Selling a House with Solar Panels

You’re ready to sell your current home, but haven’t
considered what will happen to your solar panels? Are you wondering whether they
will reduce or increase your home value? This post will enlighten you on how to
make selling a house with solar panels possible
and how to tackle the various problems that may surface.

Solar Panels Increase Home Value

Solar panels are an extremely good asset to have for your
home. Mainly because you’re doing your bit for the environment. A great bonus,
however, is that you receive payments from the ‘Feed in Tariff’ which is made
to households that generate their own electricity through solar panels and
other energy-saving methods, proportionate to the total power produced.

Here are some reasons why solar panels increase your home’s
value:

• The Feed in Tariff (FIT) is paid for around
  20-25 years, depending on when the panels were installed. Therefore, if you
  sell your property after you’ve ‘paid them off’ and received some interest from
  the solar panels, it is likely that there will be many more years of FIT
  payments to come – which is appealing to potential buyers.
• Solar panels reduce energy bills by a huge
  chunk, which is a great bonus for whoever buys your home, as they will not have
  to pay high bills.
• It is an eco-friendly
  method of generating energy which is beneficial for the planet as it avoids
  having to use the scarce natural resources our planet has left. We all want to
  do our bit for the environment, including potential home-buyers.
• The energy performance certificate grade usually
  goes up by 2 grades due to the installed solar panels. This is beneficial for
  any home and will certainly attract purchasers.

When is the Best Time for Selling a House with
Solar Panels?

The best time to sell a house with solar panels is typically
after you’ve reaped a lot of the benefits that solar panels have to offer. Mainly
the FIT payments and the low energy bills. If you bought your solar panels
(instead of having them installed for free from various solar panel companies),
then it takes roughly 7-8 years to come even with the investment. So, from 8-15
years after having installed the solar panels, is the time to sell your house,
if you wish to do so. This is because, whoever buys your home next, will still
be able to benefit from them. Solar panels typically have 20 years warranty
too, which will further appeal to potential buyers.

Selling a Home with Solar Panels (Which you
Own)

The process is much simpler if you own the solar panels on
the roof of your home. This is because it means that you are not tied down with
any contracts that you must pass to the potential new owners of your home. The
decision you must make, however, is if you would like to take your solar panels
with you to your next home. If that is the case, do not forget that you will
need to pay a lot of money (ranging from £2,500 – £7,500) to have the solar
panels removed and reinstalled to your new home. Furthermore, you need to
double check that you can logistically and legally fix them on a new roof – so
be sure to check this before you make any irrational decisions.

If you decide that you do not want to keep the solar panels
and leave them fixed to the house you want to sell, it’s likely that the house
will sell without a problem. The main problems selling
a house with solar panels occur if you’ve
had solar panels installed for free.

Selling a House with Solar Panels That Have
Been Installed for Free

This is a bit trickier. This is because the solar panels
were installed for free but for the price of the solar panel company owning the
roof of the house. This can put off some home-buyers. So, there are two
realistic options that you can go through with – either buy off the lease from
the solar company before you sell your home to avoid problems, or simply
transfer the lease to the home buyers if they are happy to do so. If you have
further problems selling a house with solar panels,
and need to sell your home fast – why not sell your house with
us?

Our Top Tips:

• Check all documentation that you have from when
  the solar panels were installed, make sure you have all the facts and figures
  that you need to either pass on the lease or to have as proof for the next
  home-owners.
• Be sure that, before you put your house on the
  market, the solar panels are in perfect condition and that they are still
  working.
• If you are receiving FIT payments, be sure to
  keep the proof of how much you roughly save each month, to be able to prove it
  to potential home buyers as this will interest them greatly and may convince
  them to buy.
• Find an estate
  agent that has experience with selling homes with solar panels and
  is aware of their true value.
• Consider selling your house with SellHouseFast
  as we buy any house, in any condition and can complete the whole process in up
  to 28 days.

Keep in mind that if
you install solar panels after
the 31^st March 2019, that you will not receive the Feed
in Tariff, which may make selling your home harder in the long run as home
owners will not receive the full perks of having solar panels.

(Feature
Image Copyright: vchal/shutterstock.com)