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PLEASE HELP! Buying reposessed property with solar panels!
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Juris
Posts: 8 Forumite
Please can someone help us - we are first time buyers and have found a house we wish to make an offer on. It is a reposession so there is no documents or information available about the history of the property.
We have done extensive research and discovered (among other things!) it was built 1996 and that the solar panels were only installed within the last 2 years but we are struggling to find out who the panels belong to.
The boiler belongs to "A Shade Greener" but they say they have no records of installing the solar panels. We have now contacted every registered FIT (Feed In Tariff) licensed supplier from the OFGEM website list in hope someone can help!
The bank will mortgage a property with solar panels but they need to be on their approved list of suppliers - so we obviously need to find this out ASAP!
Can anyone advise anything we could do to find out - we are going to put an offer in and will pay for the survey and hope that they can find out but would rather know ourselves too so we can find out more about what we would be taking on specifically with these panels.
Thanks for reading - hope someone can help and reply!
We have done extensive research and discovered (among other things!) it was built 1996 and that the solar panels were only installed within the last 2 years but we are struggling to find out who the panels belong to.
The boiler belongs to "A Shade Greener" but they say they have no records of installing the solar panels. We have now contacted every registered FIT (Feed In Tariff) licensed supplier from the OFGEM website list in hope someone can help!
The bank will mortgage a property with solar panels but they need to be on their approved list of suppliers - so we obviously need to find this out ASAP!
Can anyone advise anything we could do to find out - we are going to put an offer in and will pay for the survey and hope that they can find out but would rather know ourselves too so we can find out more about what we would be taking on specifically with these panels.
Thanks for reading - hope someone can help and reply!
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Comments
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Would the council have a record e.g. If the work required building regs or planning permission?0
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Appreciate its a repo but could the bank not get in touch with the old owners to ask them?
The old owners might be awkward and not say, but they may help.I am a Mortgage AdviserYou 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.0 -
I did search on planning applications for the local area in past five years but I will contact council direct, thank you Southend1.
AGC I've been told by the estate agents the person selling this house (presume bank or someone on behalf of bank) can't be identified. Do you know who we should ask with regards to getting a message to the new sellers to ask if they can find out more about the solar panels?0 -
Some thoughts...
The previous owners may have bought them outright and so they are being sold with the house - but I guess it's unlikely. Somebody in financial difficultly probably wouldn't be buying expensive solar panels.
Another possibility is that the previous owner leased the roof to a solar panel company (typically for 25 years). That lease may be registered with the Land Registry, so have a search there.
As you may know, you may find it difficult to get a mortgage if the roof has been leased out.
If the previous owner just signed a contract with a solar panel company, you would not be bound by that contract (although you could choose to sign a new contract with the solar panel company, if you want to).
In reality, if you like the house, you might just have to make an offer and ask your solicitor to check the legal docs for any clues. Then, if it sounds dodgy, walk away and lose some legal fees.0 -
Thanks Eddddy - some great points.
We have spoken to 2 neighbours. One thought they were a government scheme as they came around their estate 2yrs ago. Another, who claims to be friends with the previous owners, said she thought they owned them outright. Although they were repossessed I think they were quite comfortable for money up until the poor guy was let go from his job.
If they have leased the roof (which out of interest you rent the space above your roof not the actual roof) for a 25yr period that is okay so long as the company they have leased to are on our banks list of approved companies.
Any lease is signed by first owner who takes up the offer, however the lease stays with the property not the owner. Any new owners have to keep the lease for the 25yr period BUT they do not have to sign any new contracts.
I am going to contact the estate agents again and ask them to speak to the seller and see if they can find out more information for us. I am also going to contact the local council to ask for any information they have on that property too, although I have done necessary planning searches and nothing has come up. BUT it is possible they didn't get planning permission (which could open a whole other can of worms) or they didn't need it.
Thanks everyone for the advice I really do appreciate it!0 -
UPDATE: We have managed to track down the MCS Installation Certificate and from this have contacted the company who installed the panels. They kindly did a bit of digging for us and have discovered the initial company (X) who leased the panels to the previous occupiers have since sold the least to another company (Y) who have sold the lease a second time to a third company (Z).
NB: I am not putting company names becacuse the estate agent was very obnoxious about how quick they would sell the property without knowing who owned the panels...then continued to try find out from me who owns them! If the property was going to sell that easy it would have already been sold by now!
Anyway, company (Z) isn't on our banks approved list of solar panel companies - BUT, I think this is possibly because this company works on an industrial scale (think fields and fields of solar panels!) not domestic. I have contacted them for confirmation they now own the lease on the property and I am waiting to hear back from them and we have appointment with the bank next week to discuss our options!
Unfortunately we have discovered another set back with this property concerning land ownership (cue another post!)...we must sound insane for still wanting to buy this house!
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If the previous owner just signed a contract with a solar panel company, you would not be bound by that contract (although you could choose to sign a new contract with the solar panel company, if you want to).
You might want to double check that, IIRC the 'rent a roof' deals were for a fixed period irrespective of changes of ownership.
This 'approved' list sound fishy to me... anyone signing off the installation would be MCS approved, 17th edition inspected etc.
The panels, wiring, inverter, isolator etc will all be off the shelf stuff whoever fitted it. Perhaps offer to get the install double checked and certificated by an MCS approved company of their choice?
Almost like a house being unsaleable as the tarmac driveway wasn't done by an 'approved' company.0
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