As the UK pushes forward on its drive to operate more sustainably, homeowners and building owners are inevitably looking at ways to make their properties greener, including whether they can put solar panels on their roofs.
In this short article, we have highlighted some of the considerations that you should be aware of before making this investment.
Residential properties
If you are a homeowner and want to put solar panels on your roof, you should always ensure that you properly understand the agreement that you are entering into with the panel provider, particularly what happens if you want to sell your property at some point. For example, can you transfer the arrangement to the new property owner, and can you do that without going back to the provider and getting their consent?
You should also consider whether you need the consent of any mortgage lender before you enter into the agreement with the equipment provider so that you do not breach the terms of your mortgage.
If you rent your property, you will also very likely need consent from your landlord before you attach anything to the roof. If the landlord's consent is needed and you don't obtain it before you go ahead, you could find that you are required to remove the solar panels because they are actually trespassing on the property. You could also have to pay financial compensation and legal costs as part of a property dispute.
Commercial properties
There are implications if you are a commercial tenant in a building and your landlord wants to install solar panels. The first thing to understand is whether the landlord has reserved rights in the lease to allow them to put solar panels on the roof and carry out that work or whether or not they need consent from the tenant.
Even if the landlord has the right to attach solar panels to the roof, a landlord would not be able to breach a tenant's quiet enjoyment of the premises by doing that work. The landlord should, therefore, discuss the works with the tenant to ensure the tenant knows when the works are being done, the impact there might be on the tenant's business and any other health and safety considerations that need to be accounted for.
Another thing that a commercial tenant should ask the landlord is where the electricity that is going to be generated will actually be going. For example, will the electricity be used in the unit itself or in the common parts of a development for the benefit of tenants, or is it being sold to a grid, or is it a combination of these?
A tenant will want to know whether they will save money on their bills due to the solar panels being installed. A tenant should also understand whether the landlord is actually leasing the airspace to an operator so they can put in the panels or whether the landlord will be operating them themselves. The answer to these questions might significantly impact whether or not a tenant, if they are thinking about taking on any risk of costs, actually wants to proceed.
In many leases, the property's roof is often part of the tenant's land parcel, and the tenant will be obliged to keep the roof in good repair. If a tenant is thinking about adding solar panels to a roof, that means that it is going to make the repair of the roof more difficult, access more difficult, and potentially expensive. If bad weather damaged the panels and caused them to blow off, it could also cause damage to the roof, which the tenant will be responsible for repairing if they had put the panels on the roof in the first place.
If you are a landlord thinking about putting in solar panels, you need to consider not only the panels that go on the roof but also other equipment that might need to be added, such as inverters and whether or not you have the right to put that equipment on the property or whether you need the tenant's cooperation because some aspects need to go within the tenant's demise. There is also likely to be cabling needed to potentially connect to the electricity wiring in the commercial unit, which may again necessitate the tenant's cooperation.
If a tenant allows the landlord to put solar panels on the roof, consideration also needs to be given to what happens if somebody gets hurt or there is an issue or fault with the equipment. The tenant needs to make sure that their interests and those of staff are fully protected and that the landlord retains liability for the equipment and any damage to the property or injury caused to anyone using the property. Adding solar panels to the roof might also necessitate an update to insurance policies.
A further consideration is that by installing the panels and equipment, repair issues might occur that would not otherwise have occurred but for installing the solar panels and equipment. If the landlord is installing the solar panels, but the tenant retains a responsibility to repair the building, then a tenant would want to make sure that any issues caused by the installation of the solar panels and equipment is excluded from their repairing liability under the lease.
Legal advice should always be taken when considering installing solar panels to avoid future conflicts.
