Freetricity solar panels

mb13

We got the go ahead a few weeks ago that we can have the panels installed for free but need to get the paperwork back by next Tuesday.

I have a few questions that maybe someone out there could answer please:

Our current mortgage product ends in summer 2013 which is when we will be emigrating (hopefully). My question is that will it be easy to get a buy-to-let mortgage with the panels on? Should we be a little more cautious as we are planning on moving away?

Also, would anything have to be drawn up in the contract between us and the potential tenant?

Having solar panels installed for free seems too good to be true. I'm wondering what the catch is.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks

Equaliser123

Plenty of comments on these boards about the pro's and cons of free solar panels.

Personally, wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. I am not prepared for my roof to be leased out for relatively little gain in a situation which a) may put off future purchasers; b) cause problems with my mortgage; c) benefit disproportionately a third party.

larkim

Each to his own I suppose. As a purchaser, it would enhance my preference for a house if it had a pre-existing installation of solar on the roof, particularly if it also came with a 25 year repair agreement which didn't cost me anything. I don't see mortgages being compromised in the slightest, and as for benefiting third parties - if I could afford to do it myself, I would. But as I can't, instead I'll take perhaps £2500 over the lifetime of the lease rather than nothing, and if someone else makes a profit, so be it.

If I took the view that every penny I spent shouldn't turn into profit for some third party I'd never buy anything unless it was transparently priced at cost plus profit.

Matt

Equaliser123

larkim wrote: »

Each to his own I suppose. As a purchaser, it would enhance my preference for a house if it had a pre-existing installation of solar on the roof, particularly if it also came with a 25 year repair agreement which didn't cost me anything. I don't see mortgages being compromised in the slightest, and as for benefiting third parties - if I could afford to do it myself, I would. But as I can't, instead I'll take perhaps £2500 over the lifetime of the lease rather than nothing, and if someone else makes a profit, so be it.

If I took the view that every penny I spent shouldn't turn into profit for some third party I'd never buy anything unless it was transparently priced at cost plus profit.

Matt

Mortgage companies can and do object as it is an encumbrance on the title of the property.

Personally, I wouldn't even consider buying a house with 'free' panels.

larkim

Sorry, but I don't buy that without evidence. How many RaR installations have been completed and then the homeowner either sold or remortgaged their house and then had a problem with the mortgage.

The schemes have only been around for a short period of time, so I imagine the numbers involved (if any) can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

(btw, I am prepared to be shown to be talking out of my backside here, but I need some hard and fast examples rather than conjecture)

Matt

zeupater

mb13 wrote: »

We got the go ahead a few weeks ago that we can have the panels installed for free but need to get the paperwork back by next Tuesday.

I have a few questions that maybe someone out there could answer please:

Our current mortgage product ends in summer 2013 which is when we will be emigrating (hopefully). My question is that will it be easy to get a buy-to-let mortgage with the panels on? Should we be a little more cautious as we are planning on moving away?

Also, would anything have to be drawn up in the contract between us and the potential tenant?

Having solar panels installed for free seems too good to be true. I'm wondering what the catch is.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks

Hi

Considering that you are looking at selling the property within such a short timescale your main consideration is whether the panels will add value to the property, or detract from the value ....

A potential buyer may not want to buy a property which includes the 25 year lease agreement with the RaR scheme operator and may consider having their own panels installed in order to make use of the FiT, even after reduction. This would pose a number of options including ... walk away, negotiate the price downward, buy out the remaining contract, ask you to buy out the remaining contract ...

I'd guess that buying out the contract that early would cost the highest amount that they would charge, around £15k, and installing an owned system in 12/24 months time for yourself or the new buyer would be somewhere around £7k .... whichever way you look at it, for less than a couple of hundred pound saving over the next couple of years that looks very much like a £7k to £15k loss on the one side of the equation against a possible gain of say 23 years of £70 to £100 (say £2k total) energy bill savings for the buyer (at todays prices), so say they build half of that into the purchase price that's an upside of £1k to yourself ... your balance, your decision ... the likely range is a £15k loss to a £1k profit result of fitting the 'free' panels ...

HTH
Z

## Edit: just re-read, and saw that it was you looking at potential tennant ... above applies if you change your mind and decide to sell ... anyway, your decision then simply revolves around whether the panels will enhance the rental value .... Z

JenR8

It can only be good. Good for the tenant, who benefits from the free electricity and good for the owner (maintenance taken care of). As time passes, and price of electricity rises, the gains increase. Buyers are going to be very happy to be getting the benefit too. Our building society happy, so why wouldn't others be?

TrickyDicky101

Why would you want to do this given you are emigrating shortly? You must think it will make it easier to rent your property or allow you to charge a higher rent (which may be true). From the perspective of impact on future selling price of your property I would be very wary - you don't know how it would impact. For myself, I wouldn't touch a property that had solar installed where the FIT benefited someone else. Anecdotally, this is the view of quite a few posters on MSE.

Equaliser123

JenR8 wrote: »

Buyers are going to be very happy to be getting the benefit too. Our building society happy, so why wouldn't others be?

I wouldn't be happy at all as a buyer. I'd take the view that the monstrous things on the roof aren't worth (tops) a couple of hundred quid per annum.

Different mortgagors have different lending criteria. Lending criteria can (and very often does) change over time. Solicitors are required to declare the existence of a lease on a report on title.

Personally, my house is my house. I'm not leasing my roof.

I've bought panels and am pleased so far. Free scheme did not ever appeal to me at all.

Grangur

The problem that worries me is if the system stops working due to any fault of your making, and the company stops getting FIT revenue, YOU have to cover their losses. So, if you're expecting them to come and fix the problem, even if you're paying for the work, there's no rush to do it on their part because there's no loss - YOU are paying out all their loses.

I was all in favour of doing it initially, but on thinking it though I'm declining.

db1972

mb13 wrote: »

We got the go ahead a few weeks ago that we can have the panels installed for free but need to get the paperwork back by next Tuesday.

I have a few questions that maybe someone out there could answer please:

Our current mortgage product ends in summer 2013 which is when we will be emigrating (hopefully). My question is that will it be easy to get a buy-to-let mortgage with the panels on? Should we be a little more cautious as we are planning on moving away?

Also, would anything have to be drawn up in the contract between us and the potential tenant?

Having solar panels installed for free seems too good to be true. I'm wondering what the catch is.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks

Hi Reference Freetricity's free solar scheme - **BEWARE**

The panels they use are really cheap (Chinese panels) - their 4kw system costs less than £1200.00 to buy + fit. A lot of mortgage companies do NOT consent to their LEASE AGREEMENT, so even if your lender agrees with their lease, the person buying your property later on might have a lender that does not consent to their lease agreement. This would mean that you would have to buy them out of the agreement and this will cost you 6 times what it cost them to buy and install.

If the system breaks down then GOOD LUCK

AShade Greeners lease agreement is a lot more mortgage friendly!