Bought a house with solar panels....

[Dogbash]

Just another update, having not heard back from the seller at all and again him proving to be hard to get in touch with I called EON again. I had previously emailed them on 10th August stating I did not need transfer of ownership of the panels, I just needed transfer of the FIT as I'd already proved I own the panels but they had ignored the email. The guy I spoke to was so much more helpful than anyone I have previously spoken to and they have requested copies of TA6 and TA10 forms. I have sent these and I am hoping with crossed fingers that this will be enough for them to transfer the FIT to me. On the TA6 form it says "Have Solar panels been installed", and "Are the solar panels owned outright". Both of these have been ticked yes by the seller.

He has said he will get back to me tomorrow, will update as soon as I hear something but thanks for the help so far.

Andrew

[JQ]

If it does all get sorted to your satisfaction, I'd be tempted to find out if he's received any cash whilst you've owned the panels and send him and his wife a Letter Before Action for return of the money received, presuming they both owned the house. Send a letter to each person individually, so that his wife definitely gets to see what he's been up to. No need to take it any further, as you'll now be receiving the cash, but may give him a bit of grief and you never know he may return the money received.

Best of luck with it all. What a tt.

[Old Man Fred]

With the boxes you mentioned being ticked i would really hope this will be the end of it.

Well done for sticking to your guns and seeing this through, it would have been easy to think it is too much hassle and give up. Be sure to treat yourself to something nice with the first cheque/years payments depending on how much it is!

[Dogwatch]

Being charitable it could be that the previous owner didn't read the small print either, but found the FIT payments were still rolling in after the house was sold and he was sitting on a nice little earner! Unless he submits bogus readings he hasn't done anything illegal so far and the OP may have to drag him through the civil courts.

Going completely off topic a similar situation (but with no financial motive) is developing in high end "connected" cars where the previous owner still gets access to all the car's data and some remote functions, unless the sale is done through a main dealer. Scary!

[Dogbash]

Update, EON have replied with the following:

“Hi Andrew,

Thanks for baring with us while we look into this, it’s taken some time to get a response back from our regulatory team today.

They have reviewed the letter from the solicitor in regards to the ownership before, however this isn’t believed to be sufficient enough.

Please provide us with a letter from the solicitor explicitly confirming that the solar panels were included as part of the sale of *****, and that you are the new owner. It would also be very useful if the solicitor had any further evidence that they could provide confirming that the panels have changed ownership.

Once we received these we will review the evidence again.”

I am honestly losing the will to live with this. I keep giving them what they ask for them they come back wanting something else. All the time I’m racking up solicitors bills. I think they are being purposefully awkward and don’t want to transfer it to me through fear of recourse from the seller.

[Campagnolo12speed]

Dogbash said:

Update, EON have replied with the following:

“Hi Andrew,

Thanks for baring with us while we look into this, it’s taken some time to get a response back from our regulatory team today.

They have reviewed the letter from the solicitor in regards to the ownership before, however this isn’t believed to be sufficient enough.

Please provide us with a letter from the solicitor explicitly confirming that the solar panels were included as part of the sale of *****, and that you are the new owner. It would also be very useful if the solicitor had any further evidence that they could provide confirming that the panels have changed ownership.

Once we received these we will review the evidence again.”

I am honestly losing the will to live with this. I keep giving them what they ask for them they come back wanting something else. All the time I’m racking up solicitors bills. I think they are being purposefully awkward and don’t want to transfer it to me through fear of recourse from the seller.

Why would you be paying solicitors bills for his mistake?

[Dogbash]

Campagnolo12speed said:

Why would you be paying solicitors bills for his mistake?

I will of course refuse to pay any bills but it’s not the point really.

[Dogbash]

Dogbash said:

I will of course refuse to pay any bills but it’s not the point really.

Besides the fact my solicitor is so useless in considering appointing another one in which case I will be paying fees.

[pingu393]

I've just read all five pages for the first time and I think that the problem was with your solicitor.

I would have got him to do EVERYTHING and contacted his regulatory authority if you weren't satisfied. If he fked up in the beginning, it is his duty to remedy the problem.


From what I've read, I think that the seller is legally right (but morally wrong). The contract with EON is a poor one. It is poor in the sense that it only compels the seller to contact EON if they are planning to sell the panels - unfortunately for you, EON confirmed that the seller has done this. EON state that they will send the forms to transfer the FIT - the seller has confirmed that EON has done this.

The bad bit in the contract (for you, not for the contract's signatories ) = EON do not state any timeframe in which the forms should be completed and returned.

Unless the seller has committed fraud with the meter readings, he has done nothing (legally) wrong that I can see. His is the name registered on the Central FIT Register and EON say that they are not allowed to change that name unless authorised to by him. Your solicitor should know whether this is true, or not.



Your solicitor should be sorting this as part of their normal conveyancing duties, not you.

[Oakey]

Could you get someone in to 'remove' the panels and then 'reinstall' your 'new' panels and then set up a new FIT (albeit it would be on the lower rate)?

[Notreallymeeither]

I had some dealing with the FiT back in the early days and I seem to recall the ownership of the panels is dealt with separately to the ownership of the FiT payments, and so you’ll need to get the FiT payment contract transferred separately to the physical panels.

I suspect Eon will arrive at this view too - otherwise they run the risk of the seller claiming against them as he hasn’t agreed they can transfer the FiT payments to you.

Sorry to be negative. I could well be v wrong

Edited by Notreallymeeither on Thursday 23 August 19:45

[Old Man Fred]

Oakey said:

Could you get someone in to 'remove' the panels and then 'reinstall' your 'new' panels and then set up a new FIT (albeit it would be on the lower rate)?

Unfortunately not, they are registered using the MCS (Microgeneration Certification Scheme) so the serial number etc would be the same and he would only get 1/10 now of what he should be getting even if it was theoretically possible

Notreallymeeither said:

I had some dealing with the FiT back in the early days and I seem to recall the ownership of the panels is dealt with separately to the ownership of the FiT payments, and so you’ll need to get the FiT payment contract transferred separately to the physical panels.

I suspect Eon will arrive at this view too - otherwise they run the risk of the seller claiming against them as he hasn’t agreed they can transfer the FiT payments to you.

Sorry to be negative. I could well be v wrong

Edited by Notreallymeeither on Thursday 23 August 19:45

The panels ownership is only an issue if its registered as leased, which means another company install the panels for free and then they take all the payments whilst giving you a few quid a month to 'rent' the space on the roof for 'their' panels

What EON are doing is staggering frankly. Could you get them to confirm in an email which part of the T and C you have not complied with (i am pretty sure you have as i posted them previously) and if you can provide ownership of the panels that they will transfer it to you. You probably already have what they are after from your solicitor, i seem to remember they wrote to confirm the panels were included with the house?

ETA - Do you have the official form that transfers the title of the house (TR1?) to you? You can then prove that the panels came with the house, and that you own the house?

ETAA - Did you try emailing the CEO? It sounds like the people you are dealing with don't know what they are doing, the CEO team will know....hopefully..

Edited by Old Man Fred on Friday 24th August 08:58

Edited by Old Man Fred on Friday 24th August 08:59

[Dogbash]

Old Man Fred said:

The panels ownership is only an issue if its registered as leased, which means another company install the panels for free and then they take all the payments whilst giving you a few quid a month to 'rent' the space on the roof for 'their' panels

What EON are doing is staggering frankly. Could you get them to confirm in an email which part of the T and C you have not complied with (i am pretty sure you have as i posted them previously) and if you can provide ownership of the panels that they will transfer it to you. You probably already have what they are after from your solicitor, i seem to remember they wrote to confirm the panels were included with the house?

ETA - Do you have the official form that transfers the title of the house (TR1?) to you? You can then prove that the panels came with the house, and that you own the house?

ETAA - Did you try emailing the CEO? It sounds like the people you are dealing with don't know what they are doing, the CEO team will know....hopefully..

Edited by Old Man Fred on Friday 24th August 08:58

Edited by Old Man Fred on Friday 24th August 08:59

Hi, the letter from my solicitor to them reads as follows:

"I am pleased to confirm that your purchase of **** completed on *** 2017.

I attach a copy of the land registry title information document for your reference.

I understand that EON have requested written confirmation that you are the owner of *** and the solar panels (with the benefits of the FIT) which are attached to it from the above completion date - I hope this letter and the attached document is sufficient confirmation for them.

Please ask EON to contact me if they require any further information"

As you can see he hasn't "Explicitly" said that I own the panels which I think is what EON are after. I think he just needs to amend the wording of the letter slightly which I have asked him to do.

Even when I send this to EON though, I doubt if that will be enough for them. They just seem to be overly difficult about it. The trouble is if they turn around and say no we aren't transferring it then where does that leave me? I'll have to either go after the seller through a litigation lawyer or after the multi billion pound company EON.

I emailed the CEO last week but I haven't had a reply at all.

Its all a shambles.

Andrew

[Old Man Fred]

This is being ridiculously pedantic by EON there imo.

You could always try twitter (it doesn't take long to sign up) or facebook, making it a bit more public might encourage them to act a bit more quickly.

[Oakey]

Would you not just be able to pursue the previous owner through the small claims court? You could start by issuing a claim for any money you think he might have received throughout the period you've been living in the house?

[Du1point8]

Oakey said:

Would you not just be able to pursue the previous owner through the small claims court? You could start by issuing a claim for any money you think he might have received throughout the period you've been living in the house?

Is it not the solicitor's fault for not sorting this? Chasing the other person who is legally allowed to do it, though morally should sign it over is going to get you nowhere.

[mikeveal]

Dogbash said:

Hi, the letter from my solicitor to them reads as follows:

"I am pleased to confirm that your purchase of **** completed on *** 2017.

I attach a copy of the land registry title information document for your reference.

I understand that EON have requested written confirmation that you are the owner of *** and the solar panels (with the benefits of the FIT) which are attached to it from the above completion date - I hope this letter and the attached document is sufficient confirmation for them.

Please ask EON to contact me if they require any further information"

As you can see he hasn't "Explicitly" said that I own the panels which I think is what EON are after. I think he just needs to amend the wording of the letter slightly which I have asked him to do.

Even when I send this to EON though, I doubt if that will be enough for them. They just seem to be overly difficult about it. The trouble is if they turn around and say no we aren't transferring it then where does that leave me? I'll have to either go after the seller through a litigation lawyer or after the multi billion pound company EON.

I emailed the CEO last week but I haven't had a reply at all.

Its all a shambles.

Andrew

The conveyancer has sidestepped your question. I wouldn't bother sending their reply to EON, you'll just be wasting time. I'd ask them to rewrite, clearly stating that ownership of the panels was transferred as part of the sale. Land registry has bugger all to do with it.

IANAL, but I would expect the panels to be listed in the fixtures and fittings form (TA10). It should explicitly state whether or not the panels were included in the sale.

If the conveyancer was told that the house had panels and they are not mentioned on the TA10, then they have dropped the ball.
If the panels are not mentioned on the TA10, then I don't know what happens about ownership.

Ask your conveyancer:

• Should the panels have been mentioned in the TA10 ?
• Were the panels mentioned in the TA10? And if not why not?
• If they were mentioned, does the TA10 state that they were included or excluded from the sale?
• If they were included, may I please have a letter explicitly stating that fact?

[Dogbash]

Solicitor has replied with the letter they have asked for so I've sent that across. I've asked for a response today but don't hold out much hope for that.

I'll wait for them to reply again and then decide the best course of action from there. I wont give up on this.

Andrew

[pingu393]

Dogbash said:

Solicitor has replied with the letter they have asked for so I've sent that across. I've asked for a response today but don't hold out much hope for that.

I'll wait for them to reply again and then decide the best course of action from there. I wont give up on this.

Andrew

Is it you that is in direct correspondence with EON, or your solicitor?

[Dogbash]

pingu393 said:

Is it you that is in direct correspondence with EON, or your solicitor?

Both now, I've sent them the details and also solicitor has emailed them everything.

Andrew