Selling a house with leased solar panels

[Watto1]

Has anyone recently sold a house with leased solar panels? We are 6 years into a 25 year lease agreement on our solar panels and our house is on the market. I have read that some mortgage lenders are reluctant to lend on such properties. Googling turns up stories from 5+ years ago and I'm hoping that the increase in solar panels over recent years has made the process easier.

Thank you

As long as you have all the paperwork/documentation and relevant permissions it shouldn't be a problem.

We sold two years ago. Was no problem whatsoever.

Thank you Spickle. I've got the paperwork in front of me as I type. I'm an administrator for a living so I keep absolutely everything paperwork-wise! I hope you are right. The estate agent's feedback from the last viewing was that they were put off by the panels. Personally, I would see it as a massive plus point. Who wouldn't want cheaper electricity?

That fills me with hope Leg! Thank you.

We've just bought one - had several mortgage options. Issue for mortgage co was identity of installing co - the relevant one was on approved list.

Otherwise can you buy them now? So no longer leased?

Otherwise you might find a buyer willing to buy them - we would have done if we couldn't otherwise have had a mortgage as we were desperate for this house!

Good luck selling!

Thanks Anders. Any idea how we find out if our installer is on the approved list? We found them through the government scheme so I would hope they are ok! I've emailed the company to find out how much it would cost to buy the panels. If it's not a fortune we might do that. Thank you for the idea!

Hi Watto, how are you getting on?

We are also 6 years into a lease for solar panels.

I spoke to our estate agent this morning and he said that the main lenders won't lend on them. He said that in his opinion they will make the sale fall through.

He advised that we buy them from the company but with our company they want us to compensate them for the remaining FITs so they have quoted around £20 K to buy them out.

(Needless to say we regret getting them!!!).

I'd be interested to know how you are getting on.

I've recently bought a flat which has solar panels that belong to a housing association.
I had my first mortgage refused despite the solar panel company being an award winning company. The lender just didn't have them on their list.
The next lender didn't care a jot and lent the money.
I suppose it would depend somewhat on the reaction of the lender of the potential buyer. If they started to get some negative feedback it would put them off.
Some of them are so far behind the times!
I also googled and found ancient stories which were negative but times have changed.
It made me like the place more as on a reasonably bright day, my fridge, freezer etc run for nothing!

Just to add, my mortgage is from a main lender. They didn't question it at all.

Well, we had one potential buyer who categorically stated that they would not buy the house with the panels in place as they had read too many horror stories . I can't understand it. They just sit on the roof and save me money! It would cost me £15k to buy out the lease. Got more viewings over the weekend so fingers crossed!

People I know have reduced their asking price to reflect the cost of buying the lease out which sort of seems sensible?

Good luck with the viewings. I was lucky that my solicitor was a chum so when I was deciding whether to put in the offer I asked her to look into it for me. Otherwise it tends to be an issue that the buyer's solicitor will refer to the lender once the mortgage offer is in.

Don't despair - there will be a way around. This won't be that unusual an issue.