Section 75 claims for solar
If any part of a solar installation was paid for on credit, the lender is jointly liable with the installer for misrepresentation or breach of contract. That is the single most useful consumer protection in this sector — because installers fail, and lenders do not.
If you paid any part of a solar installation on credit, the lender is jointly liable with the installer.
Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 gives you a “like claim” against the creditor for misrepresentation or breach of contract by the supplier, and makes them “jointly and severally liable”.
The item’s cash price must be over £100 and not more than £30,000 — limits that catch the overwhelming majority of domestic solar.
It is the protection that survives an installer’s insolvency, which is why it is worth paying something on a credit card even where you can afford not to.
What the section says
If the debtor under a debtor-creditor-supplier agreement falling within section 12(b) or (c) has, in relation to a transaction financed by the agreement, any claim against the supplier in respect of a misrepresentation or breach of contract, he shall have a like claim against the creditor, who, with the supplier, shall accordingly be jointly and severally liable to the debtor.
Three phrases carry the weight.
“A like claim.” Whatever you could have claimed from the installer, you can claim from the lender. It is not a capped goodwill payment.
“Jointly and severally liable.” You may pursue either, and you need not exhaust the installer first. This is what makes it work when the installer has ceased trading.
“In relation to a transaction financed by the agreement.” The liability attaches to the transaction, not to the portion you happened to put on the card.
The limits
Section 75(3) excludes a claim
so far as the claim relates to any single item to which the supplier has attached a cash price not exceeding £100 or more than £30,000
So the item’s cash price must be over £100 and not more than £30,000.
This is the point most often misunderstood, and it is the reason the protection is so valuable.
A £9,000 solar installation with a £200 deposit on a credit card is an item with a cash price of £9,000 — comfortably inside the limits. The £200 is how the credit agreement comes to finance the transaction; it is not the measure of the claim.
Which is why paying even a small deposit on a credit card, on a purchase you could pay for outright, is close to free insurance.
When it applies to solar
Credit card. The classic case, including a deposit paid on one.
Point-of-sale finance. Solar is frequently sold with finance arranged by the installer. That is the arrangement section 12 is concerned with, and it is generally within section 75.
Personal loan taken independently. Usually not — a loan you arranged yourself, with no connection between lender and supplier, is a debtor-creditor agreement rather than a debtor-creditor-supplier one.
Debit card. No. Section 75 requires credit. Chargeback may be available under the card scheme’s own rules, but it is a scheme rule rather than a statutory right, it is time-limited, and it is weaker.
Buy-now-pay-later and some newer credit products. Regulatory treatment varies. Ask the provider whether section 75 applies before assuming it does.
What you can claim for
The same things you could claim from the installer:
Misrepresentation. Statements that induced you into the contract and were untrue. In solar this most often means performance claims — a generation or savings figure that the system was never capable of achieving. Which is why keeping the sales documentation matters, and why our quote sanity-check is worth doing before you sign rather than after.
Breach of contract. The system was not installed, was installed defectively, is incomplete, or the promised documentation — MCS certificate, building regulations compliance, DNO notification — does not exist.
Consequential losses, in principle, since the claim mirrors the one against the supplier. Damage caused by a defective installation is the obvious example.
How to make a claim
1. Gather the evidence. The contract, the sales material, the finance agreement, all correspondence, photographs, and any independent report on the defect.
2. Write to the installer first if they still exist. Not because you must, but because a lender will ask, and a documented refusal strengthens the file.
3. Write to the lender. Say you are making a claim under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Set out what was represented or promised, what actually happened, and what you want. Attach the evidence.
4. Quantify it. What would put you back where you should have been — remedial work, partial refund, full refund. Get a quote for remedial work if you can.
5. If they refuse, go to the Financial Ombudsman Service. It is free, and a refusal is a complaint about the lender’s handling that the Ombudsman can consider.
Practical points
Do not be told you must exhaust the installer first. The liability is joint and several. That said, evidence of having tried is useful.
Do not be told section 75 does not apply because you only paid the deposit. It applies to the transaction financed by the agreement.
Keep the sales material. A performance claim you cannot evidence is a claim you cannot make. Photograph anything you are shown and not given.
Act promptly. Section 75 claims are subject to ordinary limitation rules, and evidence degrades regardless.
Consider it before you buy. The cheapest moment to secure this protection is at the point of paying a deposit, by putting some of it on a credit card. It costs nothing and it is the difference between a claim and a place in the queue of creditors if the installer fails — see my installer went bust.
Sources
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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