Who gets te FIT when you move

[Harry Worth]

Had a colleague ask me what happens when a person with Solar panels moves house. I always presumed the FIT stayed with the house. His theory, as it's in your name you can take it with you. Any thoughts?

 

[bugsy]

Never mind the FIT who owns the panels

 

[Grumpy]

The FIT is for the house and is not transferable. When you sell the house the panels are as much a part of the property as the windows in my opinion. Having said that, if I sold in the near future and they wouldn't pay a premium for the FIT I'd take the panels off just to spite them!

 

[WRDEnergy]

Grumpy is right the panels and the fit would belong to the new home owner... they say the value of your house goes up when you fit solar panels so hopefully you would atleast make your money back.... I guess you could draw up some contact saying that you still own the FIT but then again that might make your house look less attractive to the new buyer.

 

[methley]

Not sure that's true I have panels on a rental property as well as my own. FIT and export are paid to me for both. Would it not be possible to set up a "rent a roof" scheme type arrangement?

 

[t4sltd]

Possible but difficult - how do you arrange access to read meter / replace inverter? Would need a solicitor IMHO i.e. don't bother

 

[Harry Worth]

Yes - Sort of think this is what my mate's heard of. I recollect when you initially fill in the form to send to the DNO you can assign the FIT to someone else or keep it for yourself. Does the question arise again when you move house or does it automatically stay with the property once its set up?

 

[TedM]

It's perfectly possible to sell a house without the new owner getting the FiTs payments as there is nothing automatic about the change in assignment. The default position is that payments would continue to be made to the original owner - assuming meter readings were submitted.

In order to transfer FiTs to a new owner the electricity supplier would need to see a document that showed that the panels had passed to the new owner as a part of the house sale. This would need to be provided by the solicitor when transferring ownership of the house.

 

[Sunnydaze]

I would be interested to know whether a new owner could claim at the rate claimed by the original owner, or whether the new owner would have to claim the prevailing rate at the time of the sale.

 

[jupestar]

i understand they get the original rate claimed by the original owner

 

[Green]

You can keep the FITs when moving house if you and the new owner sign a bilateral agreement as part of the sales pack. The difficulty of course comes in reading the meter.

 

[FB.]

I would be interested to know whether a new owner could claim at the rate claimed by the original owner, or whether the new owner would have to claim the prevailing rate at the time of the sale.

The FiT can be transferred to subsequent owners, who can enjoy its benefits until the original FiT agreement expires a couple of decades later.

I would value a PV system on the likely FiT payments over the remaining term; properties with the 43p FiT are literally a cash machine and the subsidy is worth many multiples of the original outlay (the generosity of which is, of course, what got us into this mini-bubble).

 

[mdovey]

You can keep the FITs when moving house if you and the new owner sign a bilateral agreement as part of the sales pack. The difficulty of course comes in reading the meter.

I think you would need to think through that bilateral agreement - it would need to cover:

a) who would own the panels, inverters, etc.
b) who had responsibility for maintenance
c) who had liability in case of damages (e.g. if the inverter malfunctions and set light to the house, if a panel blew off and caused damage to the roof etc.)
d) access to the meter (whilst there would be no reason for the new owners to give false readings, you would be responsible for ensuring the readings submitted were accurate etc.)

The new owners would probably expect some financial recompense as essentially you'd be leasing their roof from them.

The solicitor dealing with the house sale could probably draw up such an agreement (for a fee). It is likely that the buyers solicitor would also raise questions, ask for amendments etc.

I'm not entirely convinced it would be worth the hassle (even at the 43p FIT) compared to adding a suitable figure to the over house value to cover the sale of the panels and FIT to the new owners. It may also deter buyers if they end up with a house containing equipment that they do not own.

 

[stavtoon]

Could i make a much happier question on this subject.

What if i snuff it before the 25 years is up,will it transfer automatically to my wife or kids.?Should it be included in any Will.?

 

[mdovey]

What if i snuff it before the 25 years is up,will it transfer automatically to my wife or kids.?Should it be included in any Will.?

These are the relevant sections of the SSE FIT terms and conditions for changing of ownership and moving house. It doesn't explicitly cover death, but apart from the unusual circumstances of being able to give SSE one month's notice of your death, presumably the executor of your will is able to make the change request outlined in 8.3. It may not hurt to explicitly include it in your will.


7.1 If you move home and still wish to be the Recipient of the FIT Payment, it is your responsibility to ensure that quarterly meter readings are submitted as required to continue receiving FIT Payments.

7.2 If you move home and wish for the new occupant to become the Nominated Recipient you must contact us with the information required to enable us to determine and/or validate the new Nominated Recipient’s details and to update the Central FIT Register. Please see section 3.3 for details of how to do so. When we have received confirmation from Ofgem that the Central FIT Register has been amended with the new Recipient’s details, this agreement will end.

7.3 We are only obliged to pay the Recipient as named in the Central FIT Register. It is your responsibility to agree ownership of the FIT as part of any house move. For details of how to notify us of a change of ownership, please refer to section 8.3


8.3 If you are planning to transfer ownership of the FIT Generation Installation You must provide us with written confirmation and supporting documents one month prior to such transfer of ownership. Once we are satisfied with the information provided, we will update the Central FIT Register and write to you and the new owner to confirm that this change has taken place. You must provide meter readings on the date of the change of ownership.

 

[KSOL72]

This very issue prompted me to talk to a local conveyancing lawyer - this was back in probably July/Aug time and they had no precise answer - they had no guidance from the Law Society or any other body and therefore would pretty much review it on a case by case basis. In there anything in REAL or MCS??

 

[KSOL72]

just read Mdovey's last..hadn't read page 2 of posts!! Cheers

 

[solarsparkie]

If you want to sell a house and keep the FIT we have a rent a roof contract drawn up , you can substitute our company name for your name and save a shed load of fees , you then need to place a notice on the property which will cost you £80 and bobs your uncle until next change of owner

 

[methley]

What do you mean by "place a notice"?

 

[solarsparkie]

a notice on the property is friendlier to the owner as opposed to a charge and also cheaper to administer , basically if the property is going to change hands then you are notified , you have a contract with the current owner which gives them rights to use the free electric and in return you recieve free use of the roof for a predetermined period ( the 25 year fit term ) in the contract there are penalties for early removal of the installation and access rights the same as your local electricity board has with your meter . if the new owner doesnt want the panels on the roof the old owner can refuse to sell to the new but the contract says the new owner has to accept the old contract else liquidated damages will apply so its just a case of writing to the purchasers solicitor and cashing in the option if new owner wants to remove the panels or not take over the liabilities of the contract ( the proceeds are deducted from any profit made on sale of house and sent directly to you) here endeth todays lesson