Bought a house with Solar Panels. Do not have MCS

ACVR

Hiya,

In Aug 2018, we bought a house (built 2013) with Solar Panels. The vendors got the house from the builders who installed the Solar Panels (PV).
During the buying process, we inquired about the solar panels and the buyers mentioned they don't have MCS. But Solar Panels are included in the fittings, so I can prove the ownership.

What we have is an Installation Checklist, Test Report (Tested Dec 2012) and SAP Calculation. I quickly googled and the installer is MCS certified.

What are the possible options for me? I googled it and got confused about how it works. Please could you help. Thank you.

Cheers
ACVR

Martyn1981

Hiya and welcome. What is the question, what do you mean by your options other than just enjoying them (reduced import bills)?

Reading between the lines, do you mean they haven't been registered for the FiT subsidy? If so, then the deadline for registering older installs was (I think) end of Mch 2016. The FiT scheme (for new installs) has now ended as of Apr 2019.

ACVR

Thanks for the reply Martyn. My question is how to benefit from the solar panels now?
I don't have MCS. As it an old install, can I still claim it for FIT?

KevinG

I'm pretty sure Mart just answered that question in the negative. If you have no MCS certificate, you can get one (https://www.microgenerationcertification.org/consumers/copies-of-mcs-certificates/) but it probably won't do you any good.

Martyn1981

ACVR wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Martyn. My question is how to benefit from the solar panels now?
I don't have MCS. As it an old install, can I still claim it for FIT?

Sorry, too late, deadline was early 2016 to register older systems for FiT.

ACVR

Thanks Martyn and Kevin. Still just out of curiosity, why did they have a deadline for registration? Even if not registered, power is still generated and flows into the grid.

Mnd

Basically it was a subsidy that was reduced several times over the years and phased out completely eventually

sevenhills

Mnd wrote: »

Basically it was a subsidy that was reduced several times over the years and phased out completely eventually

It was a subsidy when the tariff was high, but there was a point when it became just a matter of being paid for the energy going into the grid.
The deadline was early 2016, the tariff that you get for your electricity generated that goes into the grid is now zero, but when we get a new Prime Minister, a generous tariff could be reinstated.
So could be worth sorting out for the future.

Martyn1981

ACVR wrote: »

Thanks Martyn and Kevin. Still just out of curiosity, why did they have a deadline for registration? Even if not registered, power is still generated and flows into the grid.

Personally, I'd say they did it to knock PV. After the 2015 election, a whole raft of policies or policy changes came out that crippled PV and on-shore wind, and reduced home improvements.

Up until then, you could apply for FiT at any point in time, and got the rate applicable to the date of application, not the install date, so it really made no sense to have a deadline, other than for a bit of housekeeping.

And, just for a quick rant, when the FiT ended in Mch this year it was for 3.79p/kWh, and had been slowly reduced every quarter. That's a lower subsidy today, to households, than new nuclear (HPC) will get when it comes on line around 2028(ish) of approx 5p/kWh. the FiT is for 20yrs, HPC subsidy for 35yrs, and nuclear has already received 60yrs of subsidy support, domestic PV just 9yrs.

The government's argument for cutting RE subsidies is that the industries should stand on their own two feet, and can't keep relying on subsidies ....... unlike nuclear and fossil fuels ..... perhaps?

Me, bitter and twisted .... nah!

Samvid

Hi,
We are in the process of buying a property with solar panels but the vendor cannot prove proof of ownership (POW) of the panels and have not listed them in the TA10 form (fixtures and fittings).

The panels were installed by a company that has now gone out of business, my planet uk, prior to the current owners moving in approx 2-3 years ago, and the owners say they do not have any paperwork for them and don't have any POW.

I contacted MCS and they confirmed the installation is registered with them but it has to be the current owners or their solicitors who can apply for the MCS certificate for the installation BUT they have to be able to provide POW, which they don't have.

We suggested to the vendor getting the MCS cert as a good starting point and is very cheap at £30 + VAT and found a company who will do a retrospective survey for under £100 but the vendor, under the advice of their solicitor are refusing to do anything other than prove the electrics are safe.

I have to stress the vendor is using the same solicitor to sell as they did to buy and they should have asked the same questions ours have but the didn't, so in my opinion they messed up.

How do we proceed without having confidence in the installation, not knowing who officially owns them and under what terms they were purchased i.e. Bought out right with or without finance or through the rent a roof scheme? Our solicitors say we have reached an impasse.

Apologies for the drawn out background to get to the question!!

Samvid

Merlin139

Tell the owners that you are not prepared to purchase without this matter being sorted. If they want to sell they will sort the problem.

You don't want to be stuck with panels that you may not own. I would not anyway.