Solar Panel Developer Issues

charlielouise88

hi there,

Wonder if anyone has any suggestions or recommendations, we recently purchased a house which was only a few years old part of a new build development about 5 years ago and all the houses come with solar panels.

we were told by the director of the site that the solar panels owners of the houses don't get any benefit from the panels on their roves, the money sold back from them goes back to the developers who built the estate, so in theory they are profiting from the owners of the houses who don't use all the solar energy.

is there any way to solve this so that we as the owners of the house get any of benefits?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

JimLad

is this effectively the rent a roof scheme? Your soliciter would have had to deal with it when you bought

charlielouise88

Our solicitor did not Know anything about it she got from the seller solicitor at the time that they were not in use and had never been

It was only by chance speaking to the director of the site we learned this but no way to verify this

theboylard

You need to, very carefully, go through the deeds to the property.

If the panels are mentioned, then depending on the wording it may breach your mortgage conditions, which could be very bad for you.
But if they are mentioned and your solicitor did not make it clear, then you have a claim against them - but that is a tough case to prove.

If they are not mentioned, then I would contact MCS, and check if they have been registered for FiT.

If they have, but it's not in the deeds, then I'd advise contacting the company to either pay a rental fee for the roof space (use pvgis, work out what the annual fit would be and use that!), or tell them to remove and make good the roof, or you'll charge them accordingly to do the same?

In not a lawyer etc but someone has messed up and you shouldn't be the one to lose out?

theboylard

Also check around the loft/anywhere else for the inverter?
Is for there a generation meter somewhere? How do they submit reasons for fit?

charlielouise88

the meter, is in our under stairs cupboard with out electric reading.

out mortgage company when we took out our mortgage we had to disclose that we had solar panels and sent through the proof if this in the certificate we have for them.

its just odd we are told one thing then we are told something else, we are not sure who to believe, I may just phone up our gas and electric supplier to speak to their green team about the solar panels, as if they indeed live I am sure they would be able to check this

I will go back through the ring binder we got from the solicitors and see what that says but your advice is great and very helpful

Sterlingtimes

I should have thought that the interest was registrable at the Land Registry and would appear on the title documents. If part of the house is leased (the roof) then that is an encumbrance upon ownership. There may also be covenants or easements attaching to the title.

The solicitor should have picked up anything that was correctly documented in this regard. If it is not documented in any way then the solicitor should investigate.

Something is wrong here.

pinnks

Are the panels even connected? If they are there must be a warning sticker on the main distribution panel for the house to inform electricians etc. that the PV must be isolated too before doing any work on the electrics - otherwise the could be in for a nasty shock (literally) when they start touching wires.

charlielouise88

I think the fact that no one seems to know if they are connected or not is the biggest issue at present

pinnks

I was not suggesting it is but if the are not connected, then some of the other issues also fade. Nobody will be getting any payment; probably not registered as a system etc

charlielouise88

Having reviewed out paperwork from solicitors its says we own them and they are plugged in and in use so that's positive