I've just paid £500 for solar panels!

[happysingleversary]

Said my dad.

He then pays £2,500 over the next two months.
Then he pays 8 grand over the next year and then the panels pay for themselves

I'm dumb. I don't own a house and actively avoided legalities of such large decisions my entire life.

Is my dad being scammed?

A 4 bedroom detached house is about £12k round here.

No that can be the price. I looked into them. The issue is that as they just pay for themselves, but usually not in full, they can need replacing. It's a personal decision.

We are having solar panels installed in a couple of weeks. We paid about £3,000 deposit and will pay the balance of £8,000 after installation. We were offered finance but declined as we have had a windfall and been saving.

So the total seems similar and could easily be the finance option? You need to research the company as I did lots to ensure it was reputable.

Do they add value because he is hoping to sell before that time is up anyway.

Thanks. He said he did that. He's got capacity, just wanted to check. Thank you for helping me. I wouldn't know where to begin with this one, especially not being a home owner.

They can as long as he's going to own them outright and isn't leasing them. Selling a house with leased solar panels can be a problem.

Thank you so much, I will ask him.

Noo problem. I think the finance option was a good deal with an attractive interest rate but for us it didn’t make sense as we have the money this time.

Mmm seems a bit expensive, does it include a battery ( only asking because our panels bought 13 yrs ago cost that much and prices have reduced hugely since then but the battery may put the cost back up)or does he have a huge house? I’m not sure why he thinks they “pay for themselves”after that, it takes quite a long time to recoup the cost so it’s a longer term investment.

What does that price include? How many panels does it include? Are they all on one side of the roof or split over two? Honestly, presuming your answers suggest a standard installation with an average number of panels, then I think that expensive unless it includes battery storage.

Did he get a few quotes?

@QuitMoaning which company are you using? We've been quoted by a company called fastgas. 13k for 12 panels and two batteries.

How much battery storage capacity are you getting with those two batteries RedEyeBaby?

Because that’s what the rep told him
the company sends their own surveyor before the next payment

i don’t have much time or capacity for this right now

he’s paid the deposit today id assume he could easily get a refund within 14 days

This deal is £10500 for 10 panels and 2 batteries

My understanding is that if you own the panels outright, they are now adding value to your house (which wasn't the case 12 months ago). However they aren't adding additional value above the value of the house as far as I know. So if you paid £12,000 it'll add about £12k to your house value.

However if you don't own the panels outright, it's more muddy. The contract will be in your name not attached to the property itself. However you can't just keep ownership of the panels on someone else's house for fairly obvious reasons. This means you have a bit of a legal mess to sort out and get transferred which can mean it can damage the value to your house as it's an issue. Buyers need to be aware of what their buying into and whether the contract is directly transferrable / they need to renegotiate another contract (which might be less favourable to them) and whether your share needs to be bought out as part of the purchase.

From what I've heard from a friend who works for an estate agent is don't touch a house with solar panels which aren't owned outright for this reason as it's causing all sorts of problems.

You need to know what size array he's getting, whether it comes with a battery and if so what size and that he will own them outright.

Tell us this information and we can let you know if the price is reasonable (for reference a 5kwh battery and 5kwh array was just under 9k for us with scaffolding, inverter and all the other bits of kit). The battery is more expensive than the panels but we are all electric so we'll worth it

I think that's a reasonable cost. It might not be the cheapest he could find but it's well within the ballpark for a system with battery storage.

I've seen news articles suggesting that some of the costs can be recouped in additional value.

And if you were really motivated and were prepared to pay, you could always take the batteries with you to the next house.

That’s a reasonable cost. We just paid £14k for 14 panels and a battery. Feel free to send his quote over and I’ll compare to ours.

£10 - 14k for panels and battery seems to be about the going rate ATM.

A panels only deal will be less - around £6 - 8k mark.

We've just paid £10,200 for 14 panels and a 5.2kw battery.

@FourTeaFallOut it's 2x 3.2kwh batteries, 12x 4.5w panels, and an inverter. 14500£ I've just checked the quote - we added the second battery which added the extra cost

@bigbluebus which company was that?

Total waste of money.

10 panels and a 5kW battery cost us just under £10k, so the price seems right. Payback time depends on how well positioned your roof is and how wfficiently you use the generated power, but the drop in panel prices and increase in electeicity costs mean it's generally around 8-10 years now, not the 20-25 it was a decade ago.

So as long as he's buying not leasing, and the company is MCS registered, that deal seems fine.