As said in "Feed-in Tariffs, Governments Response to the Summer 2009 Consultation (February 2010)", published by the Dept of Energy and Climate Change, “Given the length of FITs payments (10 to 25 years), there will be frequent instances where the ownership of the property hosting the generating equipment on which FITs is paid changes. We expect standard property ownership rights to be applied to the ownership of the generating equipment. When ownership of that property changes we will expect the ownership of the generating equipment and FITs payments to also change and pass to the new owner of the property and this will need to be notified to the scheme administrator. It will be left to the market for the previous owner to be compensated for the remaining value of the FITs payments and on-site benefits (e.g. through a higher price paid for their property).”

So, hence, when a house is sold, the new owner should benefit from the previous owner contracted FITs.

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My understanding is that they would get the same rate as the original owner did for the remaining term. As you say, it's a pretty attractive prospect for a potential buyer.

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If the ownership of the panels changes does the new owner benefit from the previous owner's contracted FIT rate and for the remaining term? If so then this should add a reasonable amount to the value of the house. If not then, particularly in light of the 50% slash in FIT rates which is on the table, there must be scope for a legal arrangement for the previous owner to continue to reap the FIT, maybe with some percentage payment to the new owner.

I suspect  that this is an issue which will fairly soon gather some case history and a few test cases will establish a set of viable options and associated benefits, togther with some legal paperwork which will protect both the seller and buyer.

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