Solar panels damage to roof

lincroft1710

ThumbRemote said:

While damage caused the the insurers probably isn't covered by your insurance, it may be worth checking to see if the damage caused by water ingress is covered. That way you'd only have part of the bill to pay for. 

Check your policy very, very carefully before you even think of going down this route. My insurance policy will not pay out for water ingress damage caused accidentally nor for damage caused by workmen.

melb

I'm interested in this. Does anybody know if you have Solar panels fitted under a local council led grant scheme, would they carry any shared responsibility in this sort of scenario please?

Keep_pedalling

melb said:

I'm interested in this. Does anybody know if you have Solar panels fitted under a local council led grant scheme, would they carry any shared responsibility in this sort of scenario please?

The short answer is no.

JIL

I moved into a house with solar panels, first big downpour and water started coming in around the window recess, we could not find where the leak was.
It was only an issue if the rain was really heavy.

I had transferred the panels into our name at a cost of £125, because I believed I could claim on their indemnity insurance. 
At first the company was really helpful, of course we will send someone out. Then lockdown number 2 happened, and I started being ignored. 
In the end, we were fortunate to get a local roofer, who without scaffolding (I know) went up and took loads of photos. Tiles around the bits holding the panels to the roof, were completely wrong, like an old tile, different colour and shape had been used to patch up what was a terrible job. The roofer, took loads of photos and even a video as he talked us through what was causing the leak. At one point I was thinking about having the panels removed and/or a new roof.


I have to say, the roofer was on the roof for 4 hours, he replaced the tiles and lining and evicted the pigeons.  No more leaks. I paid less than £400 for the work.  
A few weeks later he came back, checked all was ok and fitted some pigeon guards. Again at a really good price. 

I did send all the photos to the solar panel company, but no surprise when there was no reply.

lincroft1710

JIL said:

I moved into a house with solar panels, first big downpour and water started coming in around the window recess, we could not find where the leak was.
It was only an issue if the rain was really heavy.

I had transferred the panels into our name at a cost of £125, because I believed I could claim on their indemnity insurance. 
At first the company was really helpful, of course we will send someone out. Then lockdown number 2 happened, and I started being ignored. 
In the end, we were fortunate to get a local roofer, who without scaffolding (I know) went up and took loads of photos. Tiles around the bits holding the panels to the roof, were completely wrong, like an old tile, different colour and shape had been used to patch up what was a terrible job. The roofer, took loads of photos and even a video as he talked us through what was causing the leak. At one point I was thinking about having the panels removed and/or a new roof.


I have to say, the roofer was on the roof for 4 hours, he replaced the tiles and lining and evicted the pigeons.  No more leaks. I paid less than £400 for the work.  
A few weeks later he came back, checked all was ok and fitted some pigeon guards. Again at a really good price. 

I did send all the photos to the solar panel company, but no surprise when there was no reply.

I wonder if the solar panel company decided that as you were not the original purchaser of the panels, they had no responsibility towards you for the quality of their work.

JIL

lincroft1710 said:

JIL said:

I moved into a house with solar panels, first big downpour and water started coming in around the window recess, we could not find where the leak was.
It was only an issue if the rain was really heavy.

I had transferred the panels into our name at a cost of £125, because I believed I could claim on their indemnity insurance. 
At first the company was really helpful, of course we will send someone out. Then lockdown number 2 happened, and I started being ignored. 
In the end, we were fortunate to get a local roofer, who without scaffolding (I know) went up and took loads of photos. Tiles around the bits holding the panels to the roof, were completely wrong, like an old tile, different colour and shape had been used to patch up what was a terrible job. The roofer, took loads of photos and even a video as he talked us through what was causing the leak. At one point I was thinking about having the panels removed and/or a new roof.


I have to say, the roofer was on the roof for 4 hours, he replaced the tiles and lining and evicted the pigeons.  No more leaks. I paid less than £400 for the work.  
A few weeks later he came back, checked all was ok and fitted some pigeon guards. Again at a really good price. 

I did send all the photos to the solar panel company, but no surprise when there was no reply.

I wonder if the solar panel company decided that as you were not the original purchaser of the panels, they had no responsibility towards you for the quality of their work.

I checked all this out via MCS the ten year installation warranty  transfers to the new owner.

I didnt actually know about the warranty until I contacted a local solar panel company about removing the panels, he advised he would be happy to help and explained how to check liability first.  Apparently the whole thing would have been so much easier if the company had gone out of business.