How to get out of
a solar contract.

The short answer

• Signed in the last few days at your home: cancel in writing now. Federal law gives three business days, and some states give more.
• Not installed yet: most contracts can still be canceled, sometimes for a fee.
• Misled about savings, tax credits, or cost: you may have a claim against the seller and, in many cases, the lender.
• Installer out of business: the loan or lease is still owed, but the lender may answer for what the installer did.
• None of the above: your options are a payoff, a buyout, or a transfer when you sell.

Nobody can promise a cancellation before reading your contract. Anyone who does is selling something.

Start with what you signed

Your options depend on the type of agreement, and many homeowners aren’t sure which one they have. Check the first page of the contract and who takes your monthly payment.

A loan means two contracts: one with the installer and one with the lender. They’re separate, and ending one doesn’t automatically end the other. If you don’t know who holds your loan today, look up your servicer. Still not sure what you have? Our guide to telling a lease, PPA, and loan apart walks through the clues.

Gather these before you call anyone:

• The signed contract and every amendment or change order
• The loan agreement and Truth in Lending disclosure, if it’s financed
• The sales proposal showing the promised production and savings
• Texts, emails, and voicemails from the salesperson
• Utility bills from the 12 months before and after installation
• The date you received a signed copy of the contract, and how you received it

Our document checklist prints all of this on one page.

Which exit fits your situation

These are typical ranges, not promises. Disputes that go to arbitration take longer.

Option 1: Cancel inside the cooling-off window

This is the only exit that’s free, fast, and certain, and it closes quickly.

The FTC’s Cooling-Off Rule gives you until midnight of the third business day to cancel a sale of $25 or more made at your home ($130 or more at a seller’s temporary location). Saturdays count as business days under the federal rule. Sundays and federal holidays don’t. The seller has to tell you about the right when you sign and give you two copies of a cancellation form.

Many states give more time, and their rules apply on top of the federal one.

See the cancellation period for every state.

How to cancel inside the window

1. Write a short notice with your name, address, the contract date, and the sentence “I cancel this contract.”
2. Send it the way the contract says. If it gives you a choice, use certified mail with a return receipt and email the same day.
3. Send a copy to the lender if the system is financed.
4. Keep the postmark, the receipt, and a copy of what you sent.

Under the federal rule, the seller then has 10 business days to refund what you paid and cancel any loan paperwork you signed. If the company refuses, see what to do when a solar company won’t let you cancel. Our cancellation letter builder writes the notice for you, with your state’s law cited.

Two details most guides miss

• If you were never given the cancellation notice, the clock may not have started. In California, for example, the window runs from the day you receive a signed and dated copy of the contract. If you signed on a salesperson’s tablet and were never sent your documents, check this first.
• Phone and video sales may fall outside the federal rule. It covers sales made in person at your home or a temporary location, not sales made entirely by phone or online. Many solar contracts are now closed on a video call with an e-signature. Then your state’s law, or a solar-specific law like the one in Texas, is what protects you.

Option 2: Cancel before installation

If the panels aren’t on your roof yet, you can usually still walk away.

Most contracts let either side cancel before installation if a condition isn’t met: the site survey, the permit, utility approval, homeowner association approval, or final loan approval. Many also let you cancel for any reason before work starts, sometimes for a fee that covers design and permit costs. Find the section headed “cancellation” or “termination” and follow it exactly.

If the installer has missed its own deadlines, say so in writing. A company that hasn’t done its part has a weak claim to a cancellation fee.

Tell the lender in writing at the same time. Some loans pay the installer in stages, and you want the lender on notice before it releases money for work that hasn’t happened. More in canceling before installation.

Option 3: You were misled

If the sale rested on statements that weren’t true, the contract may be open to challenge long after the cancellation window closed.

Every state has a law against unfair and deceptive sales practices. The CFPB’s 2024 review of solar lending describes the claims that come up most:

• “It’s free” or “the government pays for it.” No program gives away rooftop solar through door-to-door sales.
• “You’ll have no electric bill.” Most homes still pay the utility for nighttime power, fixed charges, and fees.
• “The tax credit pays down your loan.” The credit was never a check. It only reduced federal income tax you actually owed, so retirees and lower earners often got little or nothing.
• Hidden financing fees. Dealer fees can add a large share to the loan balance without showing up in the interest rate. Estimate yours.
• Payment jumps. Many loans assume you’ll pay down about 30 percent of the balance in the first 12 to 18 months. If you don’t, the monthly payment goes up.

If your system was installed in 2026: the 30% federal tax credit for homeowner-owned systems isn’t available for systems installed after December 31, 2025, according to the IRS. If you were sold on that credit and your installation finished in 2026, you get no credit, whatever the proposal said. Keep the proposal. It’s direct evidence of what you were promised.

What makes a misrepresentation claim work is proof. The strongest files have the promise in writing, like a proposal, a text, or an email, and a bill or document showing it was false. Your memory of what was said at the kitchen table counts, but it counts for less.

Deadlines apply. Most states allow a few years, often measured from when you discovered the problem, so don’t wait. More in misled by a solar salesperson.

Option 4: Hold the lender responsible

If your installer arranged your loan, the lender usually can’t hide behind the installer’s conduct. This is the exit that matters most when the installer is gone.

The FTC’s Holder Rule requires a notice in most consumer credit contracts where the seller arranged the financing. Look in your loan agreement for a paragraph in capital letters that begins “NOTICE: ANY HOLDER OF THIS CONSUMER CREDIT CONTRACT.” It says whoever holds your loan is subject to the claims and defenses you have against the seller.

• If the installer lied, didn’t finish, or installed a system that doesn’t work, you can raise that against the lender.
• It still applies after the loan is sold to another company.
• It still applies after the installer goes bankrupt.
• Recovery under the notice is capped at the amount you’ve paid. At best, that means the remaining balance is canceled and your payments are returned.
• Attorney’s fees are a separate question. In a January 2022 advisory opinion, the FTC said the cap doesn’t block fee awards that state law allows against a lender.

The Holder Rule isn’t automatic. You still have to prove what the installer did. Lenders rarely agree on the first letter, and many loan contracts send disputes to arbitration instead of court. More in the FTC Holder Rule and your solar loan.

A note on the three-year right to rescind

You’ll see it promised online as a way to cancel any solar loan. The Truth in Lending right to rescind applies only to credit secured by your home, and it runs three days, or up to three years if key disclosures were missing. Most solar loans are secured by the equipment through a UCC-1 filing, and lenders argue that isn’t the same thing. Whether it reaches your loan is a question for an attorney. See the right to cancel a solar loan.

Option 5: Pay off, buy out, or refinance

When there’s no cancellation right and no dispute, the way out is to pay your way out, and the price is negotiable more often than people expect.

• Loan: ask the servicer for a written payoff figure and check it against your loan agreement for prepayment charges. A home equity or personal loan with a lower total cost can replace a solar loan that carries a large built-in fee. See how to get out of a solar loan.
• Lease: many leases include a buyout schedule, often starting after year five or six. Ask for the buyout price and how it was calculated. See the solar lease exit guide.
• PPA: buyouts are usually set by a schedule or by “fair market value.” Ask for both the figure and the method. See the solar PPA exit guide.

Get every figure in writing, with the date it expires. If the company is in financial trouble or has sold your account, ask whether it will accept less. Companies winding down sometimes will. The buyout calculator compares a quote to the payments you have left, and solar early termination fees explains how buyout prices are set.

Guides for specific companies: Sunrun, Vivint Solar, Tesla, Palmetto LightReach, Momentum Solar, Semper Solaris, and GoodLeap loans.

Option 6: Transfer or pay off when you sell

Selling the house ends your part in the contract, but only if the contract is dealt with before closing.

• Loan: the balance is normally paid from the sale proceeds, and the lender then ends its UCC-1 filing. Ask for the payoff letter early, because a title company won’t close around an open filing. See removing a solar UCC filing.
• Lease or PPA: the buyer can take over the agreement if they qualify with the company and agree to it. Many buyers say no, and you may need to buy the system out or lower your price.

Start this before you list. A transfer application or payoff letter that shows up late can cost you the buyer. More in selling a house with a solar loan.

Option 7: File complaints that get read

A complaint to the right agency costs nothing, creates a record, and often gets a faster answer than customer service.

Attach documents, say what you were promised and what happened, and say exactly what you want: a cancellation, a refund, a repair, or a corrected balance. Send the company a copy. The complaint letter builder puts it together, and your state’s page lists the right agencies.

Complaints alone seldom cancel a contract. They work as pressure alongside a written dispute, and they matter later if the case goes further. More in how to file a solar complaint.

Option 8: Arbitration or court

When the company won’t move, a neutral decision-maker can order what a complaint can’t.

Most solar loans, leases, and PPAs have an arbitration clause, which means a private arbitrator decides the dispute instead of a judge, usually through AAA or JAMS. Both limit what a consumer pays to start a case, and the company pays most of the cost. Check the clause for a small claims exception, which lets you use small claims court for smaller amounts without a lawyer.

This is where an attorney earns the fee. Many consumer protection laws make the company pay your attorney’s fees if you win, which is why some lawyers take strong cases with little or nothing up front. Ask. See working with a solar lawyer.

If your installer is out of business

Your contract didn’t disappear with the company, but your position may be stronger than you think.

• You still owe the lender or the new owner of the lease. Stopping payment because the installer closed puts your credit and your case at risk.
• Find out who holds your account now. Loans and leases get sold. Check the servicer lookup linked above, or the bankruptcy tracker.
• The installer’s failures can be raised against the lender. A dead warranty, an unfinished system, or sales lies are exactly what the Holder Rule preserves. See Option 4.
• If the installer filed for bankruptcy, you may be a creditor. You can file a proof of claim. Expect little money from it, but it puts your dispute on the record.
• Get the system checked. A broken system with no warranty support is a breach you can document with an independent inspection.

Full guide: what to do when your solar company went out of business. Guides for closed or bankrupt companies: Sunnova, Freedom Forever, SunPower, PosiGen, Blue Raven Solar, and ADT Solar.

Five mistakes that make it worse

1. Stopping payments on your own. It leads to late fees, credit damage, collections, and sometimes a lawsuit, and the filing on your home stays. Only do it on the advice of an attorney who has read your contract. See what happens if you stop paying.
2. Removing the panels. Leased and PPA systems belong to the company, and a financed system is the lender’s collateral. Removing them can make you the one in breach.
3. Paying for a guaranteed cancellation. No one can guarantee an outcome that depends on your contract and your evidence.
4. Ignoring letters. A collection notice or an arbitration demand has deadlines. Missing one can lose a case you would have won. See what to do when a solar debt goes to collections.
5. Signing with a new solar company to “take over” the old contract. You usually end up with two.

Do it yourself, hire a company, or hire a lawyer

Questions to ask before you pay anyone:

1. Are you a law firm? If not, which attorney does the legal work, and do I sign with them directly?
2. What is the total fee, in writing, and when is it due?
3. What do I get back if my contract isn’t canceled?
4. Will you tell me to stop paying my solar bill? On whose advice?
5. How long do cases like mine take?
6. What happens to my credit while this is going on?
7. Can I see the agreement before I give you a card number?

A company that won’t answer these in writing has answered them.

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Related guides

• How to cancel a solar contract
• Solar company won’t let you cancel?
• Solar escalator clauses, explained