How to Get Out of a Solar Contract, and What to Check Before You Pay Anyone to Help

The questions in homeowner groups sound the same from state to state. Has anyone actually gotten out of their solar loan? Has anyone stopped paying? Is the company that says it can cancel my contract for a fee real? The honest answer is that some contracts can be undone and many cannot, and which one you have depends mostly on timing and on what went wrong. This guide walks through the windows that exist, the paths that hold up after them, and how to judge anyone who offers to do it for you. It is general information, not legal advice. A licensed attorney in your state can tell you where your own facts fit.

In the first days after signing: your cancellation window

If you signed recently, check this section before anything else. These windows are short, they run in business days, and they close at midnight.

The federal Cooling-Off Rule

The FTC Cooling-Off Rule covers most sales where a seller solicits you in person and you sign away from the seller's place of business: $25 or more at your home, or $130 or more at a temporary location. You can cancel until midnight of the third business day after the sale. The rule has exclusions, including one for repairs you asked a company to come and do, so read the cancellation notice the seller was required to give you.

Nevada: three business days, or ten if you are 60 or older (signed since October 1, 2025)

Nevada's solar law gives anyone who signs an agreement to buy or lease a solar system, or a power purchase agreement, on or after October 1, 2025 the right to rescind or cancel it "without any penalty or obligation." You have until midnight of the third business day after signing, or the tenth business day if you are 60 or older (NRS 598.98216). Send written notice to the company's place of business or to the email address printed on the agreement's cover page, and say that you are cancelling. For an agreement signed before October 1, 2025, the version of the law in force when you signed applies. The ten-day window for people 60 or older and the survey window do not apply to it.

For an agreement signed on or after October 1, 2025, Nevada adds a second window. The company has to survey your home in person and give you the results. If a survey done after you signed turns up a condition that would raise the price or change the equipment, you have three business days after receiving the results to rescind the agreement, and a loan you took out to pay for it, with a narrow exception for equal or better equipment at no extra cost that cuts estimated first-year production by no more than 5 percent (NRS 598.982145).

California: three business days, or five for a senior citizen

California lets a buyer cancel a home solicitation contract until midnight of the third business day after signing, or the fifth business day if the buyer is a senior citizen (Civil Code 1689.6). Written notice goes to the address or email address in the agreement, and a mailed notice counts from the moment it is mailed.

Whatever state you are in, cancel in writing, keep a copy, and keep proof of sending, such as a certified mail receipt or the sent email. Other states set their own windows. Your state attorney general's consumer protection office can tell you yours.

After the window: the paths that hold up

Once the window closes, a solar contract generally binds you like any other. What changes the picture is a specific problem you can document. Our guide to whether you still have to pay your solar loan covers four of them in detail: a written performance guarantee in a lease or power purchase agreement, a system that never worked, an install that was never finished, and a claim in the installer's bankruptcy. Each one runs on documents, not phone calls.

A contract that broke the rules when it was written

Nevada sets out what a solar agreement must contain, down to a cover page in 16-point type. If a solar installation company knowingly leaves out a required disclosure, the agreement is voidable by the buyer, lessee or power purchase agreement customer. Failing to follow these rules is also a deceptive trade practice under Nevada law, and a violation counts as consumer fraud (NRS 598.9822).

Nevada also requires the company to go over the cover page by phone, video or in person with a buyer or power purchase agreement customer (and, on an agreement signed before October 1, 2025, a lessee), and to record that conversation. For an agreement signed on or after October 1, 2025, the company keeps the recording for at least five years after the final inspection, and the company that finances a solar loan or lease has a similar recording requirement (NRS 598.982144). If you ask for a copy in writing or by email, the company has 10 business days to send it (NRS 598.98213). If what the rep told you does not match your contract, that recording is the record. Ask for it early.

When a claim can follow the contract to whoever holds it

Many homeowners are told that the installer and the lender are separate, so a problem with one does not touch the other. That is not always true. Under the FTC's Holder Rule, a seller may not take a consumer credit contract, or accept the proceeds of a loan from a lender it refers customers to or is affiliated with, unless the credit contract carries this notice: "Any holder of this consumer credit contract is subject to all claims and defenses which the debtor could assert against the seller of goods or services obtained pursuant hereto or with the proceeds hereof. Recovery hereunder by the debtor shall not exceed amounts paid by the debtor hereunder." Look for that paragraph in your loan documents. If it is there, a claim you have against the seller may be raised against the lender, up to what you have paid.

Nevada adds a rule for solar contracts that change hands. When a solar loan, lease or power purchase agreement entered into on or after October 1, 2025 is assigned to another company, that company is subject to all of the claims and defenses you had against the company that originally financed the system, up to the amount owed to it when you raise the claim (NRS 598.98218). Whether either rule reaches your contract is a question for a lawyer.

Put the dispute in writing to the lender

If you believe the sale was misrepresented or the system does not work, tell the lender or the company that holds your lease in writing, with dates, copies of the documents and a short statement of what you want. Keep paying while you do it. A written dispute creates the record that every later step depends on, and a lender that ignores one can be reported to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Why stopping payment is not an exit

The most common question in homeowner groups is whether anyone has simply stopped paying. Stopping payment does not cancel a loan, lease or power purchase agreement. It usually starts late fees, collection activity and negative credit reporting, while the contract and the equipment on your roof stay where they are. Our loan guide walks through what typically happens next. If a company tells you to stop paying as part of its plan, ask it to put in writing what happens to your credit and who defends you if the lender sues.

Before you pay a contract-exit company

A growing number of companies advertise that they can get homeowners out of solar contracts. Some are law firms. Some describe themselves as marketing companies that refer homeowners to law firms. Some sell document kits for you to use yourself. The prices vary, and they are not always published. In one online group of Freedom Forever customers, a homeowner reported being quoted $5,200 and up to 18 months by an exit company. That is one person's report, not a market price.

Before you sign with any of them, get written answers to these questions:

• Who is the licensed attorney on my case, and in which state is that person licensed? Check the name with the state bar, such as the State Bar of Nevada or the State Bar of California's attorney search. A company that is not a law firm cannot give you legal advice.
• What do I pay upfront, what do I pay later, and what do I get back if nothing changes? Get the full fee and the refund terms in the agreement, not in a conversation.
• What exactly will you do? Sending letters, negotiating with the lender and filing a lawsuit are different services at different prices.
• Will you tell me to stop paying? If the answer is yes, ask what that does to your credit and what the company's agreement says if the lender sues you.
• Do you promise a result? A promise that your contract is "unenforceable," or that you will get your money back, is a warning sign. Nobody can promise how a lender or a court will respond.
• Can I cancel your agreement, and on what terms?

Public agencies to try first

Several public agencies take complaints about solar sales and financing, and filing one has no fee:

• Nevada: the Attorney General's consumer complaint form, the Nevada State Contractors Board for licensing and workmanship, and the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada, which state law names as a place to file a complaint about a solar installation company (NRS 598.9822).
• California: the Attorney General's consumer complaint form and the Contractors State License Board.
• Any state: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for problems with a lender or loan servicer, and the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov.

Local legal aid organizations and your state bar's lawyer referral service can also point you to an attorney who handles consumer contract disputes.

What to keep while you decide

Keep a copy of the signed contract and every page that came with it, including any cover page and disclosure forms, the proposal the rep showed you, your payment history, and your production history from the monitoring app. If you are in Nevada, ask for the recording described above. Write down what you were told and when, while you still remember it. Whatever path you take, these documents are what it will run on.