Selling a Northampton home with solar panels: a paperwork checklist

Check the EPC before marketing

A home marketed for sale in England normally needs a valid Energy Performance Certificate available to potential buyers. An EPC lasts for ten years, so start by checking the official register rather than assuming a new assessment is required.

If solar panels were fitted after the current EPC was produced, the certificate may still be legally valid but will not describe the home exactly as it is now. Energy Saving Trust says an owner may wish to arrange a follow-up EPC after renewable technology is installed. An updated assessment can give buyers current information, but it should not be treated as a promise of a particular rating or saving.

Establish who owns the system

Confirm whether the panels are owned outright, included in the property sale or subject to a lease or other agreement. Energy Saving Trust recommends checking that the system appears in the sale agreement, often through the fixtures and fittings paperwork, and using a solicitor to understand any ownership or transfer documents.

Include associated equipment in the discussion. A battery, inverter, monitoring device and electric-vehicle charger may have separate warranties, accounts or finance arrangements. Do not assume that every item automatically transfers in the same way as the panels.

Build one clear document pack

Collect the records before the property goes on the market. Missing paperwork does not necessarily mean a sale cannot proceed, but locating it early gives the solicitor and buyer time to understand the installation rather than discovering gaps close to exchange.

Energy Saving Trust says an MCS installer should register the system and provide an MCS installation certificate. Government guidance also identifies the Building Regulations Completion Certificate for notifiable work as a document that should be provided when the property is sold.

• MCS installation certificate and installer commissioning certificate.
• Original quotation, paid invoice and system specification.
• Panel, inverter and battery warranties, manuals and monitoring details.
• Building Regulations and network-operator records supplied for the installation.
• Export tariff or Feed-in Tariff correspondence and recent meter information.

Deal with export payments separately

The Smart Export Guarantee allows eligible small-scale generators to receive payment for electricity exported to the grid. A sale does not automatically move the seller’s supplier account or payment arrangement to the buyer. Contact the export supplier early and ask what it needs for closing readings, change of ownership and a new application.

Older systems may still receive Feed-in Tariff payments even though that scheme closed to new applicants in 2019. Ofgem says the same exported electricity cannot receive both SEG payments and FIT export payments, so identify which arrangement applies before advising the buyer. Keep the generation-meter and export-meter details with the rest of the property papers.

Help the assessor record the installation accurately

Tell the energy assessor that solar PV and any battery storage are installed, and make the certificate and technical information available. Evidence showing the installed capacity and commissioning details can be more useful than asking the assessor to infer everything from the roof.

For a straightforward sale, the practical aim is consistency: the EPC, fixtures list, solicitor’s enquiries and export paperwork should all describe the same system. Sorting that out before viewings can make the renewable installation easier for a buyer to understand.