Clearing the record
How to get a solar UCC filing released
A solar loan is usually secured with a UCC-1 fixture filing at your county recorder or the state filing office. When the loan is paid off, the secured party is supposed to record a UCC-3 termination. Often nobody does, and you find out when a title search for a sale or a refinance turns it up.
Three situations, one fix
- The loan is paid off but the filing is still there. The lender, or whoever bought the loan, owes the termination. Under the Uniform Commercial Code, once the debt is paid the secured party generally has a short window (often 20 days) to file it after you send a written demand. Your state's version sets the exact rule.
- The filing names a company that went bankrupt or was sold. The loan didn't vanish; it moved. The current servicer, or the bankruptcy estate, is who releases it. Your last statement or payoff letter names them.
- You paid cash, or leased, and a filing shows up anyway. Some installers and lease companies recorded filings on systems they owned or financed. The filer has to explain it or release it.
What the request has to say
The filing number and recording date (the title report shows them), your payoff date or why no debt is owed, a request for a recorded UCC-3 termination, and a date to respond by. Send it so you can prove when it went out. Vague requests sit; a dated demand with the filing number on it gets routed to someone who can sign a release.
The Home Sale or Buyout Packet. A dated demand, prepared from your own agreement and latest statement, that quotes the transfer, buyout or release terms, says exactly what you need and by when, and gives your agent and title company a date they can point to. Plus a one-page summary for the closing file, and one follow-up letter if they don't answer in writing within 30 days.
$249, ready in 3 business days. You read and approve it, then send it yourself.
“After the letter was sent, it was mere days that they got back to me with a much more positive email looking into all our issues causing the total system to be down.”
Tami B., SunStrong customer
What this page isn't
It isn't legal advice. Loan, lease and filing rules differ by state and by contract, and your own agreement wins over anything general here. Your title officer or a real-estate attorney in your state can confirm what applies to you.