How to Get Out of a Solar Panel Contract: Your Options Explained

How do you get out of a solar panel contract?

Disclosure: Candid Yak works with Titan Advocacy Group, a solar consumer advocacy firm, and may be paid when readers hire it.

How to get out of a solar panel contract depends on what you signed, but the order is the same for everyone. Cancel in writing if a cancellation window is still open; if it has closed, identify your contract type and every company on it, ask the installer or lender in writing for what you want, and file free complaints. If they refuse and your documents show a gap between what you were promised and what you signed, get a free case review from an attorney-backed firm, and weigh buyouts, payoffs, refinancing and transfer at sale after that.

Cancellation is never automatic. It turns on the contract type, the dates, your state’s law and the facts.

What kind of solar contract do you have?

Your paperwork names one of five arrangements, and each one ends differently.

A cash purchase means you paid the installer and owe no lender. You own the panels.

A solar loan is credit used to buy the panels: you own them and owe the lender. The CFPB says solar-specific loan terms typically run 8 to 25 years, and that “some solar loans are secured by collateral (typically with a lien on the panels themselves), while others are unsecured.”

A solar lease is a contract to pay a company for the use of panels it owns on your roof. The CFPB says typical leases last 15 to 20 years, and in many cases the payment rises each year by a set amount.

A power purchase agreement (PPA) is a contract to buy, per kilowatt-hour, the power from a company’s panels on your roof. The CFPB, citing the EPA, says PPA escalators range from 1 to 5 percent.

PACE financing (property assessed clean energy) is repaid as an extra amount on your property tax bill. Treasury: “A property tax lien for PACE financing takes priority over your mortgage. Some mortgage loans prohibit this type of lien.”

Contract	Who owns the panels	How it usually ends early
Cash	You	Cancellation; a claim against the seller
Loan	You	Cancellation; payoff or refinance; claims against the seller, and against the lender where the Holder Rule notice applies (recovery capped at what you have paid)
Lease	The company	Cancellation; the contract’s buyout or early termination terms; transfer when you sell
PPA	The company	The same routes as a lease, priced under the PPA’s terms
PACE	You	Cancellation where a right exists; payoff, since the CFPB says the obligation stays with the property unless paid off at sale

Step 1: Are you still inside a cancellation window?

Cost: nothing. After a valid cancellation under the federal rule, the seller has 10 business days to refund your payments.

Who it works for: anyone who signed recently, and anyone whose state law or contract gives a longer window.

What disqualifies you: a deadline that has passed, a sale the rule excludes, or a notice sent by the wrong method.

The FTC’s Cooling-Off Rule requires this statement next to your signature: “You, the buyer, may cancel this transaction at any time prior to midnight of the third business day after the date of this transaction.” Saturdays count as business days; Sundays and federal holidays do not. The FTC’s example: after a Friday sale you have until midnight on Tuesday, if Monday and Tuesday are not federal holidays.

The rule generally covers a solar sale made at your home, including a presentation you invited. Its text reaches “a sale, lease, or rental,” and no agency has said whether it covers a PPA; the CFPB says door-to-door solar contracts “may be subject to” the rule. Its exclusions include sales that carry a federal Truth in Lending right of rescission, sales negotiated at the seller’s permanent store, and sales made entirely by mail or phone.

State windows vary and can be longer. Texas gives five business days for residential solar purchases and leases signed on or after September 1, 2025 (Occ. Code 1806.156). Georgia gives 30 business days for in-person deals with payments of $10,000 or more, a term over 120 months, and federal tax credit eligibility, actual or claimed by the seller. See the state-by-state table and the cancellation deadline tool, and read your contract’s cancellation section.

Cancel in writing by the method the contract and the law require, keep proof of delivery, and send the lender a copy the same day. See canceling before installation or, if the panels are up, canceling after installation.

Step 2: Identify your contract and every company involved

Cost: nothing but time with your paperwork.

Who it works for: everyone past the cancellation window.

What disqualifies you: nothing; missing documents only slow it down.

Gather the sales contract, the loan agreement and its disclosure box, the proposal, and every ad, text and email from the sale; our dispute documents checklist lists the rest.

Then name every company: the installer, the lender, the loan servicer and the warranty provider can be four different businesses with different obligations. The CFPB says salespeople, installers and lenders “may work in concert” to close the sale and the financing, and the companies can change later, as the bankruptcy section below shows.

On a loan, compare the system’s cash price with the amount financed. The CFPB’s 2024 report says hidden dealer fees “typically range from between 10 to 30 percent of the cash price but can exceed 50 percent.”

Step 3: Ask in writing, and complain for free

Cost: nothing.

Who it works for: anyone with a specific problem, such as a system never finished or switched on, or a loan that doesn’t match the proposal.

What disqualifies you: nothing, though a complaint does not cancel a contract by itself.

The FTC’s advice for solar buyers: “If you have a problem with a system you bought, try to resolve it with the company first.” If you are not satisfied, the FTC says to report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to your state attorney general. The CFPB’s complaint page starts the same way: “Have you tried reaching out to the company?” For leases and PPAs, which the CFPB’s complaint menu does not list, Treasury, the CFPB and the FTC jointly “encourage consumers that believe they have been a victim of unfair or deceptive practices to file a complaint with CFPB, FTC, or their relevant state consumer protection office.”

Write to the installer and the lender, say exactly what you want, and keep copies. Then file free complaints with your state attorney general, the CFPB for a solar loan (filed under personal loans), and your state contractor licensing board; see filing a complaint against a solar company.

If the installer arranged your loan, look for the Holder Rule notice in it. The FTC’s rule requires sellers to see that it appears in seller-arranged and purchase-money consumer credit contracts, and it says any holder “IS SUBJECT TO ALL CLAIMS AND DEFENSES WHICH THE DEBTOR COULD ASSERT AGAINST THE SELLER,” with recovery that “SHALL NOT EXCEED AMOUNTS PAID BY THE DEBTOR HEREUNDER.” So you can raise the installer’s breach or misrepresentation against the lender, with any recovery capped at what you have paid. Contract-by-contract detail is in getting out of a solar loan, canceling a solar lease, getting out of a PPA and disputing a solar contract.

Step 4: If they refuse, get a free case review

Cost: nothing for the review, from a firm that offers a free case review. Any fee for later work should be quoted in writing first.

Who it works for: homeowners whose installer or lender refused in writing, and whose documents show a gap between what they were promised and what they signed.

What disqualifies you: an open cancellation window, a written yes, or a system that works as the contract describes and simply disappointed you.

Not every bad outcome is misrepresentation, and a review sorts installation problems from contract violations. Gaps that matter include a loan principal well above the cash price, a payment that jumps around the 18th or 19th month unless you make a large prepayment (a pattern the CFPB calls “commonplace”), a tax credit promised on a lease, a contract in a different language from the pitch, and an e-signature you never meant to give.

State attorneys general have pressed these theories, and each case below is allegations, not findings. Minnesota sued GoodLeap, Sunlight, Mosaic and Dividend (Fifth Third) on March 8, 2024 in Hennepin County District Court (No. 27-CV-24-3558) over hidden dealer fees; the case returned to state court on January 16, 2025 and is pending. In Michigan’s suit against Orbit Marketing (Climax Solar) and its lenders, filed July 15, 2026 (W.D. Mich. No. 1:26-cv-02084), the state alleges 1,689 loans, $81.26 million financed and $22.14 million in undisclosed finance charges; motions to dismiss are pending. New York’s pending suit against Attyx (SUNco), Solar Mosaic and WebBank, filed March 17, 2026, alleges consumers were pushed to e-sign contracts “often without their knowledge.”

A 2024 CFPB consumer advisory says: “You can submit a complaint to multiple places, and you can also consult an attorney at the same time.” A firm worth hiring:

• reads your documents before it quotes anything, and tells you plainly if a cancellation window, a written request or a complaint is still open;
• names the attorney who will handle your file, licensed in your state and listed with the state bar;
• puts its fee, and what happens to the fee if the lender refuses, in writing before you pay;
• never tells you to stop paying your loan, lease or PPA;
• never guarantees a result and never claims a connection to your installer or lender.

See solar cancellation companies, hiring a solar attorney and the warning signs of a misleading sale.

Step 5: Other routes

Solar contract cancellation fees lists what each of these can cost.

Buyout or early termination (lease or PPA)

Cost: set by the contract. Who it works for: customers who can pay the figure. What disqualifies you: an eligibility date you haven’t reached, or a price you can’t check.

Treasury says you will not automatically own a leased system at the end of the term, and tells you to check whether the contract requires you to buy it at “fair market value.” The FTC warns that “depending on your contract, it may be difficult and expensive for you to end a lease agreement before the end of the term.” Get any quote in writing; the lease buyout page shows how the number is built.

Payoff or refinance (loan)

Cost: the balance, or a new loan’s cost. Who it works for: borrowers whose credit can get a better rate. What disqualifies you: credit that can’t support a new loan.

The CFPB’s 2024 report says it is “commonplace” for solar-specific loans to re-amortize to a higher monthly payment around the 18th or 19th month without a large prepayment, which it said was frequently 30 percent of the principal, then the size of the federal tax credit. For a system placed in service after December 31, 2025, that credit is not available. A consolidation loan can replace the solar loan if the numbers work; solar loan payoff and refinance runs the math.

Rescission of a loan secured by your home

Cost: nothing to send the notice. Who it works for: borrowers whose solar financing, such as a home equity loan, is secured by their home and who never got the required notices or disclosures. What disqualifies you: a loan secured only by the panels, a purchase mortgage, or more than three years since closing.

The Truth in Lending Act gives three business days to rescind credit secured by your principal dwelling, extended up to three years if the required notice or material disclosures were not delivered (12 CFR 1026.23). A typical solar loan secured only by the panels usually does not qualify: Regulation Z leaves incidental fixture interests out of its definition of a security interest, and the Eleventh Circuit held in Lankhorst, a non-solar case, that a security interest in a fixture is not one in the home. Check whether your loan is secured by the house.

Transfer when you sell

Cost: closing time, and sometimes a payoff. Who it works for: owners planning to move. What disqualifies you: a buyer who won’t take over the contract, or a lender that won’t allow assumption.

The CFPB says a seller with a solar loan typically has two options: the buyer assumes the loan “if permitted by the lender,” or the seller pays it off before the sale. For a lease or PPA, the FTC tells owners to check whether the contract allows a transfer, whether the company needs written notice first, and whether the buyer must meet credit requirements.

Know which filing you have. A UCC-1 financing statement is a public notice that a lender or leasing company claims an interest in your panels. A fixture filing is a UCC financing statement recorded in the county real property records, where a title search finds it; it covers the panels, not the house. A mortgage or deed of trust is a lien on the house itself, and a PACE assessment is a lien collected with your property taxes. Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide says a fixture filing with priority senior to a new mortgage “must be subordinated.” See selling a house with solar panels and solar liens and UCC filings.

What if the solar company went bankrupt?

Bankruptcy changes who you deal with and leaves what you owe in place. When the lender Solar Mosaic filed Chapter 11, a court-filed notice told borrowers the filing “DOES NOT RELIEVE YOU OF YOUR OBLIGATION TO CONTINUE TO MAKE TIMELY PAYMENTS.” When an installer fails, the loan usually sits with a separate lender that keeps collecting. When your solar company goes bankrupt covers who services each major case now.

Should you stop paying?

Get professional advice before you change any payment. On a secured solar loan, the CFPB notes, the lender “has the right to repossess the panels in cases of nonpayment.” Michigan’s attorney general alleges some Climax Solar customers with unfinished systems still faced negative credit reporting, liens or collections. With PACE, Treasury warns that default or foreclosure could follow an unpaid tax bill. What happens if you stop paying explains each consequence, including for leases and PPAs.

Decision path: how to get out of a solar panel contract

Work down the list in order.

1. Inside a federal, state or contract cancellation window? Cancel in writing today, keep proof of delivery, and copy the lender.
2. Window closed? Gather your documents and name the installer, lender, servicer and warranty provider.
3. Something specific wrong? Write to the installer and lender, cite any Holder Rule notice, and file complaints with your attorney general, the CFPB (for a loan) and your contractor licensing board.
4. Did they refuse, and do your papers show a gap between the pitch and the contract? Get a free case review from an attorney-backed firm.
5. Nothing wrong with the deal except its cost? Look at a buyout (lease or PPA), a payoff or refinance (loan), or a transfer when you sell.

Keep paying throughout unless an attorney licensed in your state has reviewed your file and advised otherwise.

Disclosure: Candid Yak works with Titan Advocacy Group, a solar consumer advocacy firm, and may be paid when readers hire it. This page’s author, Kira Fairbank, is a manager at Vacation Ownership Consultants, a timeshare exit firm.

This is general information, not legal advice. Every route above turns on your contract’s wording, your state’s law and dates only your documents show, so put those documents in front of an attorney licensed in your state before you send a notice, sign a release, or change any payment.