 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
We are going to look at a house tomorrow and I have just re-read the details and noticed that it has solar panels on a 20 year lease. I think I have heard before that this can be a hassle when getting a mortgage.
Does anyone have any experience of this?
Yes this can be a hassle. Not all lenders will give you a mortgage in this case (I guess there may be exceptions though). You may need to ask the seller to remove them or buy them outright. We bought 18 months, with a property with solar panels and had to demonstrate clearly they were owned outright or otherwise we couldn't get a mortgage with YBS.
I thought I would come back and update this post incase anyone is interested.
Most mortgage lenders will lend on a house with leased solar panels as long as they have been professionally installed and comply with the Microgeneration Certification Scheme.
We just needed some evidence from the seller relating to the installation and the mortgage was easy to get (NatWest)
Was in the guardian the other week:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/nov/25/homeowners-trapped-solar-panels
Out of interest, what happens after that lease period expires?
Out of interest, what happens after that lease period expires?
they explode
Ownership passes back to the householder along with FIT
Ownership passes back to the householder along with FIT
If there is any FIT. Since 1 August 2012, the FIT duration has been 20 years, so FIT will finish at the end of the lease (although I don't know what happens to export payments). Before then, FIT was 25 years but I'd be surprised if the leases weren't matched to the FIT duration.