Solar panels are generating electricity on more and more condominium roofs – as a joint investment, or as the panels of individual owners. Renewables are good news for the common charges, but they bring new questions into insurance: whose system is it, what is it worth, what covers it, and what happens after a hailstorm? Answer these before the policy is signed, and the panels will do nothing but generate.
- A solar system is typically only properly covered if its value also appears in the sum insured – notifying the insurer is the key step.
- The typical risks: storm and hail, power surge, fire – and damage arising from the quality of the installation, which usually falls under an exclusion.
- A commonly owned system and an owner's own system are handled by different policies – the ownership situation has to be clarified in advance.
First question: whose system is it?
The building's policy covers the common property – so a commonly owned solar system built as a community investment can belong here. If, however, the system is an owner's own investment and property, it is usually a matter for that owner's home insurance – even if it physically sits on the shared roof. In mixed situations (shared roof, private panels, a long-term agreement) a written arrangement is your friend: who owns it, who is responsible for it, who insures it. This is the modern edition of the common–private question.
Second question: is it in the sum insured?
The value of a solar system is not small change – and if nobody notifies the insurer after the installation, the building's sum insured stays below reality. That can cause two problems: damage to the system may fall outside the cover, and the building as a whole may slide into underinsurance. The rule is simple: notify the insurer at the time of installation and increase the sum insured – the process is described in the article on increasing the sum insured mid-term.
What losses should the building expect?
The typical damage picture for solar panels: storm and hail (the glass surface of the panels is vulnerable), power surge and lightning damage (the inverter is the sensitive point of the system), and fire risk. On the cover side it is worth clarifying whether the system is named in the natural perils cover, whether it needs an add-on, and whether it has a limit of its own. The exclusions deserve separate attention: damage arising from improper installation is typically not paid – in such cases the contractor's warranty and liability are the other route. That is already territory bordering on the world of epites.biz (in Hungarian).
Good practice for the building and for the owner
For a commonly owned system: a documented handover, notification of the system's value, clarity on the cover and the limit, then value maintenance at each renewal date. For an owner's own system: the owner clarifies the cover with their own insurer, and the building sets out the terms on which the roof may be used. Both cases share one truth: solar panels are a good investment when their risk side is in order too – the renewal routine helps with that.
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