Cancellation rights and cooling-off periods for solar

First, which kind of contract do you have?

The right depends entirely on where the contract was concluded. Regulation 5 defines three kinds.

Almost all domestic solar is sold off-premises — a salesperson at your kitchen table — or at a distance. Both carry the right.

The normal period

Regulation 30 sets it. For a services contract, the cancellation period “ends at the end of 14 days after the day on which the contract is entered into”. For goods, it runs from the day you take physical possession, and where goods arrive on different days, from the day the last of them arrives.

A solar installation is typically a mixed contract of goods and services, so both limbs can be in play. In practice the safe reading is the earlier of the two, and if you are close to a boundary you should cancel now and argue later.

The extension almost nobody knows about

This is the provision worth remembering.

Under regulation 31, if the trader does not give you the information about the right to cancel required by paragraph (l) of Schedule 2, the cancellation period ends 14 days after the consumer receives the information.

And if they never provide it at all, the period ends 12 months after the day on which it would have ended under regulation 30.

So a contract signed in your kitchen by a trader who never mentioned cancellation is cancellable for twelve months and fourteen days. That is not a technicality — it is the sanction the regulations attach to withholding the information.

For off-premises contracts, failing to give that information is also a criminal offence, which is covered on our doorstep sales page.

If work has already started

Regulation 36 governs this, and the outcome turns on one thing: did you make an express request for the service to begin during the cancellation period?

You did make an express request — and for an off-premises contract it must have been on a durable medium, meaning in writing or something equivalent. If you then cancel, you pay an amount in proportion to what was supplied, calculated against the total contract price, or against market value if the contract price is excessive.

You did not — or the trader never gave you the required cancellation information. Then you bear no cost for what was supplied.

How to cancel

In writing, and keep proof. Email is fine and creates a record. There is no prescribed wording you must use, though the regulations do provide a model cancellation form.

Say clearly that you are cancelling, identify the contract and the date, and give your name and address.

Send it within the period — it is the sending that counts, not the trader’s acknowledgement. Keep the sent item.

Do not accept “we’ve already ordered the panels” as an answer. Whether you owe anything is governed by regulation 36, not by the trader’s procurement.

Refunds are due without undue delay once you have cancelled.

What this does not cover

A change of mind after the period has expired, where the trader did give you the information. Then you are into the contract’s own terms, and any deposit is governed by what you agreed and by the general law on penalties.

A quote you have not accepted. No contract, nothing to cancel.

Complaints about quality. Cancellation is a right to unwind the contract, not a remedy for bad work. Faulty installation is a Consumer Rights Act question and, where a credit agreement paid for it, potentially a section 75 one.

On-premises contracts, where there is no statutory right — though the installer’s consumer code may require one, and most reputable installers offer one voluntarily.

Practical points

Never let the cancellation period pass while you are waiting for something. If you are waiting for a survey, a structural report or a finance decision, cancel and re-sign rather than letting the clock run out.

Check what you were given at signature. The cancellation information should have been provided in a durable form. If it was not, regulation 31 is engaged and your position is much stronger than you think.

Keep the paperwork from the day of sale, including anything you signed authorising early commencement. It is the evidence that decides the money.