Remortgage of property with leased solar panels. Company want £200+ fee.

Rambojazdude

Hi,
I am in the process of remortgaging my property with a new lender. They have asked the solar panel company for a "CML letter" and the company are now asking us for over £200 for this document. Is this all normal? When we first took out our mortgage I wasn't made aware of any fees in the future.
Thanks in advance.

MovingForwards

What's in the T&C's of the solar panel company as that will specify what fees are payable and when.

Thrugelmir

If Rambojazdude said:

Hi,
I am in the process of remortgaging my property with a new lender. They have asked the solar panel company for a "CML letter" and the company are now asking us for over £200 for this document. Is this all normal? When we first took out our mortgage I wasn't made aware of any fees in the future.
Thanks in advance.

If you weren.t remortgaging then there wouldn't be. Within that £200 will be VAT.

Rambojazdude

MovingForwards said:

What's in the T&C's of the solar panel company as that will specify what fees are payable and when.

Hi,
The terms and conditions of the lease that I was sent didn't go into any details about fees.

Rambojazdude

Thrugelmir said:

If Rambojazdude said:

Hi,
I am in the process of remortgaging my property with a new lender. They have asked the solar panel company for a "CML letter" and the company are now asking us for over £200 for this document. Is this all normal? When we first took out our mortgage I wasn't made aware of any fees in the future.
Thanks in advance.

If you weren.t remortgaging then there wouldn't be. Within that £200 will be VAT.

Not sure I understand. We are just using a different lender at the end of our fixed term.
Is there any way to dispute the charge based on it being excessive?

penners324

If there's no mention of fees in the T&Cs then none should payable....

davidmcn

You're asking the solar panel company to vary the lease. They do not need to agree to this at all, never mind for any particular fee. In this case, they are saying they will do it provided you meet their costs.

Rambojazdude

davidmcn said:

You're asking the solar panel company to vary the lease. They do not need to agree to this at all, never mind for any particular fee. In this case, they are saying they will do it provided you meet their costs.

Sorry I am very new to the legal side of mortgages etc. Can you explain how the lease is affected by me changing who I send my monthly direct debit to.

davidmcn

Rambojazdude said:

davidmcn said:

You're asking the solar panel company to vary the lease. They do not need to agree to this at all, never mind for any particular fee. In this case, they are saying they will do it provided you meet their costs.

Sorry I am very new to the legal side of mortgages etc. Can you explain how the lease is affected by me changing who I send my monthly direct debit to.

The lease isn't affected by it, the point is that your new lender isn't happy with the conditions in the lease, so wants them to be amended. There is now a standard set of requirements to make such leases acceptable to lenders, which is the "CML letter" you refer to.

Rambojazdude

davidmcn said:

Rambojazdude said:

davidmcn said:

You're asking the solar panel company to vary the lease. They do not need to agree to this at all, never mind for any particular fee. In this case, they are saying they will do it provided you meet their costs.

Sorry I am very new to the legal side of mortgages etc. Can you explain how the lease is affected by me changing who I send my monthly direct debit to.

The lease isn't affected by it, the point is that your new lender isn't happy with the conditions in the lease, so wants them to be amended. There is now a standard set of requirements to make such leases acceptable to lenders, which is the "CML letter" you refer to.

Oh okay. That makes sense. So once I've paid this fee will it need to be done again the next time I change lender?

davidmcn

Rambojazdude said:

davidmcn said:

Rambojazdude said:

davidmcn said:

You're asking the solar panel company to vary the lease. They do not need to agree to this at all, never mind for any particular fee. In this case, they are saying they will do it provided you meet their costs.

Sorry I am very new to the legal side of mortgages etc. Can you explain how the lease is affected by me changing who I send my monthly direct debit to.

The lease isn't affected by it, the point is that your new lender isn't happy with the conditions in the lease, so wants them to be amended. There is now a standard set of requirements to make such leases acceptable to lenders, which is the "CML letter" you refer to.

Oh okay. That makes sense. So once I've paid this fee will it need to be done again the next time I change lender?

No, it should then be acceptable to other lenders. But no guarantee that it will be for a particular lender, or that the general opinion about such things might have shifted again.