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Selling a house with solar

Owned is simple. Leased has three outcomes, and one of them needs handling before you list.

Written by Brian Tilford, NABCEP certified.

Start here: what happens at closing

An owned system, a lease and a power purchase agreement taken through the same sale, to the point where they stop behaving alike. The checklist below is what to settle before the listing goes up.
Rather read it? What the video says, in words

One house sold three times — with an owned system, with a lease, and with a power purchase agreement — to show where the three stop behaving alike. An owned system conveys with the house and needs nobody's permission. A third-party system needs the buyer to qualify against the provider's credit threshold, inside a notice period that can run longer than the sale, and the film covers what happens when they do not, including the buyout figure and who sets it.

Three outcomes

What happens to the system when you sell the houseAn owned system conveys with the house. A leased system transfers if the buyer qualifies, and otherwise must be prepaid or bought out before closing.You sell the houseYou own it
It conveys with the house, like a furnace. Nothing to qualify for.
Buyer takes over the lease
They pass a credit check and sign a transfer at the same rate you had.
Buyer does not qualify
You prepay the remaining payments, or buy the system, before the sale closes.
An owned system conveys with the house and needs no permission from anyone. A third-party system needs the buyer to qualify — and a plan if they do not.

Before you list

  1. 01

    Find out which one you have

    Owned, leased, or a power purchase agreement. The paperwork says so in the first paragraph.

  2. 02

    Get the transfer requirements in writing

    Credit thresholds, notice periods and any fee. Notice periods can run to months, which is longer than a sale.

  3. 03

    Ask for the current buyout figure

    Usually fair market value set by an appraiser. Worth knowing early, not during attorney review.

  4. 04

    Tell your agent before the listing goes up

    A buyer's agent who discovers a 25-year agreement during due diligence will treat it as a problem. Disclosed up front it is just a detail.

Read next

What a battery actually doesSolar alone shuts off in an outage. A battery is what keeps something running — but not everything.How to check a solar proposalOne short film, nine questions, and a calculator that works on anyone's quote — including ours.What happens after you signInstalled and switched on are different days. Here is the gap, and why it exists.
All 8 guides →

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