California is Sunrun's biggest market — and the state where homeowners have the most legal leverage to get out. If you signed a Sunrun lease, power purchase agreement (PPA), or loan and you already regret it, the single most important question is this: has the system been installed yet? The answer changes which laws protect you, how fast you have to move, and what your exit actually looks like.

This guide covers both situations. If nothing is on your roof yet, you are in the strongest position you will ever be in — and you may be able to walk away cleanly, today. If the panels are already up, you are not stuck either; you just need a different set of tools.

First: Figure Out Which Situation You're In

California treats a not-yet-installed solar contract very differently from a completed installation. Before you do anything else, identify your position:

• Signed within the last few days, nothing installed. You likely have an absolute right to cancel for any reason. Skip to the next section and move today.
• Signed weeks or months ago, still waiting on permits or install. Your cooling-off window may look closed — but in California it often never legally started. Read the "clock may not have started" section carefully.
• Panels installed and operating. Cooling-off is gone, but California gives you several other routes, including full rescission and disgorgement claims.

Before Installation: How to Cancel a Sunrun Contract in California

Your 3-Business-Day Right to Cancel (5 Days If You're 65+)

Under California Civil Code § 1689.6, if you signed a contract at your home rather than at the company's place of business, it is a home solicitation contract. You may cancel it until midnight of the third business day after signing — for any reason, with no penalty and no explanation required.

If the buyer is a senior citizen (65 or older), that window extends to the fifth business day. This matters enormously in California solar, because door-to-door solar sales disproportionately target older homeowners.

Business days exclude Sundays and federal holidays. A contract signed Friday runs through the following Wednesday at midnight.

The Clock May Never Have Started — This Is the Part Sunrun Won't Volunteer

Here is what most California homeowners don't realize: the cancellation clock only starts when the company gives you a legally compliant contract package. If it didn't, your right to cancel can still be alive weeks or even months later. Check all of the following:

• Was a Notice of Cancellation form attached? California requires two copies of a properly completed Notice of Cancellation form, in the same language as the sale. No compliant form, no running clock.
• Did you receive the Solar Energy System Disclosure Document? Since January 1, 2019, Business & Professions Code § 7169 (created by AB 1070) requires solar companies to hand you a standardized CSLB disclosure document, printed in boldface 16-point type on the front or cover page of the contract, before the sale is completed. It must state total system cost including financing, how to file complaints, and your cancellation rights.
• Was the paperwork in the language the sale was conducted in? Under Civil Code § 1632, if the deal was negotiated primarily in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean, the company must give you a full translation of the contract — every term and condition — before you sign. Failure to do so entitles you to rescind the contract. This is one of the most commonly violated and most powerful protections in California solar.
• Did they take too much money up front? Under B&P Code § 7159, a home improvement contractor may not demand or accept a down payment greater than $1,000 or 10% of the contract price, whichever is less. Larger deposits are a violation.

Any one of these failures can extend or revive your cancellation right. Several of them together tend to make a contract very difficult for the company to defend.

How to Actually Send the Cancellation

Do not cancel by phone alone. Phone calls disappear; paper does not. Do all of this on the same day:

1. Write a dated, signed cancellation letter stating you are cancelling under California Civil Code § 1689.6 and, if applicable, that the contract package was non-compliant.
2. Send it three ways: certified mail with return receipt, email to your sales rep and Sunrun customer service, and — if you can — overnight courier. Keep every receipt and confirmation.
3. Photograph the entire signed contract package before you send anything, including the front/cover page, so you can prove what disclosures were or weren't there.
4. Revoke any authorization to pull permits and tell them in writing not to enter your property or begin work.
5. Notify your utility (PG&E, SCE, or SDG&E) that any pending interconnection application should be withdrawn.
6. Demand your deposit back. California requires refund of payments within 10 days of a valid cancellation.

If crews show up anyway, do not let them on the roof, and document the attempt. Installing after a valid cancellation makes the company's position dramatically worse.

For a deeper walkthrough of the pre-installation scenario, see our guide on cancelling a Sunrun contract before installation.

After Installation: You Still Have Real Options

Once the system is installed and energized, the cooling-off window is closed. Sunrun will tell you your only choices are to keep paying, buy the system out, or transfer it when you sell. That is not the complete picture. In California, the routes that actually work after installation are these:

Route 1: Rescission for Defective Disclosures

The § 1632 language violation and the § 7169 disclosure failures described above do not expire when the panels go up. If the contract was negotiated in Spanish and you were never given a Spanish translation before signing, that is a rescission claim whether the system was installed yesterday or two years ago.

Route 2: Misrepresentation Claims Under the CLRA and UCL

California's Consumers Legal Remedies Act (Civil Code § 1750 et seq.) and Unfair Competition Law (B&P Code § 17200) cover deceptive sales practices. The CLRA allows actual damages, injunctive relief, punitive damages, and — critically — attorney's fees, which is why these cases can be taken without you paying out of pocket. The misrepresentations we see most often in California Sunrun files:

• "Your electric bill will be $0." Almost never true, and the projections behind it are frequently built on assumptions the salesperson never showed you.
• "You'll get the 30% federal tax credit." On a lease or PPA, you do not get the tax credit — the system owner does. Homeowners are told otherwise constantly.
• The escalator was never explained. A 2.9%–3.5% annual payment increase compounds brutally over 20–25 years. See how escalator clauses work and how to kill them.
• Net metering assumptions that no longer applied. California moved to the NEM 3.0 net billing tariff in April 2023, which substantially reduced the value of exported power. Savings pitches built on older net metering math don't hold up.
• "This is a government program" or implied utility affiliation. It isn't, and it wasn't.

If a salesperson told you something that turned out to be flatly untrue, read what to do when a solar salesman lied to you.

Route 3: Contractor Licensing Problems — The Disgorgement Nuclear Option

California is unusually harsh on unlicensed contracting. Under B&P Code § 7031(b), a homeowner who used an unlicensed contractor can sue to recover all compensation paid — even if the work was performed perfectly. The statute is designed to punish unlicensed status itself, not bad workmanship.

Solar installations in California require an appropriate license — typically a C-46 (Solar), C-10 (Electrical), or B (General Building) classification. Because Sunrun runs much of its volume through dealers, sales partners, and subcontracted installation crews, the entity that actually installed your system may not be the entity on your contract, and its license status is worth verifying.

Do this yourself, free: look up the installer on the CSLB license lookup at cslb.ca.gov. Check that the license was active and properly classified on the date your work was performed, and that the name matches the company on your permit and contract.

Route 4: TILA Rescission (Loans Only)

If you financed with a solar loan — not a lease or PPA — the federal Truth in Lending Act may give you a rescission window of up to three years when material disclosures were botched. This does not apply to leases or PPAs, because those aren't consumer credit. Details: TILA rescission for solar loans.

Route 5: The UCC-1 Lien Blocking Your Home Sale

Sunrun typically files a UCC-1 fixture filing against the property. Homeowners usually discover it at the worst possible moment — in escrow, when the buyer's lender objects. This is often the pressure point that finally forces a company to negotiate. See how to remove a solar UCC-1 fixture filing and selling a house with a solar lease.

Route 6: Buyout, Transfer, or Assumption

These are Sunrun's preferred outcomes because they preserve the contract's value. A buyout on a California lease or PPA commonly lands in the tens of thousands of dollars. Treat a quoted buyout as an opening number, not a fixed price — especially if you have disclosure or licensing violations to point at. Our full breakdown: cancelling a Sunrun contract after installation.

California Laws That Work in Your Favor

• Civil Code § 1689.6 — 3 business days to cancel a home solicitation contract; 5 business days if you're 65 or older.
• Civil Code § 1632 — contract negotiated in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean must be translated before signing; failure allows rescission.
• B&P Code § 7169 (AB 1070) — mandatory Solar Energy System Disclosure Document, 16-point boldface, front or cover page, in the language of the sale.
• B&P Code § 7159 — down payment capped at $1,000 or 10% of contract price, whichever is less.
• B&P Code § 7031(b) — recover all money paid to an unlicensed contractor.
• Civil Code § 1750 et seq. (CLRA) — damages, punitive damages, and attorney's fees for deceptive practices.
• B&P Code § 17200 / § 17500 — unfair competition and false advertising claims.

For the full state-level picture, read our California solar contract cancellation guide.

Sunrun-Specific Issues We See in California

• The dealer model. The person who sat at your kitchen table often worked for a sales partner, not Sunrun. Sunrun then distances itself from what that person promised. Your contract paperwork and any texts or recordings become the whole ballgame.
• Legacy Vivint Solar contracts. Sunrun acquired Vivint Solar in 2020. Many California homeowners are on Vivint-originated agreements now serviced by Sunrun, with all the transition confusion that implies.
• Production guarantee gaps. Systems that under-produce against the sales projection, with a guarantee that pays out far less than the shortfall costs you.
• Roof penetration and warranty conflicts. Particularly painful on tile roofs, which are common across Southern California.
• Post-NEM-3.0 economics. Systems sized and sold on savings math that the current tariff no longer supports.

More detail: Sunrun complaints in California and the 7 legal paths out of a Sunrun contract.

Step-by-Step: What to Do This Week

1. Gather everything. The full signed contract, the disclosure document (or proof there wasn't one), the savings projection, texts and emails with the salesperson, your permit, and 12 months of utility bills.
2. Check the front page. Is there a 16-point boldface Solar Energy System Disclosure Document? Are there two Notice of Cancellation copies?
3. Check the language. If the sale happened in a language other than English, was the contract translated before you signed?
4. Look up the installer's CSLB license and confirm it was active and correctly classified on your install date.
5. Write everything down while you remember it — who said what, when, and where.
6. Do not sign an amendment, settlement, or "goodwill" offer until someone has reviewed your file. Those documents routinely waive the claims that are worth the most.
7. Get the file reviewed. Most of the consumer protection attorneys we work with take these cases on contingency, meaning the solar company pays the legal fees if you win.

Local California Resources

City-specific guides: Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Ana. You can also file complaints with the CSLB and the California Attorney General — see how to file a complaint against a solar company.

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Solar Freedom is a consumer advocacy platform, not a law firm. We connect homeowners with independent consumer protection attorneys. This article is general information, not legal advice.