Mortgage & Solar Panels

rushandy

Hi all,

First post, please be nice! :-)

I'm currently in the process of purchasing a house that has 'rent a roof' solar panels installed. Our mortgage provider has stated that the lease on the panels must comply with the CML guidance for this sort of thing.

In reviewing the lease the solicitor has come up with a couple of clauses that she thinks might be too onerous for the bank to lend on. I'm surprised as the solar PV provider (E.on - under the £99 SolarExchange scheme) must be one of the bigger ones, I can't imagine they'd be a company that would be making people's house unsaleable due to the Solar Lease T&C's. I've heard about this happening with other, smaller providers, but I would have thought a company as large as E.on would have thought about this up front?

So, my question is, has anyone else bought a house with 'Rent a Roof' panels installed by E.on? Did you have any problems with your mortgage provider and the lease?

We were supposed to complete this week, but due to the solicitor not checking the Solar lease until last week (despite me asking her to do this 9 weeks ago), it's not going to happen. We're all pretty depressed about the situation to be honest. I guess I'm hoping someone else has been through this experience and had a positive outcome, and might be able to cheer me up a little.

Thanks,
Andy

rushandy

I wonder if any of the E.on company representatives on here might be able to provide some insight?

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi rushandy

I remember the SolarExchange scheme. It was one we ran back in 2011.

Whilst I'm not qualified to comment on things to do with your mortgage or bank, thought it might help if I give you some information about the scheme itself.

For a one off payment of £99 E.ON customers were able to rent their roof and have solar panels installed. Provided the property was suitable, customers were entitled to use all the electricity the panels produced for 25 years without charge.

We also guaranteed to monitor and maintain the panels throughout this time.

It's run in conjunction with the Government's Feed in Tariff (FIT) scheme to help increase the amount of renewable energy generated.

Any unused electricity is exported back to the National Grid. Payments for this go directly to our partners Solar Exchange SPV Ltd.

Customers who went ahead, entered into a lease agreement to keep the panels on the roof for just over 25 years.

The law firm Eversheds LLP work with Solar Exchange SPV to look after the legal admin side.

At the time, they'd have asked the customer to sign a lease agreement to keep the solar panels on the roof for 25 years and 3 months and for the FIT payments to be paid to Solar Exchange.

The lease agreement would've been registered at the Land Registry against the title of the property. The lease agreement stays with the property as it's registered against the title.

Where properties change hands, the new owner will be able to continue using the electricity generated by the solar panels without charge.

Customers can end the lease agreement before the 25 year term expires by paying a termination fee. The fee will depend on the type of system fitted and how many years the agreement's been running.

MSE have more information about solar panels at the link below.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/free-solar-panels?utm_source=forum&utm_medium=clicks&utm_campaign=resourcebar

Sorry I can't offer any guidance on the banking, mortgage and CML aspects Andy but hope the above's of interest.

Best wishes buying the property.

Malc

rushandy

Thank you Malc,

As it stands, the wording of the lease produced by Eversheds is going to stop the sale from proceeding.

The only options the vendor has - if he wishes to sell his house - is to buy out the contract (at a cost of £13k ish) or request that the wording of the lease be amended to fall in line with the CML guidelines so that banks will be willing to mortgage the property.

Do you know if the second option (i.e. having the lease reworded) is something that E.on / Eversheds would be willing to facilitate? If yes, who should the vendor contact in the first instance to get this arranged?

Regards
Andy

kiddakidda

rushandy wrote: »

I wonder if any of the E.on company representatives on here might be able to provide some insight?

This is something that I came up against recently.

Turned out that it was a couple of thermal panels that fed the hot water system and had been paid for by the vendor.

I do know that lenders are wary of these 'Roof Lease' schemes as effectively the companies involved are staking a claim on the property (albeit only the roof area)

Have you spoken with your lender?

kiddakidda

It's a bad description by the E.on rep to say 'Rent' the roof space.

Load of tosh!! They take ownership of your roof to the point that you have to get E.on's / Eversheds agreement to carry out maintenance on you own roof!!

Over the upcoming years I can see this becoming more of an issue for vendors and buyers alike.

rushandy

Hi Kidda,

Yes, the bank have said they will only lend on the property of the lease on the roof space is compliant with the CML guidelines - which it isn't, unfortunately. My solicitor is currently preparing a report for the lenders, I'm just waiting for it to be completed and sent on. Then I'll have to see what the bank says. I'm pretty certain though that they'll withdraw the mortgage offer on this property.

This basically means that E.on have lumped this guy with a house that can't be sold, due to the wording of the Solar PV / roof space lease. I'm angry enough being the purchaser in this position, if I were the vendor I'd be furious.

Hopefully Malc will chime in to tell us everything's OK, and who to contact to have the lease reworded so that it is CML compliant. If not though, and the vendor can't make any leeway with E.on directly, I'll advise him to contact his local MP / any media outlets that are willing to listen, because as things stand, this is a real travesty.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

rushandy wrote: »

Thank you Malc,

As it stands, the wording of the lease produced by Eversheds is going to stop the sale from proceeding.

The only options the vendor has - if he wishes to sell his house - is to buy out the contract (at a cost of £13k ish) or request that the wording of the lease be amended to fall in line with the CML guidelines so that banks will be willing to mortgage the property.

Do you know if the second option (i.e. having the lease reworded) is something that E.on / Eversheds would be willing to facilitate? If yes, who should the vendor contact in the first instance to get this arranged?

Regards
Andy

rushandy wrote: »

Hi Kidda,

Yes, the bank have said they will only lend on the property of the lease on the roof space is compliant with the CML guidelines - which it isn't, unfortunately. My solicitor is currently preparing a report for the lenders, I'm just waiting for it to be completed and sent on. Then I'll have to see what the bank says. I'm pretty certain though that they'll withdraw the mortgage offer on this property.

This basically means that E.on have lumped this guy with a house that can't be sold, due to the wording of the Solar PV / roof space lease. I'm angry enough being the purchaser in this position, if I were the vendor I'd be furious.

Hopefully Malc will chime in to tell us everything's OK, and who to contact to have the lease reworded so that it is CML compliant. If not though, and the vendor can't make any leeway with E.on directly, I'll advise him to contact his local MP / any media outlets that are willing to listen, because as things stand, this is a real travesty.

Hi Andy

I've being talking to a colleague who looks after the SolarExchange scheme for us. If you drop an email to the address in my Profile, I'll be happy to put you in touch with her.

The legal side is something I'm not qualified to comment on but I'm sure my colleague can help.

Look forward to hearing from you Andy.

Malc

rushandy

Malc,

Thank you for getting in touch.

I will email you directly.

Regards
Andy

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Thanks Andy. I'll look out for your email.

Malc

Dave_Ham

Be useful to keep this thread updated, as I too believe we are all going to see this more and more often in months/years to come.


Be interested to see how this ends..


Good luck