Selling a house with solar panels and feed-in tariff

onlyroz

Apologies if this has been asked before but...

My parents are in the process of buying solar panels (16 panels covering most of the roof at a cost of around £12k). I've read all the brochures, T&Cs etc and it sounds like a good deal. However, I don't really understand the feed-in tariff, in particular what happens if you sell the house.

My mum says that if they moved then they would continue to receive the feed-in tariff for the full 20 years. So how does this work? Sounds like a horribly messy legal situation where you are getting a payment for electricity usage in a house that you no longer own. Is this correct? And if so, would it be off-putting to potential buyers?

G_M

Yes, messy and yes, offputting!

silvercar

I thought the solar panels become the property of the new owners and they receive the FiTs. What is really problematic is when the solar panels were provided free and the company took a lease on your roof space; this upsets mortgage providers greatly.

princeofpounds

Yes there are several different legal structures. You need to be very clear which you are choosing

onlyroz

Well it seems like it's not clear cut. The following article suggests that it's normal for the FiT to pass onto the new owners, but it *might* be possible to keep it for yourself:

http://www.greenenergynet.com/businesses/articles/independent-guide-selling-your-house-solar-pv

I would have thought that passing it on to the new owner would by far be the simpler and more preferable choice, particuarly if you could provide evidence of the income to the new prospective owners.

MobileSaver

onlyroz wrote: »

My mum says that if they moved then they would continue to receive the feed-in tariff for the full 20 years.

Wishful thinking on your mum's part! Why would anyone buy a house covered in solar panels unless they were benefiting from the "free" electricity and/or feed-in tariff income?

Any potential buyer is going to assume/insist that the FiT benefits are transferred over to them.

mrginge

I think your mum has got the wrong end of the stick on this one.

Knowing all the mess that these agreements can cause, when looking for a new house i just completely ignored any with solar panels.

AdrianC

mrginge wrote: »

Knowing all the mess that these agreements can cause, when looking for a new house i just completely ignored any with solar panels.

I'd certainly avoid any where there roof was leased to a panel provider, but - for me - having owned panels on the roof would be a selling point in favour.

ChopperST

mrginge wrote: »

I think your mum has got the wrong end of the stick on this one.

Knowing all the mess that these agreements can cause, when looking for a new house i just completely ignored any with solar panels.

That really is cutting your nose off to spite your face though isn't it?

I completely understand your concern regarding the rent a roof schemes but if you purchase a property where the vendors are the owners of the panels and they transfer ownership of the panels to you with the sale of the house you are potentially (depending on the size of the system) turning down FIT income and electricity savings of up to £1000 a year (for a well designed 4kW South facing system) with no capital outlay from yourself. Meaning that for whatever duration the FIT tariff is guaranteed for you are in pure profit...

D00gie72

I'm currently selling a house with leased Solar panels. Our buyer is dead chuffed with them and so far their mortgage company has not raised any issues with the lease. (I think the lender is Natwest). We're currently waiting to exchange.

PasturesNew

It's tough enough selling a house with any solar panels to people without experience of them.... if the originators were to retain the feed in tariff I'd suggest that'd reduce your pool of potential buyers down to: 0.