Solar panels & 25 year lease

[Loyalclaret]

Article in The Guardian regarding the 25 year leases which accompanied many free solar panel installation. There was a thread about this on UTC but the search function does not seem to work and Google search is fruitless.

I remember a poster at the time pointing out that the 25 year leases could be problematic.

Anyone experienced any problems when selling?
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/ ... SApp_Other" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Bosscat]

This crops up on "Homes under the Hammer" regularly.

Mortgage companies are not keen on anomalies like that.... where people have leased the roof to Solar Panel companies, just like they don't like short leases on the land a property is built upon.

We bought and fitted our own Solar Panels 4 years ago and we were advised they had a 5 year payback time ... Having done all my sums, I have worked out that from May next year they will have payed for themselves, 6 months early.
So from May everything is profit. With the feed in tarrif (guaranteed for 20 years) and the money saved from using less power we are making around £1100 a year....
My Brother-in-law had put Solar in 4 years earlier and obviously got a higher feed in tarrif so they are now making far more money but he paid 3 times what we did.

If we decided to sell our house (unlikely as we love it here) no worries as we own the panels.

But anyone buying a house like ours with Solar panels fitted, will only get the current Feed in Tarrif of the day, not the one we got when we purchased the panels... so the rewards are reduced but then again would have the benefit of reduced bills....

It would be interesting to know how much power is generated by the installation in Gisburn (on the way up to Todber and Coldweather...)
We have 15 panels on our roof, they have a couple of Acres.... obviously the tarrif will be less than ours but I reckon farming the Sun must be a profitable venture..... and much less labour intensive than livestock............

[claretandy]

This crops up on "Homes under the Hammer" regularly.

Mortgage companies are not keen on anomalies like that.... where people have leased the roof to Solar Panel companies, just like they don't like short leases on the land a property is built upon.

We bought and fitted our own Solar Panels 4 years ago and we were advised they had a 5 year payback time ... Having done all my sums, I have worked out that from May next year they will have payed for themselves, 6 months early.
So from May everything is profit. With the feed in tarrif (guaranteed for 20 years) and the money saved from using less power we are making around £1100 a year....
My Brother-in-law had put Solar in 4 years earlier and obviously got a higher feed in tarrif so they are now making far more money but he paid 3 times what we did.

If we decided to sell our house (unlikely as we love it here) no worries as we own the panels.

But anyone buying a house like ours with Solar panels fitted, will only get the current Feed in Tarrif of the day, not the one we got when we purchased the panels... so the rewards are reduced but then again would have the benefit of reduced bills....



It would be interesting to know how much power is generated by the installation in Gisburn (on the way up to Todber and Coldweather...)
We have 15 panels on our roof, they have a couple of Acres.... obviously the tarrif will be less than ours but I reckon farming the Sun must be a profitable venture..... and much less labour intensive than livestock............

Same here, bought mine 4 1/2 years ago, I'm south west facing so don't make quite as much as true south facing do, I've still made and saved over 3k so far.

[sixtiesclaret]

Down here in Norfolk had 14 panels just over 5 years ago reckon it will be 10 years before Im in profit yours must be better panels bosscat. That's before my inverter burnt out need a new one at £700 - brilliant. Just a couple of months out of guarantee not that it would have made a difference as the installer (local) has gone out of business and the inverter seemingly is chinese!!!

[Bosscat]

Down here in Norfolk had 14 panels just over 5 years ago reckon it will be 10 years before Im in profit yours must be better panels bosscat. That's before my inverter burnt out need a new one at £700 - brilliant. Just a couple of months out of guarantee not that it would have made a difference as the installer (local) has gone out of business and the inverter seemingly is chinese!!!

Saving around £500 a year on Electricity (we are all electric in my place) and getting aprox £600 (slightly more with the cracking summer this year) from the Feed in Tarrif. Hence a return of £1100 +/- a year.
Cost £4600 fitted in 2014.
No probs yet (with inverters/panels etc) .... German/Czech engineering ... I was initially worried about the panels and them needing cleaning but they seem to clean themselves when it rains... even bird poop seems to wash off (was told they were self cleaning but didn't believe them ... they were right )

[sixtiesclaret]

OK seems my FIT is similar to yours but my panels cost 7 grand so will take longer to make a profit - when I get them working again, only consolation is its the lowest quarter for sunshine.

[CaptJohn]

I had mine fitted the same month (April 2010) as they announced the FIT as I realised that the Government had got their sums wrong. I got locked into the top FIT for 25 years but of course paid top dollar for the panels etc. I'm on my 2nd inverter (Fronius) but estimate that it will take me at least another two years to be in credit
Anyone leasing their roof for the panels is fine as long as they don't intend to sell their property before the end of the deal. Otherwise they will have issues and most likely will have to sell at a serious discount.

[claretandy]

I have 14 panels, 3.68 kw, cost 5500, can't really say how much i'm saving as i had the panels put on as soon as i bought the house so i have nothing to compare to.

[beddie]

It sounds like it's down to to any new purchases lender. Our neighbours sold around 12 months ago and had no problem, the purchasers were a young couple having obtained a mortgage from a well known lender.

[PaintYorkClaretnBlue]

I got mine in November 2011 so just got onto the highest FIT rate. I paid £9k and it was paid off last year. I get around £1500 a year now plus whatever I save in electric. I’m still on my first inverter.

[SouthamptonClaret]

My girlfriend is currently purchasing a house with panels fitted under this scheme. The lender were happy with it provided the lease had a clause that allows the lender to break it if they take possession of the property, which I've been lead to believe is fairly standard under the govt scheme - and is the case with our lease. They also want to see that all necessary consents and certificates are in place for when the panels were installed, something the solicitors will confirm prior to completing. Most lenders were fine with the panels and had similar criteria, although some wanted a structural survey or full engineers report (I'm a mortgage broker so phoned around a few lenders to double check).

Think the problems arise if the firm that fitted the panels no longer exists, which the article fails to really emphasise is the major problem with some of the leases.