Selling your Solar Panels - Lightsource

pinnks

I would say, "why waste your time and energy on them". If one wanted to sell one would have researched and contacted a firm by now - surely always better than reacting to "cold-calling". And unless one needs the cash and cannot borrow why would one dispose of a guaranteed income stream?

markdykes

The question becomes more interesting if one is contemplating selling one's house. The thread suggests "selling the FIT" would make it harder to sell one's house. On the other hand: is there any suggestion that a solar installation increases the sales value of a house as much as it ought? Do house surveyors take proper account of this?

Martyn1981

markdykes wrote: »

The question becomes more interesting if one is contemplating selling one's house. The thread suggests "selling the FIT" would make it harder to sell one's house. On the other hand: is there any suggestion that a solar installation increases the sales value of a house as much as it ought? Do house surveyors take proper account of this?

I've thought the same. If I was selling my house, I would get a quote for 'selling my FiT', then give both that value and the annual revenue to prospective buyers so that they are aware of the two options and the added value of the PV.

markdykes

You could do that, but the thread suggests these quotes grossly understate the true value of the installation. While it would be easy to evidence historical FIT payments, is anyone doing the maths to translate those into a realistic uplift on the value of the house?

zeupater

markdykes wrote: »

You could do that, but the thread suggests these quotes grossly understate the true value of the installation. While it would be easy to evidence historical FIT payments, is anyone doing the maths to translate those into a realistic uplift on the value of the house?

Hi

The issue isn't an uplift on the value of the house, it's the potential for having some form of contractual 'term-lease' on the pv system either potentially causing a problem at some time in the future actually having a negative effect on value or saleability through restricting the market ... I certainly wouldn't pay £hundreds-of-thousands to buy a property where someone effectively owned the rights to some of the fixtures and fittings which could have unknown future implications regarding market value, property access, maintenance etc ...

Z

markdykes

Sure that's the downside risk of selling your FIT rights. But I also want to know what is the upside of holding on to them when I come to sell my house. If house valuers are undervaluing those rights, you could see that some people might be tempted to cash out. Is there any data?

Martyn1981

markdykes wrote: »

Sure that's the downside risk of selling your FIT rights. But I also want to know what is the upside of holding on to them when I come to sell my house. If house valuers are undervaluing those rights, you could see that some people might be tempted to cash out. Is there any data?

Hiya. I don't think there's any data, but if you find some please post. There was some research in the US and it found that the house value went up (in comparison to non PV households) by the amount of the install. However, I always thought that was odd, since you could buy a house and add the PV for that cost, so it seemed to be odd that it was reflected 100%, but hay ho!

The problem when selling a house with fully owned PV, is that whilst more people probably like PV than not, what if they lie? If you were buying a house, and the PV had a 'sell FiT' value of £10k, or perhaps an income of £1k, would you offer £5k-£10k more, or claim you don't like the look and wish it wasn't there?

Elsewhere I've read of two house sales where the sellers stripped the PV off for some DIY install as the buyers wouldn't pay anything. One is a little sad as the buyers were elderly, said they didn't understand it and weren't interested, so wouldn't pay £10k extra despite an annual income of £2k (£44k over 22yrs). The seller dropped it to £5k, but they still said no thanks, so down it came.