Quick answer
Find out first whether the panels are owned outright or by a company under a roof lease, which affects the mortgage and the purchase. Ask for the MCS certificate, the electrical certificate, the grid notification and the warranties. Export tariffs do not transfer automatically, so apply for your own after completion. Check the roof and the inverter’s age.
Why this comes up more often
By the end of 2025 the borough had 11,740 solar sites on the government’s count, up from 5,759 six years earlier (DESNZ regional statistics). Most are on homes, so a buyer in Winsford is increasingly likely to view a house with panels already fitted. The growth is set out on solar take-up in the borough. Panels are usually a straightforward part of a sale, but only when two questions have clear answers.
Question one: who owns the panels?
There are two common arrangements, and they are very different for a buyer.
Owned outright
Most systems were bought by the homeowner, with cash or credit. The panels are then part of the house, pass to the buyer at completion and need no separate agreement. If the seller bought them on credit, the solicitor should confirm that any finance secured on or linked to the panels is settled, so the buyer does not inherit an agreement they never signed.
Owned by a company under a roof lease
Some systems, mostly fitted some years ago, were installed by a company that still owns the panels and holds a lease, often a long one, over the roof they sit on. The household used the electricity; the company took the payments for generation. The lease is usually registered against the property and binds a buyer. It may run for decades and set rules on access, repairs, insurance, removal and what happens if the roof needs work. Lenders look closely at these leases, and some will only lend if the terms meet their conditions. If the seller mentions a lease, tell the lender and the solicitor straight away.
Question two: what paperwork is there?
Ask the seller, through the solicitor, for these documents:
- The MCS certificate, showing the system was installed and registered under MCS. It is needed for an export tariff (MCS).
- The electrical installation certificate for the work, showing it was tested and met the wiring standard.
- Building regulations confirmation for the electrical work and, where relevant, the roof.
- The grid notification or approval sent to the network operator under G98 or G99. The ENA postcode search names the operator for the address.
- Warranties covering the equipment and the fitting, each marked to show whether a new owner can rely on it.
- Manuals and login details for the inverter and any monitoring app.
- Any planning decision, Listed Building Consent or prior-approval decision, if the house needed one.
Gaps are not always fatal. A firm that fitted the system can usually supply copies, and MCS keeps records. But missing papers should be raised before exchange, not discovered after.
The export tariff
Payments for exported electricity come from an export tariff under the SEG scheme, which is an agreement between the electricity account holder and a supplier (Ofgem). It does not belong to the house, so it ends when the seller closes their account. After completion the buyer chooses a supplier, applies for an export tariff with the MCS certificate, and makes sure the meter records exports. Take meter readings, including the export reading, on the day of completion.
Older systems may instead be paid under the earlier feed-in scheme, which closed to new applicants in 2019 but continues for installations already in it. Those payments can pass to a new owner, through a transfer process run by the paying supplier. Ask the seller which scheme applies and for the latest statement.
Questions for the seller
Paperwork shows what was fitted; the seller can tell you how it has behaved. Put these questions through the solicitor so the answers are on record. When was the system fitted, and by which firm? Has anything gone wrong with it, and what was repaired or replaced? Have the panels ever been taken off for roof work? Roughly how much does it make in a year, going by the generation meter or the app? Is there a battery, and has it been changed? Which export tariff or older scheme pays for exports, and how are readings sent? Honest, specific answers are reassuring. Vague ones are a reason to ask for the documents before going further.
Looking at the system itself
A buyer cannot test a system in detail, but a few things are easy to check on a viewing or a second visit:
- Its age. The date on the MCS certificate tells you when it was fitted. Inverters usually need replacing before panels do, so ask whether it is the original.
- Whether it is working. Ask to see the inverter display or app showing recent generation, and look for warning lights.
- The roof around it. From the ground, look for slipped tiles, gaps under the panels where birds might nest and cables hanging loose.
- Where the equipment sits. Inverters, isolators and any battery should be in a dry, accessible place. In homes near the River Weaver or the Bottom Flash, which the council’s planning paper links to flood risk, note whether anything sits at floor level.
A building surveyor will normally note the panels and may comment on their condition, though not on their performance. If the survey raises doubts about the roof structure or covering, ask for those to be looked at before exchange.
Planning history
Most panels on unlisted houses needed no planning application, because they fall within permitted development (Part 14 of the order). If the house is listed, check the national list and ask for the planning permission and Listed Building Consent that panels would have needed. In a conservation area, panels on a wall facing the road or on a flat roof may also have needed a decision. Planning rules in Winsford explains what each case requires.
Flats with panels
In a block, panels usually belong to the building owner and serve the communal supply, with any benefit passing through the service charge. A buyer’s solicitor should check what the lease says about the panels, whether their maintenance or replacement can be charged to leaseholders, and how export income is accounted for. Panels serving a single flat are less common and need particular care over consent and the lease. Flats and solar covers the arrangements.
Buying a home that is let
A buyer taking on a house with a tenant in place should ask how the panels were agreed with the tenant, whose name the export tariff is in and whether the tenancy says anything about access for maintenance. The written agreement described on private renters and landlords is what to look for. If there is none, plan to put one in place.
After completion
- Register for an export tariff, or complete the transfer for an older scheme.
- Tell the home insurer that the house has panels, and any battery.
- Register any transferable warranties in your name.
- Change the logins for the inverter and monitoring app.
- File every certificate together for the next sale.
For how much a roof like the one you are buying should make, see what panels make in Winsford. Questions about a particular property can go through the question form; the FAQs gather the short answers.