Buying House with Solar Panels

Reg1988

Hi all - I am purchasing a property that has solar panels. If they are on a Feed-In Tariff (FIT) now, do I get that as the purchaser or does it reset and I am forced onto a SEG?

Thank you in advance.

Keep_pedalling

If the current home owner is the owner of the panels they will transfer the ownership to you and you will get the FIT payments. If the home owner does not actually own the panels then you won’t and you may have issues with obtaining a mortgage if you need one.

Reg1988

Understood. Thank you for the quick and concise response 

paul991

make sure everything is transferred to you as condition of sale by the solicitor failure to get all paperwork will cause big problems later

Reed_Richards

I recently transferred my FIT payments to another provider.  They asked for a copy of the receipt for the panels (presumably as proof of ownership), a copy of the MCS certificate and, because the system includes a battery, a copy of the schematic.  There was also a battery declaration form of their own that with a section that had to be completed by the original installer, who fortunately is still trading and was able to do this.

There should also be a insurance-backed warranty.    

Aussie_Tips

You can transfer the FIT to your name. There's a few pointers below. You may also want to consult Der giving up the Deemed Export part of the FIT (you keep the generous Generation FIT payment) and move your export to an actual export tariff - this generally works out better year round
First and foremost, make sure you clarify if the panels are part of a rent-a-roof scheme or they are owned outright by the sellers. If they are part of a rent-a-roof scheme (most likely older installs), make sure you get a copy of the rental agreement as some of the terms and conditions can be restrictive (ie limiting your ability to do building work around the panels without permission from the leaseholder). 

Secondly, take a note of what is installed - ideally make and model of inverter, panels and batteries (some of this may be on paperwork - see points below). Having this information will help with any questions on how it should work.

Beyond that, these points should help you clarify things as part of the purchase:

1. If the system is pre-2019 it should have been registered for a Feed In Tariff (FIT). The FIT is a government payment for having the system. Ask the sellers or your solicitor if they have details as you should get the payments transferred to you as part of the sale. You can also contact Ofgem to see if they were registered for FIT. This document has some pointers 

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/docs/2018/10/third_party_ownership_under_the_fit_scheme.pdf

2. Again if you're on a FIT locate the generation meter (this is not your smart meter, it's a small meter just for the solar array), you'll need this working for future FIT payments

3. Get in touch with your DNO to determine if the system is registered with them - depending on its age it might be a G83/G59 (systems installed up to 2019) or G98/G99 (systems installed after 2019) notification. If you can't get confirmation then I personally would switch the system off until you have it, as without appropriate approval you are liable for any damage to the grid or injury to people working on it.

4. Contact MCS and Flexorb and ask if they can check their database for a certificate. It will help if you know the installer, but they should be able to check without it. Without a certificate it's much harder to be paid for export 

5. Look for any reference of an insurance backed guarantee scheme (IBG), particularly if the original installers have gone out of business, as the IBG can help with warranty repairs 

https://mcscertified.com/ibg/

6. Make sure your solicitor requests information about the system, specifically userids and passwords for inverter & apps to manage

7. If the system is solar only, consider adding a battery as the two go hand in glove and compound the benefit of solar on its own

8. Depending on what you find then you may need to take some actions to ensure that you're not left in the lurch (ie panels installed but unusable could devalue your house). First port if call is the solicitor involved in the house purchase. They should have done work during conveyancing to get pertinent information. See this link for details

https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/contact-or-visit-us/press-office/press-releases/material-information-included-in-new-property-form

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