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Installer Went Bankrupt? Your Warranty, Loan, and Lien Explained

The panels are on your roof. The company that installed them filed for bankruptcy last year. The 25-year warranty they promised is now a PDF from a dead company. What do you actually owe, to whom, and what breaks next? Take it piece by piece — warranty, loan, and lien are three separate problems with three separate answers.

Problem 1: The warranty

There were probably two warranties: the equipment warranty (panels, inverter — from the manufacturer, typically 25 years on panels) and the workmanship warranty (the install itself — from the installer, now worthless). The equipment warranty usually survives because it's the manufacturer's obligation, not the installer's. Find your panel and inverter brand names, then contact the manufacturer directly to confirm coverage and register the system in your name. The workmanship warranty is gone — budget for that reality.

Problem 2: The loan

If you financed the system, you still owe the loan. Bankruptcy of the installer doesn't cancel your loan — that's between you and the lender. Keep paying; defaulting wrecks your credit without helping anything. The exception: if the loan was part of a misrepresented sale, the deceptive-practices path can attack the underlying transaction.

If you leased (rather than bought), the lease was likely sold to a finance company or assumed by an acquirer in the bankruptcy. Check who you're actually paying now — the payment address may have changed without you noticing.

Problem 3: The lien

Many solar loans and leases file a UCC-1 fixture filing (sometimes described as a lien) against the equipment. This is not a mortgage on your house — but it shows up in title searches and can complicate a sale or refinance. If you've paid off the system, demand a UCC-3 termination filing from the lienholder in writing. If the lienholder is also bankrupt, this gets messy — your state AG's consumer division can sometimes pressure a resolution.

What to do this week

  1. Identify every party: installer (dead), lender/finance company (alive — keep paying), panel manufacturer, inverter manufacturer.
  2. Register equipment warranties in your name with the manufacturers.
  3. Pull your contract and find the UCC/lien language — know exactly what's filed against your property.
  4. File complaints about the original sale if anything was misrepresented — bankruptcy doesn't erase the AG's interest (where to file).
Selling the house? A leased system with a bankrupt original installer is the hardest variant for buyers' title companies. Start the lienholder conversation before you list — not during escrow.
Need the letter written? The $39 SolarEscape Kit generates your cancellation notice with the right statute cited — plus the complaint kit and bankrupt-installer playbook.
Not legal advice. This tool provides general information based on state statutes and the FTC Cooling-Off Rule as of October 2026. Laws change and every contract is different. For advice about your specific situation, talk to a consumer attorney or your state attorney general's office. We can't promise you can cancel — nobody can. What we do: tell you where the cancellation windows are, and what to do when they're closed.