California leads the U.S. in solar power, and with over 110,000 solar permits processed, San Diego is one of the most solar-saturated counties in the state. Solar is everywhere, so let’s discuss the process of buying or selling a home with solar.
A Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) is the seller’s original solar lease agreement. This is required to be transferred to the buyer during escrow. Solar can be transferred in one of three ways:
- A solar lease transfer
- A solar transfer and a payoff of the lease
- Or a full system buyout.
The most common of these is a solar lease transfer. With companies like Tesla or Sunrun, it can be a fairly easy process. Their online portal allows escrow to initiate the transfer by providing the property address, seller contact info, and buyer contact info. Once the information is provided, the system will generate the transfer documents and email them to both the buyer and the seller for initialing.
In addition to the transfer agreement, there are releases that must be provided by the solar company in order for escrow to close with clear title. The escrow and solar companies will work together to obtain these items. Keep in mind that these documents can only be provided after the buyer and seller have signed the transfer agreement. A typical solar transfer will take a minimum of seven business days.
Unfortunately, there are solar companies that do not have a streamlined process. We have personally dealt with a company that took over a month to send out the transfer agreement and another two weeks to send the releases. Yikes!
It really does help to investigate the solar company before going under contract. A little research and preparation goes a long way. Reach out to us for general guidelines and additional information about solar transfers. Affinity Escrow hopes to make the solar process smoother for both you and your clients.
Call us at 619-260-1200, explore our website, or email Jamie at jamie@affinityescrowservices.com.
