Solar Equity Release

1961Nick

ptrichardson wrote: »

That's it though - its not that.

Rent a roof schemes are when the companies own the panels, and rent your roof to place them on.

This scheme doesn't place any such covenants on my house. They don't even buy the panels. They are still mine.

Their name will appear nowhere on the deeds or mortgage of the property.

There must be something in the agreement that prevents you from removing the panels the day after they pay you out ... or do you have to provide them with an indemnity?

ptrichardson

1961Nick wrote: »

There must be something in the agreement that prevents you from removing the panels the day after they pay you out ... or do you have to provide them with an indemnity?

Yeah, I'm curious as to what legal contracts I would have to sign. I mean, as the panel owner, what's to stop me from having the FiT payments re-transferred to myself!

I assume they have a solid contract that protects them.


I've been looking for other companies that do this - I found 2, and I've contacted them. One came back with a slightly lower quote already - still waiting on the third.

1961Nick

ptrichardson wrote: »

Yeah, I'm curious as to what legal contracts I would have to sign. I mean, as the panel owner, what's to stop me from having the FiT payments re-transferred to myself!

I assume they have a solid contract that protects them.


I've been looking for other companies that do this - I found 2, and I've contacted them. One came back with a slightly lower quote already - still waiting on the third.

I'd be really careful especially as you said you may want to sell the house before FIT expires. An interested buyer may require ownership of the panels (including the FIT), & without any covenants. You could be faced with the prospect of buying the equity back ... probably without a discount!

mmmmikey

ptrichardson wrote: »

I also got one of these.

Apparently its NOT a rent-the-roof job. They don't take any ownership of the panels or any of the other kit.
They just register the FIT payments in their name instead of yours and give you about half the expected money in return.

They install some smart tech to track them and if they find there is a fault, they will fix it at their cost.


Mine is about £1,000 per year, with 17 years to go - and they've offered me £8600. I've asked them to up that offer.
But I am thinking about selling that house (currently rented out) in the next few years - so getting my entire initial investment back after already making the same sum back in FIT payments to date seems like a decent idea.

Basically doubling my money in 8 years.

Looking for a downside, but struggling....

Basically echoing the comments above. Whether this is technically a rent a roof scheme or not the restrictions and issues are going to be the same. Look at it from the perspective of a prospective purchaser. Whether it's you that owns the panels with some right to access for maintenance or a rent a roof provider that owns the panels with some right of access doesn't make any difference to the purchaser - the issues are the same.



If you go ahead with this I'd place a sizeable bet that you'll regret it as you'll probably end up having to buy yourself out of the scheme on terms that are unlikely to be favourable as well as paying additional legal fees to sort out the ownership issues in a way that is acceptable to both the purchaser and their mortgage provider. And in the current market you'd probably find that the sale had fallen through in the meantime.



Words like "barge pole" and "wouldn't touch" are springing to mind......

Martyn1981

ptrichardson wrote: »

I also got one of these.

Apparently its NOT a rent-the-roof job. They don't take any ownership of the panels or any of the other kit.
They just register the FIT payments in their name instead of yours and give you about half the expected money in return.

They install some smart tech to track them and if they find there is a fault, they will fix it at their cost.


Mine is about £1,000 per year, with 17 years to go - and they've offered me £8600. I've asked them to up that offer.
But I am thinking about selling that house (currently rented out) in the next few years - so getting my entire initial investment back after already making the same sum back in FIT payments to date seems like a decent idea.

Basically doubling my money in 8 years.

Looking for a downside, but struggling....

Two ways to look at this:

1. If you are moving, then cashing in sounds like a good idea.
2. If you are moving, then adding a restrictive covenant to your house sounds like a bad idea.

It might be fine, but there's a chance you will cause enough concern to reduce your house value by the amount you gain.

Another option might be to get these quotes and figures, and pop them in your back pocket. Then continue receiving the annual FiT, which will be more than the payout/interest when looked at long term. Then show the quotes to any prospective buyers as a way to get a higher price for the house, either as a result of the embedded annual income, or the semi-instant cash in value.

ptrichardson

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Two ways to look at this:

1. If you are moving, then cashing in sounds like a good idea.
2. If you are moving, then adding a restrictive covenant to your house sounds like a bad idea.

It might be fine, but there's a chance you will cause enough concern to reduce your house value by the amount you gain.

Another option might be to get these quotes and figures, and pop them in your back pocket. Then continue receiving the annual FiT, which will be more than the payout/interest when looked at long term. Then show the quotes to any prospective buyers as a way to get a higher price for the house, either as a result of the embedded annual income, or the semi-instant cash in value.

Yes, this idea has occurred to me.

I should point out that the amount of money here represented over 10% of the house's value - and almost 50% of any profit I would make from selling. So its not a trivial amount of money in comparison