Yes, you are allowed to take solar panels with you when moving house. But it’s not worth it.
That is: it’s not worth it in the vast majority of cases. I’ve run through some of the calculations below.
But first, let me explain why.
Why should you not take solar panels when moving house?
It seems cruel, doesn’t it? Solar panels cost £8k on average, but no-one really takes them when they move. It’s like leaving a car parked in the driveway.
The primary reason is the cost of labour.
25-50% of that £8k are labour costs. So if you’re taking your panels with you, you might save on the cost of the hardware, but you’d pay double the cost of the labour.
Scaffolding in particular is an expensive fixed cost, and it would have to go up on two houses. And then of course there’s the fact that many contractors simply won’t be interested – it’s a complicated job, requires transportation, possibly storage – and you could easily expect to pay a premium.
Then there’s the fact that solar panels add value to a property. If you leave them on your roof you can get some or all of that £8k back with a higher valuation.
Of course, in reality this is an inexact science. If you have a unique home, it’s a hard one to quantify. But if you’re on an estate and a similar house has just sold, you’d be entirely justified to list at that price plus the cost of solar.
All this gives the following calculation:
| Calculations for moving with solar panels in the UK | ||
| Move with panels | Buy new panels | |
| Cost of panels | £0k | £4k to £6k |
| Cost of Labour | £4k to £8k | £2k to £4k |
| Value added to sold home | £0k | £0 to £8k |
| Net cost | £4k to £8k (£6k average) | -£2k to £10k (£4k average) |
In other words, you’re very unlikely to be quids in when moving solar panels. And there’s another good reason why you might actually make a loss.
Removing solar panels can damage or deface your roof
Removing solar panels can leave damage and can put off buyers.
- The tiles beneath the panels will have discoloured less than those around them. Your roof will look patchy.
- There will be holes drilled in the roof for the solar anchors, which need to be filled.
- Some of the roof tiles will have channels ground into them to allow space for the anchors. These are less prominent, but visible, and leave a gap.
All this damage can be fixed (at a cost) and most of the effect is superficial. However, roof issues are kryptonite for a potential buyer. Let’s be honest: would you buy a house if the roof looked like it had been tampered with? You’d certainly think twice.
When should you take solar panels when moving house?
Obvious answer: if you have a very large number of panels, it may be worth taking them with you. In most solar installations, the labour cost is 25-50% of the total cost. If that goes down, it becomes more viable.
The average solar panel system in the UK is 5kw, or11 panels. If your system is 10kw (22 panels) or above, you may want to look into moving them – but the only way to be sure of the maths at that level is to get a few quotes.
Can you DIY it and install solar panels yourself?
You can. But you might regret it as you won’t be able to claim SEG payments from the government.
All of the figures above rely on the fact that labour is expensive. So the logical step might be to do the work yourself. Obviously you’ll still need scaffolding, but you won’t be paying day rates to a team of workers.
So you could move them yourself from one house to another. You can even buy a brand new 5kw system for £4,065.
Unfortunately, there’s a catch. In order to claim SEG payments from the government, your system needs to be installed by an MCS-approved installer. This is well-intentioned, and protects us (largely) from cowboy builders. But it does sort of kill off the DIY solar industry, which is actually quite common in other countries like the US and Spain.
Of course, you might not care about SEG payments. But they are worth £200-£400 per year, so it’s not a guarantee that DIY installs will save you money in the long run.
Is it worth buying panels if you’re going to move soon?
This all comes down to house value.
Solar panels have a break even point of around 15 years (more in the North, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland). So you’re not going to make your money back through energy savings if you’re thinking of moving in the next 5 years.
However, solar panels do add value to your property, and this is where a bit of research comes in handy. Check if any houses nearby have sold with solar panels, and how the house price compares to sales with no solar panels. I recommend using Zoopla or Rightmove’s tools, or you can use the land registry (although this is painfully slow to update).
If you live in a big, detached, or unique house, it’s much harder to say. But then again, well done for living in a big, detached or unique house.
