Free Solar Panels - Previous experiences?

ely_ellis

Slightly off topic but I have just sold my old house and was chatting to the estate agent about property values when properties have panels on the roof.
As all the companies I have spoken to about panels always state that panels add value to the property, well the estate agent I was chatting to said this was not true (in their experience) and they make NO difference at all to the value of the property.
Not sure about the case like your friend 'Charben', as it must be confusing who owns/part owns the panels, who pays who, is fit transferable and all these contracts etc. I would think that could put people off or even lower the price of the property.

EricMears

We're not thinking about selling our house any time soon but if I did, I'd make quite sure that any prospective buyers were made aware that it would come with a guaranteed FIT income of at least £1500p.a. for the next 21 years.

Hard to see why that wouldn't be seen as an advantage.

theboylard

ely_ellis wrote: »

Slightly off topic but I have just sold my old house and was chatting to the estate agent about property values when properties have panels on the roof.
As all the companies I have spoken to about panels always state that panels add value to the property, well the estate agent I was chatting to said this was not true (in their experience) and they make NO difference at all to the value of the property.
Not sure about the case like your friend 'Charben', as it must be confusing who owns/part owns the panels, who pays who, is fit transferable and all these contracts etc. I would think that could put people off or even lower the price of the property.

There has been a recent discussion about estate agents and their opinion on solar pv adding/subtracting value to the house - having used traditional agents and their ridiculous fees (and claims! and lies!), and more recently an online agent (myhouseadvert), I know whose services I won't be using again if I have the choice.

The concensus* was, iirc, they are all lying gets and have no clue about solar!!

My view*, if the panels are not the completely free of any lien (green deal, RaR, 50/50 finance etc) then they must surely detract from the value of the property.

If they were paid for and the household gets all the benefits (FiT and leccy gen), then it must be a plus?
Even more so if you have copies of bills pre/post pv install, receipts for FiT payments etc.

ely_ellis

The first quote I had (not for my current installation), was at my old house. It was a super high quote which some may remember me mentioning on here (£12k 10 panels, 2 aspects, £36k income, etc).
Anyway, that company told me that if I sell the house, the fit comes with me, so that the new owners would save on electricity but I would be getting the FIT for 20 years.
Not sure how this can be true or not. As the guy was a complete fabricator, it's probably a lie, but then again I don't actually know.
Regarding estate agents, they do their own thing anyway!
Having moved twice in 5 years, buying twice and selling twice I find estate agents to be full of the brown and smelly stuff along with their solicitor counterparts!
But that's another story!

EricMears

ely_ellis wrote: »

...... that company told me that if I sell the house, the fit comes with me, so that the new owners would save on electricity but I would be getting the FIT for 20 years.

I guess it all depends on what arrangements you make at sale time.

If you do nothing, you'd remain the FIT beneficiary - but would you be able to arrange access to the house to read the TGM every quarter ?

I'd have thought it better to try & negotiate the transfer of the contract to the new house owner - either as part of sale contract or perhaps as a separate arrangement (why pay stamp duty on that ?).

ely_ellis

It would probably depend on the knowledge of the person buying the property. If they were 'none-the-wiser' they could be told that they get free electricity on a sunny day and you keep the FIT. If they were clued-up, then I would think they would insist on having the FIT, but then if you had paid for the panels and it was only a few years down the line, then you would probably want to keep the FIT or stick a few £k's on the purchase price.
At our new house where I have just had the panels installed, I have already told my wife that we stay at least 10 years so we get the benefits. Haha.

zeupater

ely_ellis wrote: »

It would probably depend on the knowledge of the person buying the property. If they were 'none-the-wiser' they could be told that they get free electricity on a sunny day and you keep the FIT. If they were clued-up, then I would think they would insist on having the FIT, but then if you had paid for the panels and it was only a few years down the line, then you would probably want to keep the FIT or stick a few £k's on the purchase price.
At our new house where I have just had the panels installed, I have already told my wife that we stay at least 10 years so we get the benefits. Haha.

Hi

As part of the conveyancing process the purchaser's solicitor should request a list of fixtures/fittings which are to be included in the sale. If solar panels are installed then the purchaser's solicitor should have a duty to protect their client's interest and request confirmation of the panel ownership, guarantee status etc - this is just the same as checking consent on extensions, mining searches, future developments etc ... If the vendor owns the panels any decent solicitor should not allow exchange/completion until there is a formal agreement in place, either to transfer rights the FiT -or- to rent/lease the roofspace -or- for the removal of the panels and making good the roof (with appropriate guarantee) as a completion condition ...

HTH
Z

ed110220

EricMears wrote: »

I guess it all depends on what arrangements you make at sale time.

If you do nothing, you'd remain the FIT beneficiary - but would you be able to arrange access to the house to read the TGM every quarter ?

I'd have thought it better to try & negotiate the transfer of the contract to the new house owner - either as part of sale contract or perhaps as a separate arrangement (why pay stamp duty on that ?).

Surely if you do nothing, the solar PV system passes to the new owner with the house and all its fittings?

If you wanted to retain ownership of them and the FIT, you'd need to draw up some sort of rent-a-roof contract with the buyer, but I'm sure that would be a difficult sell (though maybe a useful response to someone who expects to gain all the benefits of the PV, but not have to pay for it?).

If you do nothing, surely the PV would become theirs as much as the house windows etc... and you couldn't claim the FIT any more than you could come back and say "Oh by the way, I still own the windows and I'm charging you £15/window/year for the benefit of using them".

Ed

EricMears

ed110220 wrote: »

Surely if you do nothing, the solar PV system passes to the new owner with the house and all its fittings?

If you wanted to retain ownership of them and the FIT, you'd need to draw up some sort of rent-a-roof contract with the buyer, but I'm sure that would be a difficult sell (though maybe a useful response to someone who expects to gain all the benefits of the PV, but not have to pay for it?).

If you do nothing, surely the PV would become theirs as much as the house windows etc... and you couldn't claim the FIT any more than you could come back and say "Oh by the way, I still own the windows and I'm charging you £15/window/year for the benefit of using them".

Ed

I agree that the actual solar panels would be classed as 'fixtures & fittings' and (normally) go to new house owner.

But the current house owner has the FIT contract and unless that was transferred the FIT provider would continue paying into the same account that they always had. There may of course be a problem with reading the TGM (but maybe you could make sure you had a remotely readable meter before you left ?).

A new owner of panels already installed (i.e. now secondhand) would not be able to take out a new FIT contract for them and I suspect might have problems even in removing the old ones and having them replaced with new ones by a properly registered installer.

ed110220

EricMears wrote: »

I agree that the actual solar panels would be classed as 'fixtures & fittings' and (normally) go to new house owner.

But the current house owner has the FIT contract and unless that was transferred the FIT provider would continue paying into the same account that they always had. There may of course be a problem with reading the TGM (but maybe you could make sure you had a remotely readable meter before you left ?).

A new owner of panels already installed (i.e. now secondhand) would not be able to take out a new FIT contract for them and I suspect might have problems even in removing the old ones and having them replaced with new ones by a properly registered installer.

Wouldn't they just have to prove to the FIT provider that they now owned the house and associated PV to have it transferred to them?