Rent-a-Roof Buyout: What It Actually Costs to Own Your Panels Outright
Rent-a-roof buyout cost in 2026: what it takes to own your panels outright
Updated 28 September 2026 · Figures checked against Ofgem, GOV.UK and published market data
A rent-a-roof buyout in 2026 usually quotes £1,000 to £8,000 on later or low-tariff systems, and £8,000 to £20,000 or more on early 2010–2012 systems, because you inherit the remaining index-linked FIT income. A few leases set a nominal price. Divide the quote by your yearly FIT income: if the payback sits well inside the years left, the buyout is worth pricing seriously. Get the lease, the workings behind the quote and the FIT transfer sorted before you pay anything.
I’ve been talking to homeowners about leased solar for over a decade, and the emails used to ask whether “free panels” were a con. Now they ask something different: the company says I can buy the panels for £18,000, is that fair, or should I tell them where to go? Fair question. A rent-a-roof buyout is sometimes the best deal you’ll ever do with your roof. Sometimes it’s a fresh bill for a contract you never wanted. Here’s how to tell which one you’re looking at.
What rent-a-roof signed away
Quick recap, because the paperwork matters more than the marketing did. Under a rent-a-roof (or “free solar”) deal, a funder, usually an installer’s finance arm or an investment fund, paid for and owned the panels on your roof. You got free daytime electricity. The funder kept everything else: the Feed-in Tariff income, the export payments and a roof lease of 20 to 25 years, typically registered against your property title. Most deals were signed between 2010 and 2012, when the FIT for small systems was at its peak, though some ran later.
The lease is the bit people forget until they try to sell or fix the roof. In the contract Which? reviewed, the householder needed the funder’s consent to sell or to alter the building near the array, and had to compensate the funder for missed FIT income if the panels came off for roof work. Not every lease reads like that, and some have no buyout clause at all, so read yours before you read anyone’s quote. Our piece on the ‘free’ solar panels that could stop you selling your house goes through the lease mechanics in full.
Why buyout offers are arriving now
Three things have lined up in 2026. First, many of the original portfolios have changed hands. Funders exit, operators consolidate, and ownership can move when a company fails. The new owner often prefers a clean sale to administering thousands of ageing leases. Ofgem also warns that a change of owner may never be passed on to the homeowner, so the company writing to you may not be the one you signed with.
Second, the FIT itself changed. From 1 April 2026 the yearly uplift moved from RPI to CPI, and Ofgem applied 3.4% for 2026/27. Payments still rise every year, only more slowly, and the freeze floated in the consultation was dropped. That shifts how both sides value what’s left. Our guides on what the RPI-to-CPI switch costs you and why the government revisited the 25-year tariff cover the backstory.
Third, the housing market keeps forcing the issue. A leased array on the title still makes some buyers’ solicitors and lenders nervous, so homeowners planning a sale increasingly ask for a buyout quote instead of waiting for the lease to expire. Our guide to selling a house with solar panels covers the conveyancing side.
What a rent-a-roof buyout costs in 2026: three bands
There’s no national price list, and anyone quoting you one is guessing. Quotes reported by homeowners run from a few hundred pounds to around £20,000, and they cluster into three bands. Knowing which band you’re in tells you whether the number on the letter is sane.
| Band | Typical quote | When you’ll see it | How to read it |
|---|---|---|---|
| A: nominal or admin fee | £0 to £1,000 | Leases with a nominal buyout clause, funders winding down a portfolio, or systems close to the end of their term | Rare, but worth checking your lease for. If you’re offered it, take it with a solicitor checking the transfer papers |
| B: residual value | £1,000 to £8,000 | Later systems on low tariffs, or older leases late in their term, where little FIT value remains | Fair if it tracks the second-hand value of the kit plus legal costs |
| C: FIT-priced | £8,000 to £20,000+ | 2010–2012 systems on the original 41.3p to 43.3p tariffs, with eight or more years of index-linked FIT left | Only sensible if the remaining FIT comfortably beats the price. Run the test further down |
The top end shocks people until they see what’s being sold. It isn’t fifteen-year-old panels. It’s a stream of index-linked payments worth about £2,700 a year, with years still to run. Priced as an income stream, Band C looks less like extortion and more like an annuity, which is why you should value it yourself before accepting anyone’s number.
How operators set the price (and how to check it)
Strip away the letterhead and a buyout price is three things added together.
| Component | What it covers | What to ask for |
|---|---|---|
| Remaining FIT stream | Years left × expected generation × the current index-linked rate, usually discounted because money now is worth more than money later | Their years-left, generation and discount-rate assumptions, in writing |
| Leftover equipment value | Modest. A 2011 array still generates well, since quality panels lose only around 0.3–0.5% of output a year, but it’s out of warranty and the inverter is on borrowed time | The inverter’s age and any repair or maintenance history |
| Admin, legal and VAT | Transfer paperwork, discharging the lease, their solicitors, and VAT if it’s charged | An itemised total, and whether VAT is inside the quote |
So the first question to put to any operator is simple: show me your calculation. The second is what the lease itself says. Some leases fix the buyout price by a formula that falls with each year of the lease, and some ask for written notice of a few months before you can exercise it. If yours has a formula, the sales team’s number should match it.
Here’s the maths behind a fair price. £2,700 a year for nine years is £24,300 on paper. Discount that at 5% a year and it’s worth about £19,000 today. A quote near £19,000 on that system isn’t outrageous. A quote of £24,000 asks you to pay full face value for income you’ll collect over nine years.
Operators discount the remaining FIT for uncertainty, and they have a point about policy: indexation was just changed, and a freeze was on the table before the government settled on CPI. Your counter is that the tariff is still set in regulation, still rises every year, and the freeze was dropped. The bigger risk is often your own timeline. If you’re staying put for the full term, push on the discount rate. If you might sell in three years, price it accordingly.
The FIT income you inherit
This is the heart of the decision, so let’s run a real example. Take a 4 kW system accredited between April 2010 and March 2011. Its generation rate was 74.37p/kWh in 2025/26, and the 3.4% CPI uplift takes that to about 76.9p from April 2026. On around 3,400 kWh a year, that’s about £2,615 of generation income. Add deemed export, which is 50% of your generation paid at 5.43p for early systems, and you get roughly £90 more. Call it £2,700 a year, rising with CPI each April. You can check your own rate on Ofgem’s tariff page.
Early systems got a 25-year FIT term, so this one pays out until somewhere between April 2035 and March 2036. From now, that’s eight and a half to nine and a half years: between about £23,000 and £25,600 before any further CPI increases. (Systems accredited from August 2012 generally got 20 years, so check your accreditation date.) After the FIT ends you still own panels that keep cutting your bill, and the export earns SEG money, roughly 12p to 15p a kWh on open fixed tariffs and up to 16.5p on the best import-tied fixed rate. The FIT income is tax-free for a homeowner with an array on their own home, though it’s worth confirming your position with HMRC. Our SEG rates guide has the current table.
Yearly value to the household at 2026/27 rates. Buyout while the FIT runs: about £2,615 generation income, £92 deemed export and £358 of self-consumed power at Ofgem’s October to December 2026 cap rate of 26.32p/kWh, which carries no VAT on electricity until 31 March 2027. After the FIT, and for a new system: the same self-consumption plus export at a 13p SEG tariff. Assumes 3,400 kWh a year and 40% self-consumption without a battery.
Divide the quote by your yearly FIT income. That’s the payback in years. Compare it with the years of FIT left, and leave a margin for the solicitor’s bill and an inverter swap. Count only the FIT and export income as your gain, because you already get the daytime power under the lease.
On the example system, a £20,500 quote pays back in 7.6 years against about 8.5 left. That’s a gain of roughly £2,450 before CPI increases, which is thin once you allow for costs. At £15,000 the payback drops to 5.6 years and the gain rises to about £8,000.
Now flip the example. Systems accredited on the 21p tariff from March 2012 carry roughly half the FIT value of the early cohort, so the quote should be about half. Systems accredited from 2016 sit on rates of a few pence, so there’s almost no FIT stream left to inherit. Their quote belongs in Band B, priced near the kit’s leftover value. If it isn’t, walk away and compare it with a fresh install.
After the transfer you can keep the FIT generation payment and move only the export to a Smart Export Guarantee tariff. You need a smart or export meter, and you must opt out of FIT export, which you can’t reverse for 12 months. On the example system, metered export of about 2,040 kWh at 12p is worth roughly £245 a year, against about £92 of deemed export. SEG usually wins unless you use more than about three-quarters of what you generate, and a battery can tip it back the other way. Rates run from 3p to 32p, so use our SEG rate comparison before you pick.
Buyout vs a brand-new system: the honest comparison
People assume starting over is cleaner. Sometimes it is. Usually it isn’t, for one reason: the FIT closed to new applicants in 2019, so a new system can never earn what your old one still can. There’s a second catch. Some leases only allow removal once you’ve paid the buyout price, so you could end up paying for the old panels before you scrap them.
| Factor | Buy out the existing array | Remove and install new |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | The quote (£1,000 to £20,000+), plus a solicitor’s fee | £6,000 to £8,000 is typical for 4 kW (£5,500 to £9,000 at the extremes), plus removal of the old kit at roughly £500 to £1,500 |
| Income stream | Remaining index-linked FIT, then SEG | SEG and self-consumption only |
| VAT | The 0% relief is for installing new equipment, so don’t assume it covers a buyout. Ask whether the quote includes VAT | 0% on kit and labour until 31 March 2027, then 5% |
| Equipment age | 15 to 16 years old, with the inverter likely due a swap | New, with long panel warranties |
| Roof and title | Lease discharged, saleability restored | Clean title, but new scaffolding and roof fixings |
| FIT accreditation | Stays with the installation | Gone for good. Report any equipment change to your FIT licensee before you touch anything |
| Best when | Early-cohort tariff and you’re staying several years | The array is worn out, little FIT is left, or the buyout quote is silly |
The middle path worth pricing: buy out, keep the panels, and plan an inverter replacement and a battery retrofit when the numbers line up. A 5 kWh retrofit now installs for £3,500 to £4,500 including 0% VAT, and lifts self-consumption from around 40% to roughly 78%. Speak to your FIT licensee before anyone swaps the inverter. Our guide to adding a battery to existing solar panels has the current price table, and our 2026 cost guide covers what a whole new system should quote at.
The transfer process, step by step
- Dig out the lease and contract. Look for a buyout, transfer or termination clause before you talk to anyone. Its wording sets your floor, including any formula, notice period and rule about removal. If you’ve lost your copy, HM Land Registry can supply a registered lease.
- Get the quote in writing with its workings. Years remaining, generation assumption, rate, discount and VAT. No calculation, no negotiation.
- Run the two-minute test. Quote divided by yearly FIT income, compared with the years left.
- Instruct a solicitor. The lease sits on your title, so discharging it cleanly is conveyancing work, not a handshake. Ask for a fixed fee up front.
- Transfer the FIT. The tariff follows the installation. You complete your FIT licensee’s change-of-ownership form with proof of ownership, and the licensee updates the central register. For a domestic system you don’t need to notify Ofgem separately, though its FIT generators page covers ownership queries and disputes. Take a generation meter reading on completion day and keep the old owner’s final statement.
- Collect the paper trail. MCS certificate, commissioning documents, warranty paperwork and maintenance history. These matter at resale.
- Update your insurance. Owned panels belong on your buildings policy, while leased panels often sat on the funder’s. Tell your insurer the day the transfer completes.
- Decide how to be paid for export. Keep the deemed 50%, or opt out and move to a SEG tariff. Either way, you’ll need a smart meter or export meter with half-hourly readings to join SEG once the FIT ends, so start that a couple of months early.
When not to buy
- The lease is nearly over anyway. With five years or less left on a low tariff, you’d pay for an income stream that’s almost spent. At the end of the term the usual options are to buy the panels, often for a small sum, have them removed, or renew, so wait it out.
- The array is at the end of its life. If the inverter has already failed once and output is visibly down, you’d be buying someone else’s replacement bill. Price removal plus a new system instead. Our removal cost guide and panel lifespan guide will tell you where you stand.
- The operator won’t transfer the FIT. A buyout without the accreditation is just second-hand hardware. Price it as hardware or decline.
- You’re selling within months. Don’t rush into a buyout mid-sale unless your buyer’s solicitor wants it. A buyer can take on the lease, you can clear it before exchange, or you can agree a price reduction equal to the buyout cost. Read the selling guide first.
- The quote approaches new-system money with no early-cohort FIT behind it. That’s Band C pricing on Band B assets. Counter with the leftover-value maths or walk.
If you signed in 2010–2012 and you plan to stay in the house for another five years or more, a buyout priced comfortably under the remaining FIT stream is one of the few genuinely good deals left in UK domestic solar. You’re buying tax-free, index-linked income at a discount to its face value, on kit that’s already installed and working. The households that lose money on buyouts are the ones who never asked for the calculation. Ask for it.
FAQs
How much does it cost to buy out rent-a-roof solar panels?
It depends on your lease, the FIT tariff the system is on and the years left. Later or low-tariff systems tend to quote £1,000 to £8,000. Early 2010–2012 systems with eight or more years of FIT left can quote £8,000 to £20,000 or more, because you inherit the income. A few leases fix the price by formula, so start with your contract, ask for the workings behind any quote and check whether VAT is included.
Can I force my rent-a-roof company to sell me the panels?
No. There’s no general legal right to buy out a rent-a-roof contract, so it depends on your lease. Some include a buyout or transfer clause and some don’t. Operators will often negotiate anyway, because a settled homeowner is cheaper than a disputed lease. If yours refuses, you can wait out the term, ask for a variation or early surrender, or factor the lease into how you sell the house. Get a solicitor to read the lease first.
Who gets the FIT payments after I buy out the panels?
You do, once your FIT licensee has recorded you as the new owner. The tariff follows the installation, so the rate, the yearly CPI increase since April 2026 and the end date all carry over. You complete the licensee’s change-of-ownership form with proof of ownership, and Ofgem only steps in if ownership is disputed. Take a generation meter reading on completion day and keep the old owner’s final statement in case any payments need chasing.
Prices, tariff rates and scheme rules on this page were checked against Ofgem, GOV.UK and published market data in September 2026, but rent-a-roof contracts are individually negotiated and figures vary by lease. Confirm your own contract terms and take independent legal advice before signing a buyout or transfer.
