Conveyancing with solar installation

CookieRose

Hello!

We recently moved house, completing on 1st July. Our new house has solar panels and we're complete novices in this space...but learning, and it's largely positive!

We've hit a brick all with the transfer of the FIT payments from the previous owner to us, and require a signed letter from our solicitors to send to the energy company to confirm legal ownership (we've provided plenty of evidence already, but energy co is insisting on this written statement from the solicitors).

However... solicitors are not forthcoming, despite originally saying yes, they would do the letter, we're now six weeks along, and they're not responding to me in any way when I email requesting an update.

So my question is - should this have been part of the conveyancing process? Or am I asking for a post completion favour? If they'd respond to me saying it's additional work and fees apply, that would be fine, however if it was meant to have been covered under the conveyancing process (which is of course all paid for already) then I would like to apply some pressure accordingly.

Thanks!

user1977

What did they send to you explaining the scope of what they were (and weren't) doing?

CookieRose

user1977 said:

What did they send to you explaining the scope of what they were (and weren't) doing?

Just the usual terms of services at the outset. I have all of the paperwork for the solar, and they were very well aware of the solar installation throughout the process. If it had required additional reasonable fees on top of the original quote, I'd have been happy to accept, if it's expected to be part of the conveyancing process when there is a solar installation. That's really my question - should it be part of conveyancing in this scenario, or is it an additional layer of work requiring additional fees (in which case, it would have been nice if they'd flagged it).

jennifernil

Has the old owner filled up the paperwork that they need to?  They should tell the FIT payer that they have sold the property.

jennifernil

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+sign+over+FIT+payments+to+new+owner&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari

See here

CookieRose

jennifernil said:

Has the old owner filled up the paperwork that they need to?  They should tell the FIT payer that they have sold the property.

Yes, that's all sorted from the previous owner. It's my proof of ownership that the energy company (it's Good Energy) aren't accepting without a letter from the solicitor. I've given them a copy of the sale and purchase agreement, but they're not accepting anything less than the solicitor letter - despite listing the S&P agreement as acceptable proof 

So... my question comes back to whether this ought to be covered as part of the conveyancing or not. At the moment, I have nothing to beat my solicitors with. If they haven't finished the job, then I can apply more pressure.  If this is an addition/favour/requires extra money, then I have to carry on begging and praying that they might do it at some point.

MyRealNameToo

What was your conveyancing, a fixed price deal or time and materials? 

If it's T&M there is rarely a problem as they do a letter and send you a bill. 

If its fixed price then it depends on what the scope of the duties was defined as. I know as soon as I mentioned the property we were buying was leasehold I was told there were additional charges. Could imagine this isnt a standard feature given the low percentage of properties it will apply to but would ultimately come down to what you agreement with them says. 

anselld

Regardless of the solar there should be a letter from the conveyancers to confirm completion of your purchase.  This acts as proof of ownership in the interim whilst land registry is updated.  That should be sufficient for the FIT transfer and it may also be needed for other purposes.

CookieRose

MyRealNameToo said:

What was your conveyancing, a fixed price deal or time and materials? 

If it's T&M there is rarely a problem as they do a letter and send you a bill. 

If its fixed price then it depends on what the scope of the duties was defined as. I know as soon as I mentioned the property we were buying was leasehold I was told there were additional charges. Could imagine this isnt a standard feature given the low percentage of properties it will apply to but would ultimately come down to what you agreement with them says. 

Thanks - it was fixed price as follows (final para suggests that if they would have had the opportunity to charge extra if necessary, which would have been fine):



Then further statement about fixed fee:



As things stand, they're just not giving me anything, if they said "sure, we can do that, but it will cost xxx to do" that would be progress. What I've had is "we'll do a letter for you" and then they haven't done it, and don't respond to me following up.

For clarity, this is a reputable local solicitor that I've used before, not a "bucket shop" set up. The only difference from my previous experience is two assistants to the responsible legal who joined the firm in the intervening years. The assistant conveyancer has an air of annoyed about him whenever asked for an update. For example, a week before the planned exchange date, he felt I was being too demanding when I asked for an update as I didn't know where we were at in the process, and hadn't received the buyers pack.

CookieRose

anselld said:

Regardless of the solar there should be a letter from the conveyancers to confirm completion of your purchase.  This acts as proof of ownership in the interim whilst land registry is updated.  That should be sufficient for the FIT transfer and it may also be needed for other purposes.

I don't have a letter confirming completion, just emails. If we were going to do the LR proof, that still needs the TA10 with the solar specified - unfortunately it's not, urgh.