Can I sell my house with leased solar panels?

Yes, if the buyer takes over the lease or you resolve it under the contract. The FTC recommends checking whether the contract allows transfer, whether written notice is required, and whether the buyer must meet credit requirements or pay fees.

Should I get a solar system inspected before buying a house?

Yes, the electrical side in particular. We check production, the inverter, the disconnects, and the panel connection. The $99 dispatch fee applies to a booked visit, waived for members.

Learn: resale

Does Solar Increase Home Value?

Name: AJ Long Electric
Address: 2724 Dorr Ave, Suite 102, Fairfax, VA, 22031, US
Telephone: (571) 444-6886

Owned solar usually helps a sale. The U.S. Department of Energy says buying a solar system will likely increase a home's value. A leased system can still sell, but it adds a contract the buyer has to take over.

Get a roof study Call (571) 444-6886

Reviewed 2026-09-24

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Answer first

The short answer

Owned solar generally increases home value. The Department of Energy's Homeowner's Guide to Solar says buying a solar energy system will likely increase your home's value, that buyers have paid a premium for homes with solar, and that there is evidence solar homes sell faster. The value depends on ownership, paperwork, and condition: an owned system with a permit record, a clean inspection, and a transferable net meter is an asset. A leased system is a contract the buyer must accept.

Owned beats leased at resale: the buyer gets the equipment, not a monthly payment.
Dominion transfers the net meter to the next owner, according to its net metering page.
Keep the permit final, the interconnection approval, and the county tax exemption letter together.
Have the electrical side of the system inspected before closing.

Owned, leased, or PPA: the first question every buyer asks

The Federal Trade Commission's solar guide puts it simply: with a lease or a power purchase agreement, you do not own the system. The company does. That changes what the house sale looks like.

An owned system conveys with the house like a furnace or a roof. The buyer gets the equipment, the remaining manufacturer warranties, and the production. A leased system or PPA conveys only if the buyer agrees to take over the contract. The FTC lists the questions to answer before listing a house with a leased system: does the contract let you move the system, can you transfer it to the buyer, do you have to give the company written notice first, and will the buyer have to meet credit requirements or pay fees to take it over.

Sellers with a lease should pull the contract early, call the company for its transfer process and timeline, and hand the buyer's agent the terms in the first week. Buyers should read the payment schedule, since the FTC notes lease payments can increase over time, and confirm what happens at the end of the term.

What happens to net metering when the house sells

Dominion answers this on its net metering page. Asked what happens if you sell your house, Dominion says it will continue to net meter and transfer the net meter to the next owner, and that the premises is considered a net metering premises until Dominion is told the system has been removed.

The buyer opens a new Dominion account in their name the normal way. Give the buyer the interconnection approval letter and the account's net metering history so they know the system is approved and what it has been producing. NOVEC runs its own program with its own rules; in NOVEC territory, call NOVEC before closing.

Solar permits and net metering in Northern Virginia

SRECs and the county tax exemption

An owned array earns solar renewable energy certificates as it produces. The registration and the broker account are in the seller's name. Put a line in the contract that says who keeps certificates earned before closing and that the seller will cooperate in moving the registration to the buyer.

Fairfax County exempts certified solar energy equipment from real estate tax for five years under Virginia Code 58.1-3661. The Department of Tax Administration sends the owner a letter confirming the exemption and the time period it covers. Sellers should hand that letter to the buyer. Buyers should confirm with the Department how the remaining period applies after the sale, since the letter is addressed to the owner who applied.

Fairfax County solar incentives in 2026

The paperwork that makes solar count at closing

Appraisers and buyers give credit for what they can verify. A seller who can hand over a clean file makes the system easy to value.

Permit number and the final inspection approval from the county or town.
Dominion or NOVEC interconnection approval and permission to operate.
Equipment list with module, inverter, and battery model numbers, plus the manufacturer warranty documents.
Twelve months or more of production history from the monitoring app.
The purchase contract or, for a lease, the full lease and transfer terms.
The county tax exemption letter.
The HOA approval letter, if the community has one.

Get the electrical side inspected before closing

A general home inspector looks at the roof and notes that panels exist. The part that fails on older systems is electrical: the inverter, the disconnects, the rapid shutdown equipment, the conductors, and the connection at the service panel. A buyer is taking over all of it.

We inspect solar systems no matter who installed them. We confirm the system produces, read the inverter's fault history, check the disconnects and labeling, and look at how the system ties into the panel, including whether the backfeed breaker fits the panel's busbar rating. A pre-closing inspection is a booked service visit, so the $99 dispatch fee applies unless you are a member, and we price the inspection in writing before we start.

If the house also needs panel work, the inspection shows it. A 200-amp panel upgrade on a solar home is published at $3,500–$7,500. The proposal accounts for the solar backfeed.

The federal credit and a resale

The homeowner credit under Section 25D does not apply to systems installed after December 31, 2025. Under the statute, the expenditure counts as made when installation is completed. A seller who installed in 2025 claimed that credit on their own return; nothing about it passes to the buyer. For a system installed in 2026, the homeowner credit is zero. We do not give tax advice; your tax preparer confirms how any of this applies to your return.

Straight answers

Questions

Does solar increase home value?: Owned solar generally does. The Department of Energy says buying a solar system will likely increase a home's value and that there is evidence solar homes sell faster. The paperwork and the system's condition decide how much a buyer credits it.
Can I sell my house with leased solar panels?: Yes, if the buyer takes over the lease or you resolve it under the contract. The FTC recommends checking whether the contract allows transfer, whether written notice is required, and whether the buyer must meet credit requirements or pay fees.
Does the Dominion net meter transfer to the new owner?: Yes. Dominion's net metering page says it will continue to net meter and transfer the net meter to the next owner until it is told the system was removed.
Should I get a solar system inspected before buying a house?: Yes, the electrical side in particular. We check production, the inverter, the disconnects, and the panel connection. The $99 dispatch fee applies to a booked visit, waived for members.

Sources

Next step

Buying or selling a house with solar?

Book a solar inspection and we will check the system, the panel connection, and the paperwork before closing.