Buying A House That Has Leased Solar Panels

Some solar panel leases have escalating payments.

Buying a house that has leased solar panels.

Some solar lease contracts include an early buy out option allowing you to buy out the remainder of the lease and own the solar panels outright. When you own the solar panels you remove the solar lease from the home sale equation and boost your home s market value. Leased solar panels fully owned solar panels in most cases where solar panels were installed the panels were fitted free of charge by a solar power company. If the home has leased solar panels buyers need to find out the lease agreement details including monthly fees and the contract term.

That could cost 500 for an initial audit and another 500 to transfer the panels if the leasing. Buying a house with solar panels might be worth it choosing whether to buy a house with solar depends on the financing and if a lease or ppa is involved whether the agreement and installation fit your life. However over time some drawbacks with this initiative have become apparent. Before you buy you ll want to find out more information about the lease terms.

Generally you have two options when selling a home with leased solar panels. Pay the rest of the lease. Buying out the remainder of your lease allows you to own your solar energy system before you sell your home. In fact selling a house with leased solar panels may drive down the sales price.

The homeowner then leased the panels to the power company usually for a 25 year term. Homeowners with leased solar panels who are trying to sell only have two options. Be sure to read over all the agreement details and ask as many questions as you can. They can either buy out the remaining lease payments themselves or they can attempt to find a buyer who is willing to take over those solar lease payments.

The homeowner will have leased the panels from the solar power company usually for a 25 year term who then has the right to the feed in tariff payments. Sometimes leases contain buy out clauses meaning the new owner can buy their way out of the lease. Solar leases are typically for a 20 year term and can be costly to buy out. That way you can sell the system as part of the home and command a higher selling price.

The buy out premium is usually the cost of the installation typically 10 15k plus a premium. The homeowner enjoys low energy bills plus the prospect of the feed in tariff after 25 years.