Solar leases were sold to millions of American homeowners on the promise of lower electric bills, premium equipment at no upfront cost, and 20- to 25-year peace of mind. For some homeowners, that promise has been delivered. For many others, it hasn’t — bills that never dropped the way the salesperson described, escalator clauses that pushed monthly payments higher every year, system production well below what was promised, or service calls that went unanswered when something went wrong.
If you are stuck in a solar lease that isn’t delivering what was promised, you may have options that don’t involve continuing to pay the lease for another 15 to 20 years. The options depend on the specific facts of your situation, the contents of your lease agreement, and the laws that apply in your state. This page covers what’s typically in a solar lease, the legal grounds that may support a cancellation, what to expect from the process, and what to do next.
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Before getting into cancellation options, it matters to understand what was actually signed. A solar lease is fundamentally different from a solar loan, and the cancellation paths differ accordingly.
Under a solar lease, the solar company — not the homeowner — owns the solar equipment installed on the roof. The homeowner pays the company a monthly lease payment for the use of the equipment over the lease term, typically 20 or 25 years. The lease payment is generally fixed when signed, often with an annual escalator clause that increases the payment every year (commonly 2.9% or 3.9%). The solar company collects the federal tax credit and any state incentives on the equipment because the company owns it, not the homeowner.
| Solar Lease | Solar Loan |
|---|---|
| Solar company owns the equipment | Homeowner owns the equipment |
| Homeowner pays monthly lease payments for use of equipment | Homeowner pays a lender monthly loan payments to finance the equipment |
| Solar company claims federal tax credit | Homeowner may be eligible to claim federal tax credit (subject to current law) |
| Typical term: 20 or 25 years | Typical term: 10, 15, 20, or 25 years (varies by lender) |
| Escalator clauses (annual price increase) are common | Loan payments are typically fixed for the loan’s term |
| Equipment must be transferred to buyer if home is sold (or lease paid off) | UCC-1 financing statement may be filed against the equipment |
If you’re not sure whether you have a lease or a loan, look at who you are paying. If you are paying a solar company directly each month for the use of the equipment, that’s typically a lease. If you are paying a separate lender (such as Mosaic, GoodLeap, Sunlight Financial, or Service Finance Company) for a loan that financed the purchase, that’s a loan, not a lease. Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) work similarly to leases but charge by the kilowatt-hour rather than a flat monthly amount.
Every situation is different, but homeowners contacting EMS about lease cancellation generally describe one or more of the following patterns.
This is the single most common pattern. The salesperson promised the lease would replace most of your utility bill. After installation, the utility bill remained much higher than promised — and now you have a lease payment on top of it. Total monthly energy costs went up, not down.
Many solar leases include an automatic annual price increase, often 2.9% or 3.9%. Over a 25-year term, an escalator can nearly double the monthly payment by the end of the lease. Many homeowners say the escalator was either not disclosed at the point of sale or was disclosed in a way they didn't fully understand.
The original sales proposal showed specific kilowatt-hour production numbers. The actual production from the system has been significantly below those numbers. Sometimes due to shading, orientation, weather, or panel issues — but the homeowner is still paying the same lease payment regardless.
Inverter failure, monitoring app not working, panels covered in debris, leaks where panels meet the roof. The solar company is unresponsive, blames the utility, or claims the issue is the homeowner's responsibility.
Selling a home with a solar lease is harder than selling a home with an owned solar system. Buyers may refuse to assume the lease. The transfer process can take weeks or months. Some homeowners discover their lease is blocking the sale entirely.
Several large residential solar installers have filed for bankruptcy or shut down in 2024, 2025, and 2026. When the installer disappears, warranty and service obligations may not be honored — but the lease (and the underlying financing for the equipment) typically remains in place.
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Whether a specific solar lease may be subject to cancellation depends on the facts and the laws that apply in the homeowner's state. A qualified attorney evaluates these issues on a case-by-case basis.
Every state has a consumer protection statute that prohibits unfair or deceptive practices in consumer transactions. These laws are sometimes called Consumer Protection Acts, Deceptive Trade Practices Acts, or Unfair Trade Practices Acts. They typically allow consumers to sue for actual damages, sometimes doubled or trebled for willful violations, and often include fee-shifting provisions that require the company to pay the consumer's attorney fees if the consumer prevails. Misrepresentations at the point of sale — about savings, system performance, equipment, tax benefits, or contract terms — are exactly the kind of conduct these statutes were designed to address.
16 CFR Part 429 — the FTC's Cooling-Off Rule — gives consumers a three-business-day right to cancel certain sales made at their home or at a location other than the seller's normal place of business. Door-to-door solar sales typically fall within this rule. The seller is required to give the consumer a written notice of the right to cancel. If the required notice was not given, the three-day window may extend significantly.
Some states have enacted residential solar-specific cancellation statutes that go beyond the FTC's three-day federal rule. Texas SB 1036 (effective September 1, 2025) gives Texas homeowners five business days. California has separate cancellation provisions under its consumer protection framework. Many other states have door-to-door sales cancellation statutes that extend or modify the federal rule. Which statute applies depends on where the lease was signed and where the homeowner lives.
For solar leases that are structured as financed transactions, the federal Truth in Lending Act may apply. TILA requires specific disclosures of finance terms and provides remedies — including, in some cases, a right of rescission — when disclosures are inaccurate or missing. Whether TILA applies to a particular solar lease depends on the structure of the transaction.
Independent of consumer protection statutes, a solar lease is a contract. If the solar company has failed to perform — for example, by failing to install equipment that performs as promised, failing to service the system, or failing to honor a production guarantee in the contract — that may be a breach of contract or breach of warranty. State contract law applies. A qualified attorney evaluates whether the facts support these claims.
Submitting an intake with EMS or pursuing a legal review does not pause your obligations under the lease. Stopping payments without specific advice from a qualified attorney may result in default, damage to credit, collections, lawsuits from the solar company, and other consequences that can complicate the case you are trying to bring.
Continuing to make payments is generally the safest course of action until a qualified attorney has reviewed your specific contract and provided advice based on your specific facts. The attorney engaged for your case — not EMS — is the only party who can advise on payment decisions specific to your situation.
If you decide to submit an intake with EMS or speak with a qualified attorney about your lease, the documentation you bring will determine how thorough the review can be.
The signed solar lease agreement, including any addenda, amendments, and exhibits.
The original sales proposal or “design document” showing what was promised at the point of sale — including projected production, expected savings, and system size.
Any sales emails, text messages, voicemails, or written marketing materials from the solar company or salesperson.
Utility bills from the 12 months before installation and every month since installation, sufficient to compare actual savings against what was promised.
Production data from the monitoring app or inverter portal, sufficient to compare actual production against what was promised.
Photographs of the installation, including any roof damage, improper workmanship, or visible deviations from what was promised.
Any correspondence with the solar company about service requests, warranty claims, or complaints.
Many homeowners cannot locate all of the paperwork years after signing the agreement.
Under federal law, consumers generally have a right to receive copies of documents they signed.
EMS intake specialists may help identify which records are most important and may suggest written requests to the solar company for missing documents.
EMS is a marketing and intake service. We are not a law firm. Legal review and any legal action are performed by qualified attorneys, not by EMS.
Talk to an EMS specialist about what was promised at the point of sale, what the lease actually says, and what has happened since installation.
Initial intake is free and creates no commitment.
You provide your lease, the original sales proposal, utility bills, and any sales correspondence.
EMS collects and organizes the documentation. EMS does not analyze documents for legal violations — that is the role of the attorney in step 3.
If your case meets EMS’s initial criteria, your documentation may be reviewed by a qualified attorney.
The attorney evaluates whether the facts may support legal review and decides independently whether to take the matter.
If a qualified attorney accepts your case, you enter a flat-fee engagement directly with the law firm.
The fee is disclosed in writing before you agree to anything. No hourly billing. No contingency fee.
If the attorney does not accept the matter, there is no cost to you.
Your relationship with the attorney — not with EMS — is what creates the attorney-client relationship. EMS does not analyze contracts, does not give legal advice, and does not represent homeowners in legal matters. We connect homeowners with attorneys who do.
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These are the questions homeowners ask most often when they first contact EMS about a solar lease. Answers are general information only — not legal advice. A qualified attorney evaluates how any of this applies to a specific lease.
It depends on the facts. Solar leases are long-term contracts that the solar company drafted to protect itself. Most homeowners cannot simply walk away from a lease without consequences. However, where the facts support claims under state consumer protection statutes, the FTC Cooling-Off Rule, state-specific cancellation laws, the federal Truth in Lending Act, or breach of contract, a qualified attorney may be able to pursue cancellation through legal channels. Whether any specific lease qualifies is a fact-specific question.
Timelines vary. The initial EMS intake is typically organized within one to two weeks. If the case proceeds to attorney review and the attorney accepts the matter, the legal process may take several months. Some state consumer protection statutes have pre-suit notice requirements that build delay into every case (for example, the Texas DTPA requires a 60-day pre-suit notice). More complex matters take longer. A qualified attorney provides specific timeline expectations after reviewing your contract.
Submitting an intake is free. The initial review is free. There is no cost until the case is accepted by a qualified attorney and you agree in writing to the flat-fee engagement. The flat fee is disclosed up front. If the attorney does not accept the matter, you owe nothing. EMS does not charge separately from the law firm engagement.
It depends on the specific resolution negotiated by your attorney. Common outcomes include removal of the equipment by the solar company at their expense, transfer of the equipment to the homeowner with or without payment, or other negotiated arrangements. Because the solar company typically owns the equipment under a lease, the company is generally responsible for handling the equipment after cancellation. The specifics are part of what the attorney handles.
EMS does not provide guidance on credit. Decisions about credit, payment, and the financial consequences of a particular legal action are not within the scope of what we provide. A qualified attorney evaluates how a particular legal action may interact with your specific financial situation. Generally speaking, continuing to make payments on the lease while a matter is being reviewed is the safest course of action — but only the attorney engaged on your case can advise on payment decisions specific to your situation.
When the original installer is out of business, two things become important. First, equipment manufacturer warranties (panels, inverters, batteries) are generally issued directly by the manufacturers and are typically not affected by an installer's bankruptcy — equipment warranty claims may still be available through the manufacturer. Second, the lease itself, and any financing on the equipment, typically remains in place even after the installer is gone. A qualified attorney evaluates the implications of an installer bankruptcy or shutdown for your specific lease.
Lease transfer is contemplated by most solar lease agreements, but it requires the buyer to qualify for and agree to assume the lease. Many buyers refuse to assume long-term solar leases — particularly leases with escalator clauses that increase payments over the remaining term. If your lease is blocking a home sale, that's one of the situations where a legal review may be appropriate. A qualified attorney evaluates the contract and the specific facts of the sale.
Many states have consumer protection statutes with enhanced penalties or remedies when the victim of deceptive conduct is 65 or older — an explicit recognition that elderly consumers have been disproportionately targeted by deceptive solar sales practices. A qualified attorney evaluates whether age-related enhanced provisions apply to a specific case.
Solar leases are tied to the specific home where the equipment is installed. The lease cannot be moved to a different property. If a salesperson represented to you that the lease was 'transferable to a future home' in a way that misled you about how the lease actually works, that may be a category of misrepresentation a qualified attorney would review.
EMS is a marketing and intake service that helps organize a homeowner's documentation and connect qualifying cases with qualified attorneys at a flat fee. A homeowner is free at any time to hire a different attorney directly. EMS does not lock anyone in. We exist because the alternative for most homeowners — calling individual attorneys and trying to find one who handles solar contract matters at a predictable cost — is harder than it should be.
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Submit your information for review. EMS helps homeowners understand possible legal and contract-related options involving solar agreements, financing disputes, installation concerns, and misleading sales practices.
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