Transfer directory
Who actually services this solar agreement
The company on the panels is often not the company you need to call. Here is who holds and services the major residential portfolios, where a transfer starts, what they will ask for, and what usually causes the delay.
If a property has leased solar or a power purchase agreement, the single most useful thing you can establish early is who actually services the agreement today. It is frequently not the company whose name is on the panels — several large portfolios have changed hands, and two of the biggest went through bankruptcy.
Two things worth doing the day a contract is signed. Contact the provider's transfer team immediately — every process below is measured backwards from the closing date, and the delays that wreck closings are almost always late starts rather than slow companies. And ask what the transfer costs: most providers charge a transfer or assumption fee, several charge a different amount depending on whether an escrow company handles it, and it is far easier to allocate in the purchase agreement than to discover a week before closing.
Every entry below answers the same ten questions in the same order, so two providers can be compared without reading both in full. Where something genuinely does not apply — a loan has no assumption path — the row says so rather than disappearing.
Sunrun
The largest residential solar company in the US
- Agreement types
- Lease, PPA, and owned systems sold outright. Also holds the legacy Vivint Solar book — see 08
- Who services it today
- Sunrun directly
- Where a transfer starts
- The Sunrun account portal's service-transfer section, or customer support. Ask specifically for the transfer team — a general support queue will not move this along
- Official resource
- sunrun.com — account portal and support
- Documents commonly asked for
- The buyer's completed credit application, the signed transfer or assumption agreement, the closing date, and identification for the incoming owner
- How the process runs
- Seller notifies Sunrun → buyer applies and is credit-screened → Sunrun approves or declines → both parties sign the transfer agreement → any arrears are settled → the account moves after close
- What commonly delays it
- Buyer credit approval, and starting at contract instead of at listing. Signature turnaround between two parties who are both moving house is the other reliable one
- Assumption or buyout
- Both are normally available. Buyout quotes are generally provided on request and are time-limited — get one at listing, not at closing, so the parties can actually price the choice
- Watch for
- A system that was sold rather than leased. Sunrun's name on the equipment does not by itself tell you the ownership type — the agreement does
- Last verified
- August 2026
Tesla (formerly SolarCity)
A large legacy leased and PPA portfolio, plus owned Powerwall systems
- Agreement types
- Lease and PPA on legacy SolarCity systems; owned solar and Powerwall on later sales
- Who services it today
- Tesla directly
- Where a transfer starts
- The Tesla account, routed to the team that handles property and title matters rather than general vehicle or energy support
- Official resource
- tesla.com — account and energy support
- Documents commonly asked for
- Transfer request with the closing date, buyer details for screening, the signed transfer agreement, and — where a fixture filing is involved — whatever title requires to satisfy the lender
- How the process runs
- Notify at listing → buyer screened → transfer documents issued and signed → UCC-1 handled in parallel with title → account transfers after close
- What commonly delays it
- The UCC-1 step, and signature turnaround. The filing is routine; getting it addressed on the lender's timetable is what takes the time
- Assumption or buyout
- Assumption is the normal path on a lease or PPA. Ask for a buyout figure early if the parties want to price the alternative
- Watch for
- The UCC-1 fixture filing. Tesla commonly files one on leased and PPA systems. A fixture filing attaches to the equipment — it is not a mortgage lien on the home — but lenders frequently ask for subordination or release anyway. Treat it as a timeline item, not a crisis
- Last verified
- August 2026
SunPower legacy systems
Now managed by SunStrong — not by the company that bought the brand
- Agreement types
- Lease and loan systems from the legacy SunPower residential portfolio — more than 110,000 of them
- Who services it today
- SunStrong Management handles billing, operations and customer service for the legacy portfolio
- Where a transfer starts
- The servicer named on the seller's most recent statement. Confirm in writing who the current servicer is before relying on anything — this is the entry where people most often call the wrong company
- Official resource
- sunstrongmanagement.com, and the servicer address printed on the seller's statement
- Documents commonly asked for
- The current statement or account number, the original agreement, buyer details, and the closing date
- How the process runs
- Identify the servicer from the statement → open a transfer request with them → buyer screened where the agreement is a lease → documents signed → account moves
- What commonly delays it
- Sellers and agents calling the wrong company. The SunPower brand and installer operations were bought separately from the customer portfolio, which is the source of nearly all the confusion here
- Assumption or buyout
- Depends on whether the system is leased or was financed. A loan is the seller's debt and is normally paid off at closing; a lease is assumed or bought out. Establish which one you have first
- Watch for
- Warranty questions. SunPower filed for Chapter 11 in 2024, and equipment warranties, workmanship warranties and the service obligation did not all land in the same place. Ask specifically who honours what, in writing
- Last verified
- August 2026
Sunnova legacy systems
Also now managed by SunStrong, following the 2025 bankruptcy
- Agreement types
- Lease, PPA and loan agreements from the Sunnova residential book
- Who services it today
- SunStrong Management — the same servicer now handling the legacy SunPower portfolio
- Where a transfer starts
- The servicer named on the seller's most recent statement, which may have changed since the seller last looked
- Official resource
- sunstrongmanagement.com, and the servicer details on the current statement
- Documents commonly asked for
- Account number from a recent statement, the original agreement, buyer details, closing date, and evidence the account is current
- How the process runs
- Confirm the current servicer → open the transfer → buyer screened on lease and PPA agreements → documents signed → account moves after close
- What commonly delays it
- Account transition confusion from the bankruptcy — statements, portals and contact routes have all moved. Verify the account is current and start earlier than you normally would
- Assumption or buyout
- As with any lease or PPA, both should be on the table. Get the buyout figure in writing rather than from an estimate
- Watch for
- Sunnova filed Chapter 11 in June 2025 and Solaris Assets acquired substantially all of its assets that September. Anything the seller was told before mid-2025 about who to contact is probably out of date
- Last verified
- August 2026
SunStrong Management
Not an installer — the servicer now behind two of the largest legacy books
- Agreement types
- Whatever the underlying agreement was. SunStrong services other companies' paper; it did not write it
- Who services it today
- SunStrong itself, for the legacy SunPower and Sunnova portfolios — a managed book reported at over 500,000 customers after the two were combined
- Where a transfer starts
- With SunStrong directly if the seller's statement names them, whatever brand is on the panels
- Official resource
- sunstrongmanagement.com
- Documents commonly asked for
- The original agreement, a current statement, buyer details and the closing date
- How the process runs
- As the underlying agreement provides. The servicer administers the contract that already exists; it does not rewrite its terms
- What commonly delays it
- People trying to establish whether SunStrong is "the solar company". It is the servicer — which for a transfer is the company that matters
- Assumption or buyout
- Governed by the original agreement, not by the servicer's preference
- Watch for
- This entry exists because a seller can hold a SunPower agreement, receive a SunStrong statement, and have panels labelled something else again. All three can be true at once and none of them is an error
- Last verified
- August 2026
Spruce Power
Holds and services multiple acquired legacy portfolios
- Agreement types
- Lease and PPA, largely acquired from other originators
- Who services it today
- Spruce directly. Spruce also services third-party portfolios it does not own, under its Spruce Pro business — so a Spruce contact does not always mean Spruce ownership
- Where a transfer starts
- Spruce's home-sale / transfer request process, through the customer portal
- Official resource
- sprucepower.com — customer portal
- Documents commonly asked for
- Transfer request with the closing date, buyer details, the signed assumption paperwork, and settlement of any arrears
- How the process runs
- Request submitted well ahead of closing → buyer screened → assumption documents issued → signed and returned → account transfers
- What commonly delays it
- Starting late. Spruce publishes a minimum lead time before closing and is not obliged to accommodate late requests. Confirm the current requirement at listing and work backwards from the closing date
- Assumption or buyout
- Assumption is the standard path. Ask for a buyout figure if the parties want to compare
- Watch for
- If the original installer no longer exists, Spruce may now hold the agreement. It has acquired several legacy portfolios — including roughly 9,800 New Jersey systems from NJR Clean Energy Ventures — so the name on the panels is a particularly poor guide here
- Last verified
- August 2026
GoodLeap, Loanpal and solar loans
A loan is the seller's debt — it does not transfer
- Agreement types
- A secured consumer loan, not a lease or PPA. The system itself is owned
- Who services it today
- The lender or its current servicer. GoodLeap was formerly Loanpal; older paperwork may carry either name
- Where a transfer starts
- It doesn't. There is nothing to transfer — the loan is paid off at closing and the system conveys with the house
- Official resource
- goodleap.com, or the servicer named on the seller's statement
- Documents commonly asked for
- A written payoff quote from the lender — not a statement balance, which is a different number and will leave escrow short
- How the process runs
- Escrow requests the payoff → the loan is paid from proceeds at closing → the lien is released → the buyer owns the system outright with no application and no credit check
- What commonly delays it
- A UCC-1 fixture filing that was never released after an earlier payoff. Check title early; an unreleased filing on a loan that was settled years ago is a paperwork problem, but it is still a problem on the lender's timetable
- Assumption or buyout
- Neither applies. This is a payoff, and it is the simplest of all the outcomes on this page — which is worth telling a nervous buyer
- Watch for
- A seller who describes an owned, financed system as "leased" because they make a monthly payment. The distinction changes everything about what happens at closing
- Last verified
- August 2026
Vivint Solar legacy systems
Acquired by Sunrun
- Agreement types
- Lease and PPA written under the Vivint Solar name
- Who services it today
- Generally Sunrun, following its acquisition of Vivint Solar. Confirm against the seller's current statement rather than assuming
- Where a transfer starts
- Treat it as a Sunrun transfer — see 01 — unless the statement says otherwise
- Official resource
- sunrun.com
- Documents commonly asked for
- As for Sunrun: buyer credit application, signed transfer agreement, closing date
- How the process runs
- As for Sunrun
- What commonly delays it
- Sellers searching for a Vivint Solar contact that no longer answers, and losing a week to it
- Assumption or buyout
- As for Sunrun — both normally available
- Watch for
- Vivint Smart Home and Vivint Solar are different businesses with a shared history. A seller's alarm-system paperwork is not their solar paperwork
- Last verified
- August 2026
Unknown or smaller provider
The most common real situation, and it is answerable
- Agreement types
- Anything. Local installers wrote leases, PPAs and loans, and the finance company behind them is often a name the seller has never heard
- Who services it today
- Frequently not the original installer. Finance companies sell portfolios; installers close; servicers change
- Where a transfer starts
- The seller's original agreement, the monitoring app, or a UCC-1 filing on title — the filer's name on that filing is usually the finance company, and that is your thread to pull
- Official resource
- Whatever the agreement names, plus the preliminary title report. Those two documents answer this more often than any web search
- Documents commonly asked for
- The original agreement, recent statements, and whatever proof of ownership the current holder asks for
- How the process runs
- Call the number on the agreement and ask for the transfer or property department. Get the process in writing, including what they need and how long they say it takes
- What commonly delays it
- Finding anyone at all. Build in more time than you think, and escalate through title early rather than late
- Assumption or buyout
- Whatever the agreement says. Read it before assuming either is available
- Watch for
- If the installer is gone, the finance company or its successor still holds the agreement. The installer disappearing does not void it, and it does not make the system free
- Last verified
- August 2026
What should slow you down in a lease or PPA
None of these kills a transaction on its own. All of them are cheaper to find at listing than in the last week of escrow.
The rate is at or above the utility's
A PPA priced near retail electricity is a liability rather than a saving, and an escalator makes it worse every year. Price it against the actual bill before anyone calls it a benefit.
A long term with a steep escalator
Eighteen or twenty years remaining, with an annual increase compounding on top of it, is a large future obligation attached to the house. Work out the payment in year fifteen, not year one.
The seller is behind on payments
Arrears generally have to be cleared before any transfer completes. Find this out at listing, when there is time for it to be someone's problem to solve.
Production doesn't match the payment
A system that has been underperforming for a year is still being paid for at the full rate. Twelve months of production data answers this, and it is the one document nobody asks for.
Separate solar and battery agreements
Storage is sometimes financed separately, by a different company, on different terms. Two agreements means two transfers, two approvals and two sets of paperwork — and finding the second one late is how a clean file goes wrong.
More than one system on the roof
Additions happen. A second array added years later may have its own agreement, its own installer, its own monitoring and its own interconnection. Count the inverters before you count the contracts.
Nobody can log in to the monitoring
If the account is still in the original installer's name — or an ex-spouse's, or an email nobody has — that is a transfer problem and a diagnostic problem at once. It is more common than it sounds.
A PACE or HERO assessment on the tax bill
Not a lease and not a loan — a tax assessment senior to the mortgage, which most purchase lenders will not sit behind. It appears on the title report, not in the solar file. How PACE behaves in a sale.
Common questions
The buyer was declined. What are the options?
In rough order of preference: the seller buys out the agreement at closing from sale proceeds, which converts a complication into an owned system; the parties negotiate a price adjustment where the provider still permits transfer; or the seller finds a buyer who qualifies. A lease handled at listing almost never breaks a transaction. One discovered late in escrow frequently does.
Should the buyer assume the agreement or should the seller buy it out?
It depends on the remaining term, the payment and escalator, and what the buyout quote actually is — which is why getting that quote at listing matters. Neither answer is automatically right, and this is a financial decision for the parties rather than something an inspection decides.
Is a UCC-1 a lien on the house?
A UCC-1 fixture filing attaches to the equipment, not to the real property in the way a mortgage does. Lenders still routinely ask for subordination or release, so treat it as a timeline item rather than a crisis. A PACE assessment is the genuinely different one — that is a lien on the property and it outranks the mortgage.
How long does a transfer take?
Long enough that starting at listing rather than at contract is the single most useful thing anyone in the transaction can do. We deliberately don't publish per-company turnaround figures — they change, they vary by file, and a number quoted here would be used as a promise. Ask the provider for their current stated lead time in writing, then add the time it takes two moving households to sign.
Does solarIQ360 handle the transfer?
No. We establish the physical facts and identify what documentation exists. Solar Transaction Support is a separate service that helps assemble and interpret the paperwork — but the provider's transfer process belongs to the provider.
Working a weekend transaction? So are we
The office is open Monday–Friday 9am–6pm, but inspections run on weekends and requests are open around the clock. We'll call to confirm the date and time.
Requesting an inspection isn't a confirmed appointment — we'll contact you to confirm timing.