French court wipes out solar panel loans
Banks will have to write off solar panel installation loans after the highest appeal court said they had not done proper checks on work or contracts.
Judges said that meant the loan agreements were void.
The Cour de Cassation rulings are a victory for customers fighting bank demands that they repay loans of tens of thousands of euros for solar photovoltaic installations that were never completed or that never produced the power promised.
Consumer group UFC Que Choisir highlighted cases against BNP Paribas subsidiaries Solfea and Sygma.
Customers had signed agreements to install units and then to say they had been fitted, but the banks ignored their own responsibility to ensure units were working before paying the contractors.
Cofidis was also singled out for transferring funds to installers without verifying the date and signature on the contract.
In one case, the signature and date had been crossed out. The judges ruled in several different cases where customers were claiming against the bank as the installation company had gone into liquidation.
They upheld complaints covering problems such as faults in order forms, non-connection to the national grid, wrong power estimates, failure to check the ability of customers to repay a loan, and irregularities in consent forms.
UFC Que Choisir’s Elisabeth Chesnais said anyone who had problems after signing for solar panels should get in touch with the local branch of the association to see what could be done.
She said: “The Cour de Cassation has issued several rulings challenging banks’ liability over their decisions to require clients to repay loans.”
Meanwhile, housing agency ADIL says to beware adverts for eco-renovation schemes costing “only €1” as complaints had soared over poor work. It said fitters should be RGE listed – Reconnu Garant Environnement – to ensure quality work.
