Solar rebate for renters refers to a rebate program for those renters who had been deprived long enough of any advantages offered by the Victorian Government but can now finally be brimmed over with joy since they can participate in the Victoria solar homes program like any other eligible landlords. The residence in Victoria has been well familiar with the Solar Panel Rebate Victoria, which brings them a discount on the upfront cost up to $1,850 to install the solar panels (PV) in their property. Moreover, they can also claim an interest-free-loan up to the same amount of the rebate as $1,850 for a duration of 4 years or 48 months. The renters also longed to have an installation of this system to save an awful amount of electricity-cost, and the implementation of solar rebates for rental properties has touted the tenants to co-participate with their landlords.
More than one in four Victorians tend to rent homes, and due to a heavy price of the electricity in recent days in Australia, the solar for the rental program has rolled out a new opportunity for the Victorians to save hundreds of dollars per year. In addition to, the landlord can also get a decent reimbursement on the upfront cost for installing the solar PV systems. The only thing, you as a tenant to do is to inform your landlord or property manager about the hefty perks of the rebate that they can claim for installing this robust system to benefit from it at any time.
However, the approach can be bidirectional as either renters or landlords can approach each other regarding the installation of the system. To participate in the Solar Homes program, the tenant has to have an account with an electricity retailer. The lease should have at least one of the tenant’s name on it, and the tenant has to meet the eligibility criteria to be included in this program. Bear in mind that, the rebate provided to the landlord to install the solar system will apply to a maximum of two rental properties in a financial year.
Solar Homes Program Eligibility
1. The tenant has to sign an agreement called “Residential Tenancy Agreement VLC.” For multiple tenants, eligibility is considered as a collective bevy of tenants.
2. The landlord participates in the Solar Homes Program only when the tenant consents to the landlord by sanctioning the Residential Tenancy Agreement to DELWP as per requirement.
Victoria Rebate Eligibility Criteria for Renters
- According to the last two year’s taxable earnings, their tenants must have a joint household income below $180,000 per annum. The property should be worth below $3 million and doesn’t own any pre-installed solar panels.
- The property has no such engagement in the Solar Homes program for the same address.
- The general consensus is confirmed by having the Solar Homes Landlord-Tenant Agreement signed by both parties.
- The rental agreement must be put in place to confirm the current tenancy of the property.
Loan Eligibility
In order to allow you, as well as the tenant, to participate in claiming the interest-free-loan, you as a landlord need to supply a satisfactory credit report of a duration below 12 months old. It usually takes 10 days to dispatch the credit report to your address. In case if you don’t have one, go visit the Moneysmart website Moneysmart website.
Participation in an Interest-Free-Loan
Landlords can easily claim for the interest-free loan to abate the upfront cost for purchasing and installing the solar PV system at their property. According to the state rebate system, the landlord is asked to repay the loan within a timeframe of 4 years or 48 months. However, the newly proposed rental rebate at the behest of the renters allows them to co-contribute with their landlords in installing the solar systems. This, in turn, rests the landlords from taking much of the burden at once. These two options are:
1. A landlord can pay the full monthly loan worth of $38.54; or
2. As per co-contribution rule, both the renters and the landlords can pay the monthly loan in which the renters can contribute up to 50% of the total allocated loan. Therefore, for 50% loan repayment for the renters, it will cost them $19.27 monthly. In this case, the tenant must be paying the allocated amount to the landlord each calendar month to the nominated Bank Account.
However, it is not compulsory for you as a tenant to pay exactly 50% of the repayable loan which equates to $19.27, but rather you can opt for 15% to 25% per month for 48 months. These are some of the options you can choose to pay your loan as convenient to your ability:
| Percentage % | Amount equated in $ to be paid per month |
|---|---|
| 5% | $1.92 |
| 10% | $3.84 |
| 15% | $5.76 |
| 20% | $7.68 |
| 25% | $9.60 |
| 30% | $11.52 |
| 35% | $13.45 |
| 40% | $15.40 |
| 45% | $17.31 |
| 50% | $19.27 |
If you as a renter wish to co-contribute to repay the loan, then you must abide by the followings:
- The repayable amount should be agreed upfront in the Landlord-Tenant Agreement (co-contribution).
- You ought to pay this amount to your landlord directly.
- Once the agreement is approved, and the loan is established, there is no way it can be realtered.
- You need to continue paying the loan for the next 48 months unless you have to vacant the property or whichever is earlier.
If the tenant seems reluctant to pay for the loan, then the landlord can still move on with the self-payment provided that the Landlord-Tenant Agreement needs to be signed regardless of which payment method you are likely to choose. However, in the case of no contribution made by the tenants, the landlord still has to get the agreement signed, and this will be a Landlord-Tenant Agreement (no payment). However, in this regard, the landlord has to bear all the expenses pertaining to the solar PV system installation and maintenance. Moreover, the landlord is the one who will apply for the solar rebate and interest-free loan.
Few Important Points to Remember:
- If you banish your tenant, then you will longer be able to claim any repayment for the remaining loan. The subsequent tenants will not fall under this Residential Tenancy Agreement VLC.
- Since the landlord takes the main responsibility of applying for the solar rebate, as well as an interest-free loan, reluctance or refusal coming from the tenants will compel the landlord to pay the loan. However, if both parties show disaffection for paying the loan, then they are asked to contact the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria (DSCV) to settle the dispute between them and seek for the solution.
- The landlord cannot haggle over the due amount of loan by increasing the rent to cover the costs as mentioned in the Victorian Rental Agreement. Besides, the landlord cannot put pressure on the tenant to pay for the remaining loan starting from any period as soon as they vacate the property.
- The duration of the agreement between the tenant, and the landlord is 48 months except if the landlord loses the ownership of the property or the tenant happens to leave the property for any reason. The cost cannot be recouped by increasing the rent for the existing renters.
- When the quote has been granted by the retailer, and the installation date has been fixed by the landlord, the tenant must acknowledge that he/she has persuaded the landlord to install the solar systems. Therefore, according to section 85 of the Act (Entry of rented premises), the landlord or the authorised person at the time of installing the system must be granted an access to the property by the tenant.
- The tenant must acknowledge that the landlord’s authorised DELWP workers or its contractors need to access the property for the sake of the inspections or audits of the solar system. It is imperative for you and your landlord to be present in the property at the time of the installation to allow the installer to access to your property.
- The landlord or property manager will contact you to inform you about the installation of the solar system. Furthermore, you need to get a grid connection from the trustworthy retailers, as well as offer for solar feed-in-tariff. For the grid connection, contact your local electricity retailer for more information.
Steps for Applying for the Solar Rebates for Renters in Victoria
1. Make sure that you comprehend the whole rental rebate procedure, its application, Solar Homes Landlord-Tenant Agreement, and its terms and conditions. Fill the Residential Tenancy Agreement form VLC pdf and lodge it with the rebate eligibility application.
2. You must talk to the retailer to get the suitable solar systems for your property and ensure that your tenant allows you to access the property to get a quote from the retailer. We Cyanergy, can assist you in relation to this rebate as we are in this field for the last 10 years. Once the quote is uploaded in the Solar Victoria portal, you will get an email and click it to start your application.
3. Whilst completing your application, make sure that your following documents are ready such as,
- Completed Landlord-Tenant Agreement with signature
- Satisfactory credit report
- A copy of your quote
- Proof of property ownership, for example, a full council rate notice for the installation address
- Entry of 2 of the following proofs of identity, such as driver’s license, Medicare card, Australian passport, Australian birth certificate, Immicard, and Foreign passport with a valid Australian Visa.
4. When you are done with applying and receiving an email confirming your eligibility, then you have to contact your retailer and schedule a time to install the solar system at your property.
If you need more information about the Solar rebate for renters’ program, you can either contact us or leave a comment below so that we can get back to you as soon as we can. In the meanwhile, you can visit this site to get more information about the solar rental rebate in Victoria.
Read about Cyanergy, one of the best CEC Approved solar retailers in Australia.
