The popularity of domestic solar panels is growing with almost 1.5 million homes in the UK having solar panels on them by the end of 2024. Most homeowners who install solar panels plan to live in the house for the foreseeable future so that they can reap the benefit from the installation, but in life things happen and people need to move, so homes with solar panels are starting to become available on the market.
Selling your home with solar panels
If you are selling your home with solar panels it will make your home a more attractive property to buyers and make your home stand out against others. Like any key feature in a home, buyers will be keen to know more about it so be prepared when showing people around. Have some figures prepared or bills that show how low your electricity bills are, how much electricity they generated for you and how much income you get from either the Feed-in Tariff or Smart Export Guarantee.
When you have agreed to a sale, you will need to provide all the paperwork for the solar panels as you would if you installed glazing with guarantees. But you will also need to change the ownership of the solar panels so that the export payments can be paid to the new owners.
Buying a home with solar panels
When you buy a home with solar panels, you will benefit from the free electricity generated by the solar panels without the cost of the installation. Solar panels not only generate electricity to save you money on your energy bills, but they can also generate income from exporting the electricity you don’t use. It will depend on when the solar panels were installed to which scheme you will be able to benefit from – either the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) or Smart Export Guarantee (SEG).
The solar PV system may also include battery storage which enables you to use the electricity whenever you want to rather than during daylight hours. If the system doesn’t have battery storage and you feel you could benefit from adding battery storage, you could add this to the system once you take ownership.
Solar panels need to be installed by MCS registered installers to be eligible for FiT or SEG so it is worth checking that the system was installed by a registered installer. Information about the installation, certification and warranties should be gathered by your solicitor if you go ahead and purchase the property.
Solar panels last for 25-30 years, so it is good to know when the solar panels were installed. All systems include an inverter which has a shorter lifespan of 10-15 years, so you should factor in that this will need to be replaced at some point. An inverter is relatively easy to change and not too expensive.
It is useful to understand how your solar panels work so that you can spot any issues if they were to occur. The current owner may be able to explain how to read the generation meter and pass on the user manuals to you.
When you take out home insurance you will need to include the solar panels on the insurance, and you may need to extend your policy to cover them.
As the time comes to move into your new home you will need to select an energy supplier. You should investigate energy tariffs that are for solar panel owners as they can offer smart time-of-use tariffs that can work better for you. If your solar PV system has battery storage then you may want to look at the Octopus Flux tariff which rewards those with battery storage for supporting the grid by storing electricity and releasing it at peak demand. If you don’t have battery storage and would like to add this to your system get in touch to see how we can help you.
