New balcony power plant law pleases tenants
Balcony power plants are experiencing a hype. They are good for the climate and, in general, also for the homeowner's wallet. However, the installation of these small solar systems comes with some hurdles. A major one is about to disappear with a new law.
Tenants and renters will in the future have a fundamental claim to a wall-mounted solar system if they want to install one in or on their rental property. The German Bundestag passed a legislative amendment, making balcony power plants a privileged measure in tenancy law. Landlords can only reject the request in exceptional cases.
Currently, tenants and renters need the landlord's explicit consent to install a wall-mounted PV system, as this involves a structural change. If the owner or owner-occupier of a multi-family house plans to install a balcony power plant, the homeowners' association must agree.
The tenancy law and apartment ownership law are now being changed so that these projects cannot be easily prevented. The installation of wall-mounted solar systems is being granted privileged status. This status has so far been held by measures such as barrier-free conversions, burglar protection, or charging stations for electric cars.
Landlords and homeowners' associations can still intervene in the question of how the systems are installed. However, whether the system can be built at all is now fundamentally clarified. Exceptions apply to listed buildings.
The Federal Solar Industry Association welcomed the decision. The Bundestag eliminates a frequent hurdle for the installation of balcony power plants. The association expects a surge in demand. According to the latest reports, 563,000 wall-mounted solar systems have been registered with the Federal Network Agency. A new record was set in the second quarter of this year: 152,000 systems went online between April and June.
The amendment strengthens the Energy Transition in our own four walls, according to the SPD fraction in the Bundestag. "We are enabling an effective and bureaucracy-free way to reduce private energy costs," explained the responsible parliamentarian, Daniel Rinkert.
Already at the end of April, the Bundestag had passed the Solar Package I, which also contains easements for balcony power plants. The complicated registration of the systems with the network operator is now part of the past. Consumers only need to register their balcony power plant in the Federal Network Agency's database.
The amendment in the tenancy law allows tenants and renters to request installing wall-mounted solar systems without needing the landlord's explicit consent, as it has been granted privileged status. This change is expected to increase the demand for balcony power plants, with 152,000 systems going online in the second quarter of the year alone.
With this new law, landlords and homeowners' associations can still have a say in how the solar systems are installed, but the fundamental right to install the systems is now clarified, except for listed buildings.
