Selling a House With Solar Panels in Washington (2026)

Short answer: Before you list a house with solar panels in Washington, find out who owns them. Owned panels are treated like part of the house. Leased panels and power purchase agreements (PPAs) have to be transferred to the buyer or paid off, and lenders won’t count them in the appraisal. Separately financed panels may have a filing in the county records that escrow has to deal with. Gather the paperwork, let the buyer’s lender see it early, and use up your banked net metering credit before closing.

This is general information, not legal advice. Federal and state rules can change, so confirm the requirements for your sale with your agent, escrow, or a Washington real estate attorney.

Start with ownership

Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide (B2-3-04) sorts residential solar into four setups: panels the owner bought, leased panels, separately financed panels (where the panels secure a loan apart from the mortgage), and power purchase agreements. Most buyers’ lenders will ask which one you have, so it’s worth knowing before you list.

Based on: Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-3-04, Properties with Solar Panels (published October 7, 2026). FHA, VA and portfolio lenders have their own rules.

If the panels are leased or on a PPA

The buyer has to take over your agreement, or you have to buy out or end it under its terms. Call the solar company before you list and ask:

• What the buyer has to submit to take over the lease, and how long approval takes.
• What the remaining term and payment are, and whether there’s a buyout figure.
• Whether the company has a "precautionary" UCC filing recorded against the house.

Fannie’s guide says the buyer’s lender has to review the lease or PPA. It also requires terms such as the solar company being responsible for damage caused by installation, malfunction, defects or removal of the panels, and the company not being a named insured on the buyer’s homeowners policy. Older contracts don’t always say these things, so get a copy to the buyer’s lender early. Leased equipment also belongs on the disclosure form. Section 5B of Form 17 asks whether fixtures included in the sale are leased and asks you to attach the lease. RCW 64.06.020 currently has two versions on the Legislature’s site: one marked effective until January 1, 2027, and one effective January 1, 2027. The questions quoted here appear in both. If your sale runs across the new year, check which form is being used.

If the panels are financed

Solar loans are often secured by the panels with a UCC filing. Under RCW 62A.9A-334, a fixture filing gives the lender a recorded interest in the panels as fixtures. That filing can show up on the buyer’s title report, and Fannie’s guide says a fixture filing that would be senior to the new mortgage has to be subordinated. A common fix is paying off the solar loan from your proceeds at closing. Ask your solar lender for a payoff letter and tell escrow early so it’s part of the closing process. If the panels were financed through a PACE program, Fannie says that loan has to be paid in full by closing.

What to hand the buyer

• The purchase contract or paid-off loan letter, or the lease or PPA.
• Panel, inverter and installer warranty documents, and whether they transfer.
• The utility interconnection or net metering agreement and recent bills.
• Production records, and a plan to hand over the monitoring app.
• Permits and the installer’s final inspection, if you have them.
• Any roof work done around the array, with dates.

A pre-listing inspection can flag roof or electrical items around the panels before a buyer’s inspector does.

Things buyers ask about

The tax credit. The IRS Residential Clean Energy Credit covered 30% of qualified costs for systems installed from 2022 through December 31, 2025. It isn’t available for property placed in service after that, and the IRS says used clean energy property isn’t eligible. A buyer of your house doesn’t get a credit for your panels.

Net metering. Under RCW 80.60.020, a utility has to keep crediting a customer-generator who signed up under net metering while their interconnection agreement stays valid, and the utility’s rate schedule decides when that ends. What it means for the buyer depends on the utility:

Data from: Snohomish PUD solar net metering and generation interconnection pages; PSE Customer Connected Solar page and FAQ.

Power outages. PSE’s FAQ says solar panels on their own can’t power the house during a grid outage, because they shut off automatically when the grid goes down. Only a battery system can provide backup. If you have a battery, say so in the listing; if you don’t, don’t imply backup power.

Production. PSE says 1 kW of solar in the Puget Sound region produces about 1,100 kWh a year on average. Your own production records are better evidence than any estimate, so share them.

Timeline for a smooth sale

1. Before listing: confirm ownership, request lease transfer requirements or a loan payoff, and pull your warranty and utility documents.
2. Listing: describe the system accurately (owned, leased or financed) and attach any lease to Form 17.
3. Under contract: send the lease or loan documents to the buyer’s lender right away. Lease transfers take time, so track it against the contingencies deadlines.
4. Closing: escrow pays off any solar loan or UCC filing, the lease transfer is finished, and you set a final meter read and close your utility account.

For everything else that comes out of your proceeds, see our guide to the true cost of selling a house in Washington.

FAQ

Do solar panels add value when I sell my house?

It depends mostly on who owns them. Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide says leased panels and panels under a power purchase agreement can’t be included in the appraised value. Panels you own outright are treated like other parts of the house under standard appraisal rules. Separately financed panels count only if the loan documents say they can’t be repossessed. Have your paperwork ready so the appraiser gets the ownership facts right.

Can the buyer take over my solar lease?

That depends on the solar company and the lease terms, not on you or the buyer. Start the transfer request early. The buyer’s lender will want a copy of the lease or power purchase agreement, and if the buyer gets a Fannie Mae loan, the lender has to check that the agreement meets Fannie’s terms, including who repairs roof damage if the panels are removed.

Does the buyer get the federal solar tax credit?

No. The IRS says the Residential Clean Energy Credit isn’t available for property placed in service after December 31, 2025, and used (previously owned) clean energy property was never eligible. So the credit doesn’t pass to a buyer, and it isn’t a selling point for a resale. Any credit you claimed for your own system is between you and your tax preparer.

What happens to my banked net metering credits when I sell?

Plan on using them yourself. Snohomish PUD and PSE both say unused net metering credit expires on March 31 each year, and PSE says banked credits can’t be cashed out or transferred to other customers. The buyer starts a new account. Snohomish PUD sends new owners of homes with solar a welcome email with a net metering agreement to review.

Do I have to disclose solar panels on the seller disclosure form?

The Washington form (Form 17) asks whether fixtures included in the sale are leased, and asks you to attach the lease if so. If your panels are leased, check Yes and attach it. Owned panels are still worth listing in your marketing and handing over warranty and production records. If a lender filed a UCC fixture filing, title will usually find it, so tell your agent and escrow early.

Talk it through with a local agent

Peter Kim and Odigo Real Estate Club can help you sort out the solar paperwork before the listing goes live, so it doesn’t hold up the buyer’s loan, with 25+ years combined experience, 593+ closings, and 122 five-star Zillow reviews. See our home selling services or ask for a property valuation.

Odigo Real Estate Club · REAL Brokerage, WA #112064 · 16108 Ash Way, Suite 201, Lynnwood, WA 98087 · (425) 409-3823 · Mon–Sat 9 AM–6 PM, closed Sunday

Sources

• Fannie Mae, Selling Guide B2-3-04, Special Property Eligibility Considerations (Properties with Solar Panels: ownership and financing types, UCC fixture filings, PACE, lease and PPA requirements; published Oct 7, 2026), https://selling-guide.fanniemae.com/sel/b2-3-04/special-property-eligibility-considerations , accessed Nov 2, 2026.
• Internal Revenue Service, Residential Clean Energy Credit (30% credit for property installed 2022 through Dec 31, 2025; not available after; used property not eligible), https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/residential-clean-energy-credit , accessed Nov 2, 2026.
• Snohomish County PUD, Solar net metering (net metering reserve, March 31 expiration, new homeowners, incentive program closed June 14, 2019, Energy Hotline), https://www.snopud.com/account/services/solar-net-metering/ , accessed Nov 2, 2026.
• Snohomish County PUD, Connecting generation projects (interconnection steps for new systems), https://www.snopud.com/account/services/connecting-gen-projects/ , accessed Nov 2, 2026.
• Puget Sound Energy, Customer Connected Solar (net metering overview), https://www.pse.com/en/green-options/Renewable-Energy-Programs/customer-connected-solar , accessed Nov 2, 2026.
• Puget Sound Energy, Customer Connected Solar FAQ (banked credits, March 31 expiration, Schedule 150, outages and batteries, about 1,100 kWh per kW per year), https://www.pse.com/en/green-options/Renewable-Energy-Programs/customer-connected-solar/Customer-Connected-Solar-FAQ , accessed Nov 2, 2026.
• Washington State Legislature, RCW 80.60.020 (net metering availability and continued crediting for existing customer-generators), https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=80.60.020 , accessed Nov 2, 2026.
• Washington State Legislature, RCW 62A.9A-334 (security interests in fixtures; fixture filings), https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=62A.9A-334 , accessed Nov 2, 2026.
• Washington State Legislature, RCW 64.06.020 (seller disclosure statement form; version effective until Jan 1, 2027 and version effective Jan 1, 2027), https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=64.06.020 , accessed Nov 2, 2026.

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