Selling a house with 'free' solar panels installed

kellyteagle

Hi,

Back in 2010, we took advantage of an offer by a company called ISIS Solar to have free solar panels installed on our roof. It was the typical deal - we could use as much energy from the panels as possible, and the installers would get the payments from the feed-in-tariff. The lease period for our roof was 25 years, It was all ratified with our mortgage provider at the time.
We have been very satisfied with the installation, which has worked well for us and we've had no problems with the panels themselves, or with the installers to date.
However, we recently found out that the company who installed them, Mark Group, have gone into Administration, and ISIS Solar seem to be uncontactable.

So we wonder, where does this leave us with the panels? If they break, who is responsible for fixing them? We had a warranty originally but we're not sure if this will still exist, or who to contact.

The biggest question is now that we wish to sell our house, will we be able to do so? Will another lender be prepared to lend on a house with that kind of liability on the roof?
We wondered about buying the panels (the original contract includes a buy-out clause), but we've been unable to find out who the Administrators are to contact them.

Has anyone else experienced this who can point us in the right direction?

TIA

geek1981

We are planning to get PV panels installed by a company on the same scheme. did you manage to find anything regarding selling your house. Bit curious what happened with your sale as we havent signed contract for the PV install yet.

jimjames

geek1981 wrote: »

We are planning to get PV panels installed by a company on the same scheme. did you manage to find anything regarding selling your house. Bit curious what happened with your sale as we havent signed contract for the PV install yet.

If you haven't done it yet then think very carefully but also post on the Green board for lots of advice as it could seriously affect selling the house. Are you sure it's the same scheme? Currently FIT payments are much, much lower than 2010 so I wasn't aware it was still viable in the same way. Generally now it seems to be a loan taken out and paid for by FIT but at your risk.

Which company is it?

geek1981

It's a new scheme from Light Source EDF partnership. It works a bit differently as I have to pay 9.9p per kWh for generation and then get paid 2.5p for export. This is 20 year contract with option to buy out after 12 months. I have a survey setup tomorrow to heck how many panels they can install, also they told me they will contact my lender to get permission and also my lease will be amended to add details on PPA scheme. They have also told me they follow CML guidelines and shouldn't be a problem for remortgage etc.

jimjames

geek1981 wrote: »

It's a new scheme from Light Source EDF partnership. It works a bit differently as I have to pay 9.9p per kWh for generation and then get paid 2.5p for export. This is 20 year contract with option to buy out after 12 months. I have a survey setup tomorrow to heck how many panels they can install, also they told me they will contact my lender to get permission and also my lease will be amended to add details on PPA scheme. They have also told me they follow CML guidelines and shouldn't be a problem for remortgage etc.

In reality that will be a worse system for a potential buyer as it has a cost to them. The original free panels give free electricity and no cost to the homeowner.
Can you not just get panels fitted yourself which is likely to be a lot cheaper? As I said, head over to the Green board for more info

nicholbb

A salesman told you it [STRIKE]won't[/STRIKE] shouldn't be a problem? Was worried you hadn't done all the needed research.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=unable+to+sell+with+solar+panels+uk

Hear lots of horror stories but not seen evidence.

Edit: no offence using a lmgtfy link, I just like it and no hard evidence either way.

Lee1970

Hi, Did you ever get any information on Isis Solar as i am trying to trace them to get some maintenance on the system.

JacquiR24

Rip off Britain had a programn on this subject and there were a few people who were unable to release equity on the house because of their solar panel agreement. They also said it can make it very hard to sell your house as some lender don't lend on houses with these types of agreements as they can cause legal problems! My advice is be very careful be signing up for one of these agreements.