Updated August 25, 2026. Quick answer: A solar UCC-1 filing is not paperwork that clears itself. It clears when the secured party files a termination statement – and under the uniform text your written demand starts a 20-day clock. Until then it is exactly where a title search looks, which is why it surfaces at closing rather than before.
Why a title search finds it
Solar financing is often perfected by a fixture filing, recorded in the land records rather than the personal-property index. Under the official text of U.C.C. s. 9-334, a security interest can take priority where “the security interest is perfected by a fixture filing before the goods become fixtures or within 20 days thereafter”.
Fannie Mae states the consequence in its own guide: “If properly filed, the security interest in the described fixture has priority over the lien of a subsequently recorded mortgage.” A buyer’s lender will not ignore something that can outrank its mortgage.
What actually removes it
U.C.C. s. 9-513 puts the duty on the secured party and gives it two deadlines. The termination statement is due “within one month after there is no obligation secured by the collateral covered by the financing statement and no commitment to make an advance, incur an obligation, or otherwise give value” – or, if sooner, “within 20 days after the secured party receives an authenticated demand from a debtor”.
That second clause is the practical one. A paid-off loan does not remove a filing on its own schedule; a written demand from you starts a defined 20-day clock. Make the demand in writing, dated, and keep the proof of delivery.
What your buyer’s lender will require
Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide sets the closing-side condition. Where documentation is thin and ownership of the panels is unclear, “no value for the panels may be attributed to the property value on the appraisal unless the lender obtains a Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) “personal property” search that confirms the solar panels are not claimed as collateral by any non-mortgage lender”.
So the filing does not merely delay a closing. Left unresolved, it can strip the panels out of the appraised value of the house you are selling.
Sequence, if you are listing
Pull the filing before you list, not after you have a contract. Get the payoff figure and the lender’s written confirmation of what it will file and when. Send the termination demand in writing. Then confirm the filing was actually terminated in the same office where it was recorded – the demand starts a clock, it does not do the filing.
What this page does not settle
Scope: the U.C.C. text quoted here is the official uniform text published by Cornell’s Legal Information Institute. Article 9 is enacted state by state, and your state’s version governs – check the enacted section, not the model. The statutory-damages remedy sometimes cited against a secured party that fails to terminate was not verified and no penalty amount is stated here.
Sources
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-3-04, Properties with Solar Panels — https://selling-guide.fanniemae.com/sel/b2-3-04/special-property-eligibility-considerations
- U.C.C. s. 9-334(d)(3) (official text) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/9/9-334
- U.C.C. s. 9-513(b) (official text) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/9/9-513
- U.C.C. s. 9-513(b)-(c) (official text) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/9/9-513
Related: What Happens to a Solar Lease When You Sell the House – or When You Die · The Solar Loan Dealer Fee · what other liens on a home cost.
General information drawn from the primary statutes, regulations and filings named above, not legal, tax or financial advice. Read your own governing documents or contract before relying on any general description, including this one.