There are three ways to have an array you did not pay cash for, and they are not variations on a theme. Borrowing leaves you owning the array and owing money. Leasing leaves somebody else owning the array on your roof. Rent a roof leaves somebody else owning both the array and its income. The differences show up when you sell the house or need a new roof.
Solar finance by borrowing: you own the array
A loan, a further advance on a mortgage or an unsecured personal loan leaves the array yours from day one, with the warranties in your name, the export income yours, and the debt separate from the roof. Compare the total cost of credit rather than the monthly payment, and compare a secured advance spread over decades against an unsecured loan over a few years, because the cheap monthly figure is usually the expensive total. Nothing is attached to the property beyond any charge over the house itself.
Lease solar panels, or buy their power: leasing arrangements
Here a company owns the array and you pay to use it or to buy its output, typically over a long term. The attraction is no capital outlay and, usually, maintenance included. The cost is that you do not own the asset, the savings are shared or retained by the owner, and the agreement is tied to the property. Read what happens if you sell, what the buyer has to agree to, what happens if you want to re roof, and whether there is a buy out and how it is calculated.
Rent a roof and the free solar offer
In a rent a roof arrangement the operator installs at no cost, keeps the export income, and gives you the generation you use. There is a place for it, and it is a long lease on part of your building. Historic versions of these agreements caused real problems at sale, because lenders wanted to see the lease and some would not lend against poorly drafted ones. The questions are the term, the operator's access rights, the obligations on you, what happens on re roofing, and whether your lender will accept it. Get the agreement read by a conveyancer before signing, not after.
Tenants, landlords and who benefits
A tenant cannot normally install an array because the roof is not theirs, and a landlord who installs one is buying an EPC improvement and a selling point rather than a bill saving, since the tenant uses the generation. That mismatch is why rented housing has far less solar than owner occupied housing. Where a landlord does install, the practical questions are how the array connects relative to the tenant's supply, who maintains it, and how it is handled at the end of a tenancy.
Leasehold solar panels: when the roof is not the occupier's to fit
This is a different question from leasing the equipment. On a leasehold flat, and on many leasehold houses, the roof is common parts belonging to the freeholder, so the first document to read is the lease: what it says about alterations, whether a licence is needed and who grants it. Expect the freeholder or managing agent to want a specification, proof of the installer's insurance and sometimes a fee, and expect it to take longer than the installation. Where the lease is short, the payback arithmetic has to fit inside the term you actually hold.
Solar panels for business grants: what the schemes actually cover
Support for business installations is a moving picture and rarely a simple cash grant towards panels. It more often takes the form of tax treatment on the capital spend, low interest lending through a national or devolved scheme, or funding tied to a wider efficiency programme that requires an audit first. Because the schemes open, close and change their terms, the only reliable source is the scheme's own current page rather than an installer's summary of it, and a quote built on a grant that has closed is a quote built on nothing. Ask the installer to name the scheme and link to it.
Questions people ask about solar panel finance UK
Is it better to buy outright or finance solar panels?
Outright ownership keeps the asset, the warranties and the export income. Financing keeps those too and adds a cost of credit. Leasing and rent a roof remove the capital cost and the ownership together, which is the trade to weigh.
What is rent a roof solar?
An arrangement where a company installs and owns an array on your roof, keeps the export income, and gives you the generation you use. It is effectively a long lease on part of your building, so the agreement should be read by a conveyancer before signing.
Does a solar lease affect selling the house?
It can. A buyer inherits the agreement and their lender may want to see it. Check the term, the transfer provisions, the buy out and what the agreement says about re roofing before committing.
Can a tenant have solar panels?
Not normally, because the roof belongs to the landlord. Where a landlord installs, the tenant usually benefits from the generation while the landlord carries the cost, which is why rented housing has less solar than owner occupied.
Are free solar panels Wales offers genuine?
Some are a rent a roof arrangement of the kind described above, where the array is free because the company keeps the generation income and you keep only the electricity you use from it. Others are ordinary marketing for a funded scheme with eligibility rules. Neither is a scam and neither is free in the sense most people read it, so ask who owns the panels, who receives any export payment, how long the agreement runs and what happens when you sell.