Tesla/SolarCity Lease Transfers
When it comes to selling a solar home in Phoenix that has a Tesla / SolarCity lease, the process to transfer the solar lease couldn’t be simpler. While there are a few qualifying steps that a home buyer will need to follow, the solar lease transfer process with Tesla / SolarCity can be transferred to the new home buyer without any additional out of pocket expenses or changes to the terms and conditions of the solar lease.
Most of these steps involved in the solar lease transfer can be found in greater detail by downloading: Guide to Solar Lease Transfers, a free downloadable ebook.
To initiate the transfer of your Tesla / SolarCity solar lease, your listing agent, the real estate agent that represents the seller in the home selling process, should be the key person representing you in the transfer process. Before putting the home on the market for sale, the listing agent should contact the solar lease transfer department to notify them of the potential sale. Tesla / SolarCity will assign a transfer specialist to the sale that becomes a single point of contact for all of the parties involved in the sale. The Tesla / SolarCity lease transfer specialist will send the listing agent a copy of the solar lease to use as a part of the solar disclosure as well as additional marketing and informational brochures that the listing agent can use when marketing your home for sale.
Once a buyer is found and a purchase contract for the sale of the home is negotiated between you and the buyer (including an addendum in the contract disclosing the solar lease and requiring the buyer to assume the solar lease), the buyer should contact the solar lease specialist from Tesla / SolarCity to initiate the qualifying process with Tesla / SolarCity. Typically the buyer fills out a credit application and Tesla / SolarCity runs a credit check.
Tesla / SolarCity requires the buyer to have a minimum credit score of 650 and charges $150 for the solar lease transfer. If the home buyer’s credit score is too low, there are alternative options available to the buyer to qualify. While most home buyers finance the purchase of their solar home in the Phoenix area (approximately 85% of the time), there is a segment of Phoenix that pays cash for their home. Cash home buyers in the Phoenix area do not have a minimum credit score requirement. However in those cases where a Phoenix home buyer is not paying cash for the home, Tesla / SolarCity will allow the seller and/or the buyer to pay a credit waiver fee of $250 to waive the minimum credit score requirement.
Tesla / SolarCity requires a minimum of 15 days from the time the solar lease transfer is initiated with the buyer to complete the solar lease transfer paperwork.
Typically the buyer and the seller will sign the solar lease transfer documents as a part of the closing documents they sign at the title company. The listing agent should follow up with both the title company and Tesla / SolarCity after the closing of the sale of the solar home to verify that the solar lease transferred from the seller to the buyer.
It is important to have your buyer talk with the Tesla / SolarCity lease transfer department as soon as the contract is accepted. One aspect of a Tesla / SolarCity lease is the UCC-1 filing against your home. The UCC-1 filing is a document recorded with the Maricopa County Recorder’s office that states that there is a solar system on the roof of your home and SolarCity has an ownership interest in the solar system. While it is not a lien, it will come up during the closing process and the buyer’s mortgage lender may require it to be removed prior to closing. This could take 7 to 10 days to complete, not factoring a few additional days for the buyer’s lender to verify its removal before issuing a loan approval. Your listing agent should be on top of this so that it does not delay closing.
Do you have a Phoenix area home that has a Tesla / SolarCity solar lease on the roof and you have questions about selling? Call Rob Madden, the Solar Home Broker, at (480) 888-1234.