DRAFT: What To Do When Buying or Selling a Solar Home in Missouri or Illinois

Here are steps to make your home ready for the marketplace and transfer of ownership:

• Share your low electricity bills with potential buyers. The electric bill proves that solar locks in low energy costs for your home. The bill can also explain net metering and how you can save even more money by exporting energy to the grid.
  
• Pull out your contract to explain the different components of the solar PV system (modules, racking, inverters) and their warranties. 
  
• If you received or are eligible for Illinois Solar Renewable Energy Credit (SRECs) payments, you will need to transfer the SREC contract from your name to the new owner, before the home is sold. Please contact your Illinois Shines program Approved Vendor (StraightUp Solar REC Solutions or Carbon Solutions Group) to learn more and to confirm your eligibility.
• If your system was installed by StraightUp Solar, please contact us to let us know that your home is on the real estate market. Advanced notice will help us prepare all the materials for the new homeowner.

   

  Once you sell your home, StraightUp Solar will mail an introductory letter to the new homeowner to begin the warranty transfer process and share system details. Please note the warranty transfer does not occur until after the sale is complete, and we require confirmation of your home sale. Proof of confirmation can include a copy of the electric bill, phone bill, or similar utility information.

StraightUp Solar offers a Lightreach Power Purchase Agreement. These 25-year PPAs with performance and service warranties are easily transferred to the new owner, but require communication with the system owner, Palmetto Solar. Note: If you’ve already taken the option to purchase the system after year 5 of your contract, please see “Selling A Home With Solar That I Own” section.

Palmetto Solar requires the seller to provide written notice of the home’s transfer at least 15 days prior to the closing date. Palmetto recommends notification as soon as the home goes under contract. This allows their transfer department enough time to review the buyer’s credit check, draft the contract assignment and coordinate with the closing company. 

The seller, the approved buyer, and Palmetto will sign a clear written transfer agreement that releases the seller from all future obligations. During the title search, the escrow officer or closing attorney will see a UCC-1 fixture filing and reach out to Palmetto for the assignment documentation. Note the fixture filing is not a lien, only a claim to the solar equipment not the real estate property.

You have two options to prepare your system for transfer to the new homeowner:

• • Seamless PPA Transfer: The home buyer simply takes over the contract and the predictable monthly payments. The new homeowner will receive the same energy rate as the original lease. The buyer only needs to pass LightReach’s credit underwriting check and sign a standard transfer agreement. In most cases, if the buyer passed the mortgage credit check, they will clear the LightReach credit check.
  • Prepayment & Transfer of System Use: If a buyer doesn’t qualify for the credit check or prefers not to take over the monthly payments, the seller can choose to prepay the remaining balance of the PPA term (at a 5% prepayment discount). The seller can factor that value into the home’s listing price, allowing the new buyer to enjoy the full use of the solar energy completely free of any monthly PPA payments.

Congratulations! You made the right decision for your family and the planet. Here are the steps to take full ownership of your solar PV system:

• If the system was installed by StraightUp Solar, please contact us to welcome you to clean energy production!  We have a comprehensive Service Department on-call to address your questions. After the home purchase is complete, we can help you transfer our workmanship and performance warranties and the system’s manufacturer warranties. We can also explain how to notify your utility service and transfer the net metering agreement, as well as explain the Illinois Shines Renewable Energy Credits and your responsibilities as a new solar homeowner. We will also provide you with helpful resources about the solar PV system including:
  • how to read your utility bill with solar
  • basic troubleshooting steps
  • how to contact StraightUp Solar or the system manufacturer’s support
  • setting up your system’s monitoring portal
  • sharing the system’s equipment details 
• Contact your utility and tell them your new house has a solar PV system. Ask to transfer the Net Metering Agreement to your account. For most utilities, you should not have to complete a new Net Metering Agreement or application. The utility will transfer the existing agreement to the new owner’s name. Please let us know if the utility requires additional forms or documentation. 
• Contact the Illinois Shines program Approved Vendor to transfer the Solar Renewable Energy Credit (SREC) contract to you. If your system was built by StraightUp Solar, we can connect you to StraightUp Solar REC Solutions or Carbon Solutions Group, our Approved Vendors for many projects. The Approved Vendor may need access to the energy monitoring device of your solar PV system.
• Check the communication signals from the system. It is very common for a system to go offline after a change in internet providers or setup. New owners often don’t notice until they are setting up their solar PV system monitoring portal. If your system is offline, it is most likely still producing power; however, it’s not transmitting live data to the portal. As soon as we confirm your warranty transfer, we’ll be happy to walk you through reconnecting it. We can address many issues remotely (see our Troubleshooting page), but if necessary, we can make a site visit to establish a baseline for the system at the time of transfer.

Still have questions? Contact our Service Department  or call us at 314-218-2663 x 703  or send us a note at service@straightupsolar.com.

If the home you’re purchasing includes a StraightUp Solar system under a Lightreach Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), you can easily take over this 25-year contract—complete with its performance and service warranties. However, transferring the lease requires coordination with the system owner, Palmetto Solar. Note: If the seller already exercised their option to purchase the system after Year 5 of their contract, refer to the “Buying a Home with Solar That’s Owned” section instead.

To ensure a smooth transition, Palmetto Solar needs to be notified of the property transfer at least 15 days before your closing date (though they recommend getting in touch as soon as the purchase agreement is signed). This gives Palmetto’s transfer department time to process your credit check, draft the assignment contract, and coordinate with your title or escrow company.

As the buyer, you will sign a clear transfer agreement alongside the seller and Palmetto. During the title search, your closing attorney or escrow officer will see a UCC-1 fixture filing. Don’t be alarmed—this is not a lien against the real estate itself, but a legal notice establishing ownership of the solar equipment on the property.

Depending on your agreement with the seller, the solar transfer will happen in one of two ways:

• Seamless PPA Transfer: You assume the existing contract and take over the predictable monthly payments at the original lease rate. To qualify, you simply need to pass LightReach’s credit underwriting check and sign the standard transfer agreement. If you’ve already cleared the credit check for your mortgage, you will almost certainly pass LightReach’s check as well.

• Prepayment & Transfer of System Use: If you prefer not to take on monthly payments—or do not meet the credit requirements—the seller can prepay the remaining balance of the PPA term (which includes a 5% prepayment discount). The seller may roll this value into the home’s purchase price, giving you the full benefits of the solar power with zero ongoing monthly PPA bills.