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Installing solar panels - can LL & tenant benefit?
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Very sensible. Even if T behaves as Doozergirl suggests it does not reduce your FIT income as you are paid for every unit generated regardless how it is used.
The only catch is that you may not get back anything like your initial investment if you need to sell the property since, as this thread confirms, many people do not understand the benefits to the LL.0 -
little_acorn wrote: »
Does anyone know if there's a standard procedure in place for FIT to be paid to the owner of the property rather than the resident?
There are options for that on the FIT contract which will be provided by electricity supplier. The owner of the installation determines who gets the FIT income.0 -
I have considered doing this as well. It would work from an investment point of view. A few of points to note...
A 'typical system in probably nearer 2kW peak than 4kW peak.
Usage by ther tenant might not affect your FIT payment as most energy companies do not bother with an export meter (they assume that half of that generated will be exported).
The money will not be provided by the government. All energy costs will rise so that those with these panels (considered eco-bling by some) can be paid.
GGThere are 10 types of people in this world. Those who understand binary and those that don't.0 -
This is starting to sound like a no-brainer... Now the real fun starts with negotiating the minefield of installers/systems.
Is there a forum thread where merits of different PV panels have been discussed? Or can anyone recommend another website?
Any recommendations for installation companies in Gloucestershire/Monmouthshire region?0 -
http://www.solarguide.co.uk/
There are some threads on the Ethical moneysaving forum. Target price for full installation circa £3000 per kWp.
Use this to estimate generation for your house orientation/location.
http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps4/pvest.php?lang=en&map=europe0 -
Thanks for the info. One step at a time, but have already rung the council to see if we need planning permission: "not as long as installation doesn't protrude more than 200mm beyond the plane of the wall or roof slope." I assume this is standard practice? Helpful planning officer (!) suggested I request their confirmation of this in writing in case we want to sell house in future.0
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AFAIK, planning permission is not required unless the property is a listed building or in a conservation area.
No harm in asking for confirmation, you might have a helpful planning department - mine would certainly not put pen to paper without chargin an extortionate fee!!0 -
The FIT payments are handled separately from your tenants electricity account so the handling of payments would be pretty straightforward. We actually use the same energy supplier for both but a completely different section handles the FITs, you would just need to take a reading from the generation meter every three months and a cheque is normally sent shortly afterwards. We have a 3kWhp system and are expecting just over £500 on FIT payments and payment for exported units for our first quarter.0
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The question I still havent got an answer to is the tax treatment of the installation cost, ie does it count as a capital "Improvement" and hence offset any captial gains tax liability on the sale of a rental property?0
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Woe is me - our roof isn't big enough except for the smallest of installations (0.57kWp) which doesn't seem worth the effort.
Managed to get the size of our roof when phoning Tesco about their offer of 20% off. Helpful person did a preliminary online assessment looking at orientation, shading etc. and measured the roof using a Google Earth app. Our roof too small for their smallest six panel system (1.38kWp). At £6,000 (with the 20% off), Tesco was also off the target price of £3,000 per kWp suggested by Anselld.
Undeterred, I inputted the measurements at http://www.spiritsolar.co.uk/how-many-solar-panels.php where you can select/compare a number of different makes/sizes of panel for optimum fit/generation. Regrettably, three panels were the most our roof could accommodate.
Thanks to everyone for their advice. Hope the discussion has proved useful to others.0
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