Buying house (with solar panels)

Ram_Tungala

I am a first time buyer. I have made an offer for a terraced house which was accepted. In offer we made, seller told that he will take the solar panels. Now he came back to us saying that can give his solar panels(no battery installed) to us with a price. Below are the solar panel details he has given to us.

he said 16 Panels (might not be sure, he said he is going to check again and confirm as they might be 14) with 285 wattage per panel
Installation year 2017, 25 years fit, 5 years completed so 20 years left.
Panels are transferable to my name he was not sure about Feed in Tariff. I believe FIT can be transferred to new home. Correct me if I am wrong! 
Solar panels are not on finance.
No shading so performing well.
he said the final price is £8500.

I need help in making a good offer as well as any other things I need to check with him before purchasing it?

Do I get any valuation from experts? I might need to do electricity and central heating inspection, if that is the case, can any of the person who is doing the inspection check solar panel condition and valuation as well?

Thank you

ProDave

His details are wrong, by 2017 the FIT contract was only 20 years.  So there will only be 15 years remaining.

At a rough guess, the panels will receive £1500 per year FIT. so over 15 years that is about £22K

If he takes the panels with him, the FIT ends, he can't transfer that to another house, so he has a set of second hand panels worth not a lot.  

It is up to you if you pay his price, I would personally counter offer £5K and see what he says.  But get your solicitor to make sure it is on a valid FIT and make it a condition of the contract the FIT is transferred to you on exchange or completion.

julicorn

The green & ethical moneysaving part of the forum might be a good place to post as well / instead, so people can review your specs and tell you what a fair price might be: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/green-ethical-moneysaving

It does look high to me, but I'm really not an expert at all. I've only really been looking into solar panels recently because we're currently also in the process of buying a house with PV panels, funnily enough installed in 2017 as well  

Spies

Seller is a chancer, tell him you don't want them and to take them away, it'll cost him loads in scaffolding costs.

JuzaMum

I wouldn't want them taking the panels due to potential for damage to the roof on removal. I wouldn't want to pay extra for them either. If I viewed a house with panels I would expect the panels to be included as fixtures and fittings unless stated otherwise.

Woolsery

Did the house ad say the panels were an optional extra?  Treating them now like that is disingenuous, unless the position regarding the intention to remove was made very clear from the outset.

Ram_Tungala

Woolsery said:

Did the house ad say the panels were an optional extra?  Treating them now like that is disingenuous, unless the position regarding the intention to remove was made very clear from the outset.

Panels were excluded in initial offer. I think they check the possibilities of taking them and it seems for them it is not worth it. So giving me the option to purchase them.

UnderOffer

That could a major pain for seller to remove, depending on type of roof tile, fixings, making roof secure/dry and he’d need to get scaffolding erected which could cost a bit. Definitely negotiate and ask your solicitor for all the installation paperwork, agreements and certifications. 

Slinky

We're about to buy brand new 14 panels for £7500, however we won't be getting any decent FIT, so you need to consider the fact you have 5 year old panels, but they are generating an income for you.

Woolsery

Ram_Tungala said:

Woolsery said:

Did the house ad say the panels were an optional extra?  Treating them now like that is disingenuous, unless the position regarding the intention to remove was made very clear from the outset.

Panels were excluded in initial offer. I think they check the possibilities of taking them and it seems for them it is not worth it. So giving me the option to purchase them.

In that case, I'd say ProDave is about right with a counter offer of no more than £5k. You'll be getting a reasonable return, but you also have the maintenance considerations and the amount is 2/3 of the cost of buying new/ possibly more efficient.

Spies

The fact is it's going to cost him a lot to have them removed and then reinstalled at another property so I don't think he is seriously considering this, if he is, he needs to have them professionally removed and to show evidence as such.

If he suggests you keep them and he keeps the FIT, you could then re-register them for metered export and he would no longer get FIT.

Never have I considered that solar panels already on a house would not be part of the sale.