The answer first
Private renting accounts for 20.0% of households in Nantwich South and Stapeley and 17.2% in Nantwich North and West. A tenant can ask for panels in writing, but the landlord decides and pays. Cheshire East’s Warm Homes: Local Grant can include solar for eligible private tenants, with landlords paying at least 50% after their first property.
How many Nantwich households rent
Renting is more common in the town than in the villages around it. The Census 2021 tenure table gives the shares by ward.
| Ward | Private rented | Social rented | Owned |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nantwich North and West | 17.2% | 20.0% | 61.8% |
| Nantwich South and Stapeley | 20.0% | 5.2% | 73.4% |
| Audlem | 10.1% | 6.9% | 82.0% |
| Wrenbury | 14.6% | 9.4% | 73.5% |
| Bunbury | 11.9% | 8.2% | 78.4% |
| Wybunbury | 12.2% | 2.6% | 84.8% |
| Cheshire East | 15.5% | 11.6% | 71.9% |
In Nantwich South and Stapeley one household in five rents from a private landlord, 20.0%, the highest share in the table. Nantwich North and West has 17.2% renting privately and another 20.0% renting from a social landlord, so fewer than two-thirds of its households own their home. In the village wards private renting runs from 10.1% to 14.6%, below the borough figure of 15.5%. Many of the rented homes in North and West are flats, which bring a building owner into the picture as well; see flats and solar. The other ward measures are on Nantwich homes by ward.
Where a tenant stands
Solar panels are fixed to the structure, wired into the electrics and registered with the network, so they are an alteration to the landlord’s property. Most tenancy agreements forbid alterations without written consent, and a tenant who arranged panels without it could be in breach. The decision, the contract with the firm and the bill all belong to the landlord.
That does not leave the tenant without a voice. Plenty of landlords have simply never considered panels, have not heard of the Local Grant, or are already planning other work on the house. A short, factual letter or email puts the idea in front of them at little cost to anyone.
What a written request might cover
- The property’s current EPC rating, which is on the national register.
- How the home is heated, and roughly how much electricity the household uses.
- Which way the main roof slopes face, if that is easy to see.
- Whether the household might meet the Local Grant’s income test, and that the scheme expects a landlord contribution.
- An offer to give access for a survey at a convenient time.
- A request for a reply in writing, with a copy kept by the tenant.
Keep it to facts the landlord can check. Promises about running costs are best left out, because nobody can make them before a survey.
What a landlord has to weigh
For a landlord the first questions are about the building. Is the roof sound, and is it likely to need work in the next few years? Is the house listed, or inside the conservation area, which changes what is allowed and what has to be applied for? The rules are on listed buildings and solar and the conservation-area page, and the National Heritage List confirms whether a building is listed.
Then come the practical terms. A buy-to-let lender may need to be told before work starts, and the landlord’s insurer will want to know about the system. Someone has to look after the inverter, keep the warranties and deal with any fault, and the tenancy should say how access for that is arranged. The price, and what drives it on an older house, is covered on solar costs.
Once a landlord agrees
A yes from the landlord is the start of the practical part. The landlord chooses and contracts the firm, but the tenant lives with the work, so it helps to settle a few points in writing before anything is booked.
- When the survey and the installation will happen, and how much notice the tenant will get.
- Where scaffold, the inverter and any battery will go, and whether any rooms will be out of use.
- Whether the meter needs changing, and who arranges it with the supplier.
- Who holds the monitoring account and whether the tenant can see the readings.
- How faults are reported, and who arranges repairs and servicing.
- An update to the inventory, listing the new equipment and its condition.
Rented houses in the villages
Private renting is less common in the village wards, but where a rented house heats with oil or LPG the arithmetic for the tenant is different from a gas-heated home in town. Panels do not touch the heating fuel; what they can affect is daytime electricity and, through a diverter, hot water in summer. A landlord weighing panels for such a house may also be weighing a change of heating altogether, which is a bigger and separate project, covered on off-gas villages.
The Local Grant in a rented home
Cheshire East Council’s Warm Homes: Local Grant, part of the national scheme described on GOV.UK, has funding until 31 March 2028. It is open to owner-occupiers and to private tenants in homes rated EPC D to G. A household qualifies through any one of three routes: a member draws an income-related benefit; income before tax is £36,000 or lower; or income left after housing costs is £20,000 or lower. The council looks for the work to raise the rating by two bands at least, and the measures on the council’s list take in solar PV and heat pumps as well as insulation.
Two conditions matter most for lettings. The landlord has to agree to the work, and for properties after their first, landlords are expected to contribute at least 50% of the cost. Social housing is not part of this route. The full conditions, alongside the other schemes, are on grants and schemes.
EPC C and privately rented homes
Privately rented homes in England are due to need an EPC rating of C or better by 1 October 2030, subject to the cost cap and exemptions. Solar PV is one of the measures that can raise a rating, because it lowers the modelled cost of running the home, but it is seldom the first step: loft and wall insulation, heating controls and the heating system itself often move the rating further. A landlord planning ahead can ask an energy assessor which combination would reach band C for a particular property, and check the regulations in force at the time the work is planned.
Export payments and the tenancy
Electricity the house uses as it is made reduces what the bill payer buys, and that is usually the tenant. Surplus sent out to the network is paid for under the SEG scheme, and the payment goes to whoever registers with an export tariff. Some landlords keep that themselves; others pass it to the tenant. Neither is wrong, but the choice should be written down when the panels go in, together with what happens when the tenancy changes. The month-by-month split between use and export is shown on export and self-use.
Social tenants
In Nantwich North and West 20.0% of households rent from a council or housing association. For them the housing provider decides, usually as part of a programme across many homes. A tenant can still ask in writing whether solar or other energy work is planned, quoting the home’s EPC rating and how it is heated.
Keeping the paperwork
A rented house with panels will one day be re-let or sold, and the next tenant, buyer or lender will ask for the system’s documents. Keep the MCS certificate, the grid notification or approval, the electrical certificates and every warranty together, and give the tenant a copy of anything they need to operate the system. The list a buyer will expect is on buying a home with solar. Questions about a particular letting can go through the question form.