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Solar panel lease
Nicolawilliams86
Posts: 18 Forumite
Hi everyone
I’m hoping someone can offer some advice on an issue I’m currently facing buying a house with solar panels.
My husband and I had our offer accepted on the house in August. Mortgage approved fine and all searches etc. came back fine. We knew the solar panels were leased and were told at the time of our offer that the house is mortgageable as the company who fitted them (A Shade Greener) are CML compliant.
Now our mortgage lender won’t release the money until they are satisfied on three more points.
One is that the break clause is 3 months and they want it to be 2 months which the solicitor says is resolvable with a deed of variation.
The second is that it’s an ex council house and they’re not sure if the correct notices have been served to the council in regards to a couple of clauses in the landlord and tenancy act. Again the solicitor says this is resolvable.
The third, which seems to be the sticking point, is that apparently A Shade Greener have a mortgage for the panels meaning there is a charge on the property. The mortgage lender need an unqualified certificate of title but neither our solicitor of the seller’s solicitor are qualified to do this and their insurance therefore won’t cover them to do it. Not do they seem to be offering much in the way of guidance of how we get this.
Can anyone offer any advice? How do we get this? Or how do we get round it? Can we get indemnity insurance instead? My solicitor says no but won’t tell me why.
I’ve seen reps from A Shade Greener reply to posts on here before so is there anyone there that can help in any way?
We are really trying to push this as we complete on the sale of our house on 24th Nov and although we have options of temporary accommodation we really would like to be moving straight in as it’s getting close to Christmas.
The sellers are keeping in regular contact with us too and they are not getting much guidance their end either so we all just seem to be in a limbo and at the hands of the solicitors 😤
If anyone can help that would be appreciated!
Thanks I’m advance!
I’m hoping someone can offer some advice on an issue I’m currently facing buying a house with solar panels.
My husband and I had our offer accepted on the house in August. Mortgage approved fine and all searches etc. came back fine. We knew the solar panels were leased and were told at the time of our offer that the house is mortgageable as the company who fitted them (A Shade Greener) are CML compliant.
Now our mortgage lender won’t release the money until they are satisfied on three more points.
One is that the break clause is 3 months and they want it to be 2 months which the solicitor says is resolvable with a deed of variation.
The second is that it’s an ex council house and they’re not sure if the correct notices have been served to the council in regards to a couple of clauses in the landlord and tenancy act. Again the solicitor says this is resolvable.
The third, which seems to be the sticking point, is that apparently A Shade Greener have a mortgage for the panels meaning there is a charge on the property. The mortgage lender need an unqualified certificate of title but neither our solicitor of the seller’s solicitor are qualified to do this and their insurance therefore won’t cover them to do it. Not do they seem to be offering much in the way of guidance of how we get this.
Can anyone offer any advice? How do we get this? Or how do we get round it? Can we get indemnity insurance instead? My solicitor says no but won’t tell me why.
I’ve seen reps from A Shade Greener reply to posts on here before so is there anyone there that can help in any way?
We are really trying to push this as we complete on the sale of our house on 24th Nov and although we have options of temporary accommodation we really would like to be moving straight in as it’s getting close to Christmas.
The sellers are keeping in regular contact with us too and they are not getting much guidance their end either so we all just seem to be in a limbo and at the hands of the solicitors 😤
If anyone can help that would be appreciated!
Thanks I’m advance!
0
Comments
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Could you afford to buy out the panel lease from Shade Greener and get the full FIT benefit in return?0
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It’s like 20k so we couldn’t afford it, nor would we benefit enough from it I don’t think.0
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Having gone through a purchase on a house with a panel lease I would never do it again. It was nothing but hassle.
It ended up that the vendors had to buy the panels out on completion.2.88 kWp System, SE Facing, 30 Degree Pitch, 12 x 240W Conergy Panels, Samil Solar River Inverter, Havant, Hampshire. Installed July 2012, acquired by me on purchase of house in August 20170 -
Who had the panels fitted? Was it the owner of the house or the council? I don't understand about the bit about the council and landlord and tenancy notices does this mean that the house is leasehold? If not why would landlord and tenancy notices come up if the house is now privately owned?0
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I’m feeling like that now. It’s such a hassle, but we live the house and we’re so far into the purchase that I don’t think I’d pull out or anything. Also I work from home and since doing so my electric bill has rocketed so I actually want the benefit of free electric during daylight hours as I think we’ll save quite a bit.
The sellers had the panels fitted. From what I’ve been told by the solicitor because it’s an ex council house there’s a list of convenants that they must not breach, one of which is they must not use the property for business purposes and leasing the roof space to a third party actually classes as a business which is where the landlord and tenancy act comes in. I’m pretty sure they just need to submit some notices to the council now and it should be ok. It’s the0 -
*love the house0
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Do you know who the solar panel provider was on your house @cjmillsnun? Did you face the same issues as us? I really thought as they were CML approved we wouldn’t have any issues ��0
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Mine was Freetricity. For the lease to be CML compliant, IIRC the lease has to be ended immediately should the house be repossessed. As far as issues go, yes mine were very similar. The vendors lost out to the tune of 14k, however it was the only way they could get a sale.2.88 kWp System, SE Facing, 30 Degree Pitch, 12 x 240W Conergy Panels, Samil Solar River Inverter, Havant, Hampshire. Installed July 2012, acquired by me on purchase of house in August 20170
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Nicolawilliams86 wrote: »It’s like 20k so we couldn’t afford it, nor would we benefit enough from it I don’t think.
That is a rip-off by Shade Greener then! Didn't even cost £20k new back in the day.0 -
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