only time will tell if this is a real issue, or the usual journalistic scaremongering (I'm a guardianista in my political views, but wouldn't want to forget that the allegation that the grauniad made that voicemails on Milly Dowler's phone were deleted were later proven not to be true), so bear in mind that not everything in the newspapers is gospel.

Matt

Martyn1981

larkim wrote: »

Later in the article:


There must be only a handful of transactions that have taken place so far on houses with RaR systems installed. I suspect the reality is that there will take some time for a large number of these to be completed and for the industry to really get up to speed with sorting them out.

(But then, I've got a RaR system and I am a perennial optimist!)

Matt

I don't think you're being overly optimistic, just thinking this issue through, rather than taking it on face value.

Most people, yourself included (I suspect) that went down the RaR route did not plan to move for some time. The article itself is about re-mortgaging. So if we allow a little time and a little common sense, the situation should change.

The mortgage lender(s) are currently scared that a RaR PV system may reduce the desirability of the property, and therefore their ability to get their money back (quickly!) if they had to foreclose. So lets jump forward 5 years.

PV (owned) is already pretty much accepted, it is not looked on as 'scary magic'. In 5 years time, I'd expect RaR systems to be similarly 'scare' free. So demand will grow, or at least be reduced less.

Financially, as electricity keeps going up, the benefits of reduced bills will also go up.

Lost the ability to put in your own system, yes, but as FITs keeps dropping and electricity prices go up, the additional gains will become less and less, so a clean roof may not be as desirable as it is now. Eg at present (21p) a clean roof could earn me £100(savings) + £800(export and FITs), for say £8k. In 5 years time those figures might be £150 + £250 for £5k.
Spending £5k 'just' to get an extra £250, when the savings of £150 already exist may swing your opinion (maybe not - just speculating).

Also mortgage lender risk wise - House owners with RaRs will hopefully in 5 years time (compared to today), have slightly higher wages and a bit more equity in their houses, but still have the same mortgage debt (or less with a repayment), this may help to allay lenders fears.

I'm not supporting RaR's, and if possible I'd always suggest buying PV, not getting a free system. But life isn't that straight forward, so it's worth noting that it's not all doom and gloom (especially when the sun's shining!).

Mart (also a hopeless optimist)

zeupater

Hi

The case in question does look a little strange ...

Reading between the lines it could be construed that the homeowners have taken on board the claims that the value of a property will be enhanced by fitting the R-A-R panels and have attempted to 'work the system' by having the panels fitted at the end of last year and then expected to be able to release the additional equity in the property immediately after having them fitted, only to be refused by the lender(s) ..... I can't believe that this wouldn't be the case considering the event timeline therefore I wouldn't read too much into this single reported case as it's probably just the result of a little vitriol by some bitter homeowners after their plan fell apart, however, I still believe that there will be further issues down the line regarding salability & values of properties with R-A-R panels.

HTH
Z

Numpty_Nora

Hi
My in-laws (in their 80s) have been signed up to solar PV panels on a 25 year contract. They got the panels free and the company gets the benefits. When they die (which is likely to be before the 25 years are up!) do we, as their heirs, have to honour the contract? Otherwise I can see we'll never be able to sell the property if mortgages are going to be denied on homes with solar PV panels.