Mortgage lenders hate free solar panels
If you had free PV solar panels installed, then sit down for this.
With the rise of popularity of rent-a-roof or free solar panels schemes, nobody asked how the banks think? If you installed solar panels yourself, well done.
If self-purchased, the sale-ability of your home has increased tenfold, and mortgage lenders are happy. However, if you’ve got a third-party PV system installed, mortgage lenders are rejecting mortgage and re-mortgage applications.
Unfortunately, for those that participated in such schemes, thousands of people who’ve got these systems are contractually locked in for twenty-years. These types of companies offered free solar panels to take advantage of the generous feed-in tariff scheme.
An export tariff scheme between 2010-11 with a 45.44 pence per kWh financial incentive. The government had to curb a torrent of applications because the demand for installations was unsustainable!
If you’ve got this type of solar panel installation, I’d check the small print for clarification. Legally, they had to include a buy-back clause.
So, if you anticipate selling your home within the next twenty years, a solution is to buy those solar panels back.
They don’t actually want you to do that. Buying PV solar panels yourself will give you the export rewards yourself.
Benefit yourself from the panels; the sell-ability they provide and the generous feed-in tariffs will be yours. If you’re unable to buy out ‘their’ PV system, then your situation is not good. Simply, mortgage lenders are unhappy about lending with third-party technologies involved.
This is new, never been seen before, mortgage barrier, that could cause legal disputes as people find it difficult to sell their homes further down the timeline.
The feed-in tariff scheme is an incentive for homeowners, currently called the PV export tariff. If you think you may be affected, see what options are available.
Ownership may offer sell-ability.
You may find this thread useful on our forum:
https://www.powermyhome.uk/pv-solar-panels/questions-about-solar-panels#comment-2841666504
It’s not false it’s true as the lease is miss leading and was miss sold, you statement is very bold, to mention company names is also brave, the lease solar panels are the new ppi.
Have you getting them sorted yet
Cheers stu
I’ve had same problem with lease panels and seeking damages in court for mis selling
Hi mark, I’m having problems selling my house, did you have any luck selling yours?
I’ve just had my buyers pull out because of the solar panels on my roof installed by Ashade greener, and when I try phone Ashade greener it just goes to answer phone.
No I must confess I didn’t , got the mortgage I needed so stopped there. I wouldn’t actually choose a rent-a-roof scheme myself. This is a buy to let property which already has them installed. On my own house I bought the solar pv system myself (from a reputable supplier found through this forum) and I’m very happy I did. One of the best investments I’ve ever made. My own mortgage provider (hsbc) are certainly fine with this , but I guess it’s the lease terms which some lenders don’t like rather than pv systems per se.
Have you researched all the other banks and building societies? At the time of writing the article, all the major banks were refusing.
Not true. Skipton building society to my certain knowledge (they have just offered me a mortgage) approve A Shade Greener installations.
Hi Mark,how are you getting on with selling your property, regarding the solar panels,cheers ,Brian
I’ve just come across this post as we have a property with a shade greener panels on and no lenders will offer a mortgage. That really is none.
We have asked a shade greener repeatedly for they’re list of lenders and they have sent us nothing.
I am now looking at removing the panels to make the home
Mortgageable.
Hi there what was the name of the company?
I`m trying to remortgage my house to buy another property and am having a nightmare due to having free solar panels put on my roof.The company I signed up with has gone bust and a new company are trying to get me to sign a lease.The previous company hasnt registered my solar panels and I can`t find a signed official contract with anyone.Anyone know where i stand on this
Really happy we went with ASG but to be honest we do see this as our last home anyway. We re- mortgaged to help our son buy a flat with no problems two years ago and we are saving about 49% on our electric bill.
I’m sure there are many rent a roof schemes that cause concern but I went through our lease with a fine tooth comb and could see nothing untoward.
Maybe we are just lucky we chose a reputable company.
Wow, this is a great post. I am a mortgage lender and I just got my first call from my pre-approved buyer who is wanting to put an offer on a property with a solar lease. I am looking into it right now to see if my company will finance this home, but I never knew about this. Is coming from a person with 10 years mortgage lending experience.
As with anything in life there are always exceptions to the rule.
I wonder how many out of the hundreds of free solar companies, did what you did?
The article is intended to raise the fact that some people, who did take advantage of free solar panels have encountered after installation problems, and for others who did the same, it would be advisable to double check their contract for similar potential issues.
On this basis the article is not misleading.
This article is factually inaccurate and misleading. It suggests that everyone with free solar will have problems. That is simply not the case. Our company (A Shade Greener Ltd) works with over 30 mortgage providers on a regular basis, and they are all content with our lease. It adheres to the Council of Mortgage Lender’s guidelines (as do our procedures) and we also have agreements in place that meet the individual requirements of each particular mortgage company. The list of mortgage companies on our website have all confirmed that our lease would have no bearing on any decision to offer a mortgage or remortgage. Many of our customers have sold their property with our lease in place and up until now none of our customers have had problems remortgaging. You are making very sweeping statements and ‘tarring’ every free solar company with the same brush.