Mo Mufti, REALTOR® LPT Realty, LLC FL Lic. SL3600299
FLORIDA SOLAR HOME SALES · OWNED, FINANCED OR LEASED
Solar adds paperwork to a sale, not a different kind of sale. Three things decide how smoothly it goes: who owns the panels, whether anything is recorded against them, and what the electric company needs from the buyer. Settle all three before you list.
The short version: Owned, paid-off panels normally go with the house as fixtures; you hand over the paperwork. With a solar loan still open, the CFPB describes two usual paths: pay it off before the sale, or the buyer assumes it if the lender allows. A UCC fixture filing is recorded in the county’s real property records, but title searches don’t always catch solar liens, so ask your title agent to check for one. Leased panels move to the buyer only on the solar company’s terms, which can include credit requirements and fees; otherwise you end or buy out the lease. The buyer also puts the utility interconnection in their own name. And under s. 193.624, Florida Statutes, the value a solar system installed on or after January 1, 2013 adds to a residential property isn’t counted in its assessed value.
The 2026 Florida Realtors/Florida Bar AS IS contract sells the property “together with all existing improvements and fixtures” unless they are excluded in Paragraph 1(e) or by other terms of the contract. Florida Realtors’ associate general counsel wrote in August 2026 that solar panels are almost always fixtures, so decide before going under contract whether they convey, and don’t assume a lender or leasing company will allow a transfer in your sale.
| How the panels are held | Before closing | What a buyer’s Fannie Mae lender reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Owned and paid off | Nothing to clear. The panels convey unless the contract excludes them. | Standard appraisal, insurance and title requirements. |
| Owned, solar loan open | Pay it off, or the buyer assumes it if the lender permits. Check for a fixture filing. | If assumed: the note, security agreement and filing. The debt counts in the buyer’s debt-to-income ratio, and a filing ahead of the mortgage must be subordinated. |
| PACE (repaid on the tax bill) | While a balance is unpaid, give the buyer Florida’s “Qualifying Improvements” disclosure at or before the contract. | Not eligible unless the PACE balance is paid in full before or at closing. |
| Leased or power purchase agreement | Transfer on the solar company’s terms, or end or buy it out. | A copy of the agreement. No appraised value for the panels; the agreement must cover damage to the home and the lender’s options after foreclosure. |
The lender column is Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide section B2-3-04, dated October 8, 2025. For any other loan type, ask the buyer’s loan officer.
The CFPB’s 2024 solar financing report says some solar loans are secured by a lien on the panels and others are unsecured. A secured lender can record its claim against the house with a fixture filing: a Uniform Commercial Code financing statement for goods that are, or will become, fixtures. In Florida it goes to the clerk of the circuit court, not the Florida Secured Transaction Registry (s. 679.5011), and it must describe the real property (s. 679.5021). It generally has priority, as to the panels, over a mortgage or owner whose interest arises later (s. 679.334). That puts it in the county records, and Fannie Mae requires one that ranks ahead of the new mortgage to be subordinated. Still, a 2022 Florida Realtor magazine article noted that many title companies don’t search for residential solar UCC-1 liens and that they are regularly missed, so ask your title agent to look specifically.
Paying the loan isn’t the last step. Where the panels are consumer goods, s. 679.513 requires the lender to file a termination statement within one month after nothing is owed, or within 20 days of your signed demand if sooner. Ask for it with the payoff letter and give both to your title agent.
With a lease or power purchase agreement, you host a system a solar company owns, as the U.S. Department of Energy puts it. For investor-owned utilities such as Duke Energy Florida, the PSC’s net metering rule says leasing a system from a third party doesn’t by itself stop it from counting as customer-owned renewable generation, as long as the terms don’t include buying electricity from that company at retail. Co-ops such as SECO set their own rules. An agreement where you buy the system’s output from the company per kWh may fall outside that definition, so have your attorney review a PPA before listing. The contract’s transfer section decides what happens when you sell.
Use the FTC’s questions: Can you transfer the contract to the buyer? Must you give the company written notice first? Will the buyer have to meet credit requirements or pay fees? Florida Realtors adds that leases may not offer an easy or affordable early exit, and suggests an attorney-drafted clause on tasks, deadlines, and what happens if the transfer is delayed or denied. Under Fannie Mae’s guide, the lease payment counts in the buyer’s debt-to-income ratio unless the lease provides a fixed amount of energy for a fixed payment with a prorated production guarantee.
Your solar agreement with the electric company is in your name, so the buyer has to set up their own.
The Florida Public Service Commission regulates investor-owned electric companies, Duke Energy Florida among them, and its Rule 25-6.065 sets their interconnection and net metering terms. Duke’s transfer page says a new owner of a home with existing panels registers by completing a Transfer of Ownership Interconnection agreement, through its PowerClerk portal since February 2, 2026. Documents and fees may be required.
Cooperatives and city-owned utilities set their own programs under s. 366.91(6). SECO Energy’s interconnection agreement names the member and location, and its tariff credits excess energy at its base cost of power plus the monthly wholesale power cost adjustment, and only to the meter the system sits behind. Ask SECO what the buyer must sign.
Under the PSC rule, an investor-owned utility pays a departing customer for unused credits at a rate based on its as-available energy tariff.
The rule also requires approval by local code officials before a system runs connected to the grid, and SECO asks for the approved electric permit. Find the permit and final inspection before you list.
A solar loan or PACE balance paid at closing comes out of your proceeds; put it on the seller net sheet.
Article VII, section 4(i) of the Florida Constitution lets the Legislature bar counting a solar or renewable energy source device when real property is assessed. Section 193.624 does that: for residential property, the just value attributable to such a device, including photovoltaic modules and inverters installed on or after January 1, 2013, may not be considered. The test is residential use, not homestead status. Section 196.182 is a separate 80 percent exemption for devices treated as tangible personal property; for panels a homeowner owns, s. 193.624 is the rule to know.
Ask the county property appraiser how the system appears on the parcel, and use the property-tax estimator for the buyer’s side. Don’t promise a tax credit: the IRS says the residential clean energy credit isn’t available for property placed in service after December 31, 2025, and used equipment isn’t eligible.
When the panels are owned and paid off, that goes in the first lines. My listing at 728 Lake Diamond Ave in Ocala, a 2019 pool home, says it plainly: the solar is owned and paid off, not a lease. The documents above sit behind that line, ready for the buyer’s agent, lender and title company.
What I leave out is a savings number. Bills depend on the household, the roof and the utility’s credit rate, so the buyer gets the real bills and decides. I price from closed sales, not an assumed solar premium. For the rest of the house, see selling as-is and seller disclosure requirements.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Usually. The Florida Realtors/Florida Bar AS IS contract includes existing fixtures unless they are excluded, and Florida Realtors notes solar panels are almost always fixtures. Leased panels belong to the solar company, so the lease decides.
Only if the lender permits it. The CFPB describes two usual paths: the buyer assumes the loan if the lender allows, or the seller pays it off before the sale. Florida Realtors cautions that an assumption can bring costs, extra steps, and the chance of delay or denial.
Not by their own value. Under section 193.624, Florida Statutes, the just value attributable to a renewable energy source device on residential property may not be considered in its assessed value, for devices installed on or after January 1, 2013.
With an investor-owned utility such as Duke Energy Florida, the PSC rule says a departing customer is paid for unused credits at a rate based on the utility’s as-available energy tariff. Duke says the new owner registers the system by completing a Transfer of Ownership Interconnection agreement. Co-ops such as SECO Energy set their own programs, so ask yours.
Send the address and tell me whether the panels are owned, financed or leased. I’ll tell you what has to be cleared before you list, which documents to pull, and how the home compares with recent closed sales.
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Mo Mufti, REALTOR® · LPT Realty, LLC · 352-298-8602
Checked October 11, 2026. Utility programs, tariffs and lender guides change, so confirm the current version with your utility, lender and title agent before relying on it.
Important: General real estate information only, not legal, tax, title, lending or financial advice. Your loan, lease, utility agreement and contract control. Use a Florida real estate attorney, your title agent and your lender for your situation.
Sell as-is · Seller net sheet · Seller disclosures · Who pays closing costs · Closing timeline · All answers