Selling house- solar panel issues

We are in the process of selling our home and had solar panels fitted in 2012 under one of these leasing schemes with freetricity.

The solicitor has asked for confirmation from our mortgage lender that they approve our solar panels. Unfortunately I don't have anything mentioning them and I don't even remember asking them for permission (it all seems so long ago) so I'm worried about how that affects us now and if we end up staying put a while longer.

The buyers solicitor has also asked about fit (feed in tariff) payments. I was under the impression that any energy we used during the day as it was generated by the solar panels would be used by our house and any excess energy would go to the national grid. Is this not how they work? We have never received any payments but I assume our electric bill is just a little cheaper. Are fit payments something we should be getting but have missed out on all this time?

I am aware we need to pay 300 to alter the lease to make it cml compliant.

Thanks

Comments

  • Reed_Richards
    Reed_Richards Posts: 4,061
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    Freetricity get the payments for electricity fed to the grid; that's the whole point behind the leasing scheme. This thread may help: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5679637#topofpage
    Reed
  • Abrun
    Abrun Posts: 2 Newbie
    Thank you. I didn't believe we got any payments but there were numerous questions from the solicitor about the feed in tariff which definitely confused me.
  • pinnks
    pinnks Posts: 1,258
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    If you want or need to know the value of your panels in terms of potentially buying out the lease (probably far too expensive), or making a stab at your annual electricity savings, you should get an idea of total generation from the panel on the front of the inverter (if there is one), from the total shown on the generation meter (TGM)used to provide numbers to obtain the FiT or by logging on to the inverter via Bluetooth of wifi if it has those options.

    The simplest is probably the TGM which must be on the house side of you main meter box and accessible. It will have read zero when installed, so total divided by years equals generation per year. If you assume you use 40% to 50% of that and multiply by your electricity unit rate (ignore the standing charge) you will get an idea of your savings.:beer:
  • jaybeetoo
    jaybeetoo Posts: 1,335
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    If you didn’t ask permission from your mortgage lender, you could be in breach of your mortgage conditions.

    Your house could be harder to sell if you’ve leased your roof https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/nov/25/homeowners-trapped-solar-panels
  • loskie
    loskie Posts: 1,761
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    good grief did you not think about this when you signed up!!??!!
  • Solarchaser
    Solarchaser Posts: 1,649
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    Alot of people are dazzled by the figures the installation companies give, and end up disappointed.
    The companies are known to inflate returns.
    They also tend to pick names which sound like a government incentive to increase trust.
    In central Scotland one of the main ones was called the green deal.

    When my friend took this deal, he had to take £6k off his house price when selling due to the complications
    West central Scotland
    4kw sse since 2014 and 6.6kw wsw / ene split since 2019
    24kwh leaf, 75Kwh Tesla and Lux 3600 with 60Kwh storage
  • zeupater
    zeupater Posts: 5,353
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    Alot of people are dazzled by the figures the installation companies give, and end up disappointed.
    The companies are known to inflate returns.
    They also tend to pick names which sound like a government incentive to increase trust.
    In central Scotland one of the main ones was called the green deal.

    When my friend took this deal, he had to take £6k off his house price when selling due to the complications
    Hi

    But wasn't the green deal effectively a government umbrella initiative for registered energy efficiency providers to offer a loan to pay for home improvements which is linked to the property as opposed to a person which is repaid through the energy bill over a period of time? - in which case the value of the property should be lower because the seller is lumbering the buyer with a form of debt as opposed to including an owned asset as a property fixture ....

    ... No wonder take-up was poor, it didn't take long for consumers to see through the fog and recognise the long-term flaws ...

    All in all, although it's an issue that potential buyers need to be aware of, it's a completely different set of circumstances & problems to the rent-a-roof position that the OP describes (ie regulated scheme vs unregulated opportunism). even though the effect on property prices would ostensibly be similar ...

    HTH
    Z
    "We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle
    B)
  • Solarchaser
    Solarchaser Posts: 1,649
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    Oh yeah it wasnt the actual green deal he was buying into, it was something that sounded very similar, so that he thought it was government backed.

    The offer of better insulation etc, in my experience wasnt a loan, it was a gift
    West central Scotland
    4kw sse since 2014 and 6.6kw wsw / ene split since 2019
    24kwh leaf, 75Kwh Tesla and Lux 3600 with 60Kwh storage
  • zeupater
    zeupater Posts: 5,353
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    Oh yeah it wasnt the actual green deal he was buying into, it was something that sounded very similar, so that he thought it was government backed.

    The offer of better insulation etc, in my experience wasnt a loan, it was a gift
    Hi

    But the official, 'government backed' green deal was in the form of a loan - a loan to be paid back through energy bills over a period of time, this being linked to the property as opposed to the normal practice of the individual ....

    Are you saying that the company selling the efficiency measures misrepresented their offer, the backing of the offer and the terms & conditions of that offer? ... if so he would have a solid position in law to seek redress, however, if there was a lack of understanding or insufficient due-diligence conducted then it's likely another example of caveat emptor ... if it seems to good to be true (eg free!), then it highly likely that it's deserving of higher than normal scepticism ....

    HTH
    Z
    "We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle
    B)
  • Solarchaser
    Solarchaser Posts: 1,649
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    From my point of view, and from what he told me, he was mis sold it all, but then theres what you are told vs what's in the paperwork that you sign.... and he signed it.

    So if you want to apportion blame, I'm sure he would accept it.
    My point was he was "dazzled" by the talk, even though what he signed up to wasnt what he got. I'm very certain (or at least he was when I quizzed him) that the paperwork didnt make the promises the salesman did.

    So yes, caveat emptor or more appropriately, beware dodgy salesmen
    West central Scotland
    4kw sse since 2014 and 6.6kw wsw / ene split since 2019
    24kwh leaf, 75Kwh Tesla and Lux 3600 with 60Kwh storage
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