A Sunrun solar lease is a 20- to 25-year obligation attached to your roof, your credit, and — through a UCC-1 fixture filing — your property title. That's why getting out of one is harder than getting out of a solar loan, and why Sunrun's retention team is so confident when they tell you the only way out is a buyout.

They're not telling you the whole truth. There are five real exits from a Sunrun lease or PPA, and only one of them is the buyout. This guide walks through each one honestly — including which ones cost money, which ones don't, and which ones actually void the agreement.

Why a Lease Is Harder to Escape Than a Loan

With a solar loan, you own the panels and owe a lender. You can refinance, pay it off, or — where disclosures failed — pursue federal TILA rescission. With a Sunrun lease or PPA, none of that applies:

• You don't own the equipment. Sunrun does. You can't sell it, and you can't remove it.
• TILA doesn't apply. A lease isn't consumer credit, so the three-year federal rescission route is off the table.
• Sunrun claims the tax credit, not you — regardless of what the salesperson implied.
• The UCC-1 fixture filing sits on your property record, which is exactly where it hurts when you try to sell.
• The escalator compounds. A 2.9% annual increase over 25 years roughly doubles your payment by the end of the term.

That combination is why "just stop paying" is a trap and why the exits below matter.

The Five Real Exits From a Sunrun Lease

Exit 1: Legal Cancellation or Rescission (The One They Don't Mention)

This is the only exit that can void the lease without you writing a check, and it's the one Sunrun's retention script skips entirely. It applies where the sale itself was legally defective:

• Cooling-off violations. If the contract was signed at your home and the required Notice of Cancellation forms weren't properly delivered, the cancellation clock may never have started running.
• Missing or defective disclosure documents. Many states mandate specific solar disclosures. In California, for example, a Solar Energy System Disclosure Document must appear in 16-point boldface on the front or cover page of the contract.
• Language violations. If the sale was negotiated in Spanish or another covered language and you never received a written translation before signing, several states — California among them — allow outright rescission.
• Misrepresentation. The "$0 electric bill" that never happened. The tax credit you were told you'd receive but legally could not on a lease. The escalator nobody explained. The utility-affiliation implication.
• Contractor licensing failures. If the crew that installed your system wasn't properly licensed, some states let you recover everything you've paid.

These claims survive installation. They do not expire when your three days run out. If you were misled at the kitchen table, start here — see your options when a solar salesman lied.

Exit 2: The Buyout

Sunrun's preferred outcome. Many Sunrun agreements permit a buyout beginning around year five or six of the term — check your specific contract, because terms vary by vintage and state. The quoted figure on a residential system commonly lands in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Three things worth knowing before you accept a buyout number:

• It's an opening position, not a fixed price. Buyout quotes are negotiable, particularly when you have documented disclosure defects or performance shortfalls to point at.
• Ask for the calculation in writing. Buyouts are typically derived from the net present value of remaining payments, and the assumptions inside that math are frequently favorable to Sunrun.
• Buying out means you now own aging equipment — and the maintenance, inverter replacement, and roof interaction that come with it.

Exit 3: Transfer at Sale (Service Transfer Agreement)

When you sell the house, the lease can transfer to the buyer — if the buyer qualifies on credit and agrees to sign a transfer or assumption agreement. In practice this is where a large share of Sunrun leases go sideways: the buyer's lender objects to the UCC-1 filing, the buyer refuses to assume a 20-year escalating obligation, or the deal simply falls apart in escrow.

If you're selling, start this process months before listing, not during escrow. Read selling a house with a solar lease and how to remove a solar UCC-1 fixture filing.

Exit 4: Prepayment of Remaining Payments

Some agreements allow you to prepay the balance of the term without taking ownership. This clears the monthly obligation but often leaves Sunrun owning equipment on your roof for the remainder of the term — which does not solve the title problem. Read the clause carefully before treating this as an exit.

Exit 5: Negotiated Settlement or Litigation

Where the legal grounds in Exit 1 are strong, the realistic outcome is usually a negotiated resolution: the lease voided or bought down, the lien released, sometimes payments refunded. Most of the consumer protection attorneys we work with take these matters on contingency — the solar company pays the legal fees if you win, not you.

What Doesn't Work — And What Happens If You Just Stop Paying

We talk to homeowners every week who stopped paying out of frustration. Understandable, and almost always counterproductive. Expect:

• Collections activity and credit damage
• Default interest and fees stacking onto the balance
• The UCC-1 filing becoming a much bigger obstacle at sale
• Your leverage in any negotiation dropping sharply — you've now breached first

Two other non-starters: removing the panels yourself (they're Sunrun's property, and you'll owe for the damage), and assuming a BBB complaint alone will cancel the agreement. Complaints build a useful record; they don't void contracts.

Sunrun Lease vs. Sunrun PPA — Does It Change Your Exit?

A lease charges a fixed monthly amount for the equipment. A PPA charges a per-kWh rate for the power produced. The exits are broadly the same, with one practical difference: PPA holders have an extra angle when the system chronically under-produces against the sales projection, because you're paying for output that never showed up. Compare: Sunrun loan vs. lease cancellation.

The Escalator Is Usually the Real Problem

Most homeowners who want out of a Sunrun lease don't have a sudden problem — they have a slow one. The escalator clause raises your payment every year for the life of the agreement, and the pitch assumed utility rates would rise faster. When they don't, the savings invert and you're paying more than you would have without solar. See solar escalator clauses explained.

If You're in California

California gives Sunrun lease holders more leverage than any other state — mandatory disclosure documents, a translation-rescission remedy, contractor licensing disgorgement, and the CLRA's attorney-fee provision. Read how to cancel a Sunrun contract in California and our California solar contract cancellation guide. Local pages: Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Ana.

Step-by-Step: Getting Out of Your Sunrun Lease

1. Find your complete agreement — including exhibits, the production estimate, and the disclosure page. The exhibits are where the escalator and buyout terms live.
2. Identify the contract type — lease or PPA — and the exact escalator percentage.
3. Pull your production data from the Sunrun app and compare actual output against the projection you were shown.
4. Pull 12 months of utility bills from before and after installation. This is how you prove the savings claim failed.
5. Check your property record for the UCC-1 fixture filing.
6. Write down the sales conversation — who, when, and exactly what was promised. Gather texts and emails.
7. Request a buyout quote in writing, with the calculation — useful as a number to negotiate against, whether or not you intend to pay it.
8. Do not sign an amendment, release, or settlement until your file has been reviewed. Those documents routinely waive the claims worth the most.
9. Get the agreement reviewed for the Exit 1 grounds above.

Related Sunrun Guides

The 7 legal paths out of a Sunrun contract · Cancelling after installation · Cancelling before installation · Sunrun complaints in California · Is Sunrun going out of business?

Read These Six Clauses in Your Sunrun Agreement

Most homeowners have never read past the monthly payment. The clauses that actually determine your exit are further in — usually in the exhibits.

1. The Escalator

Find the annual increase percentage and the term length. Multiply it out. A payment that starts comfortable at 2.9% annual escalation is a very different number in year 20, and that projection is what you'll be negotiating against.

2. Buyout Eligibility and Formula

Look for when a purchase option first becomes available and how the price is computed. Many agreements bar a buyout for the first several years and then price it on the net present value of remaining payments — sometimes with a fair market value floor. Ask for the actual arithmetic in writing.

3. Transfer and Assumption Terms

This clause governs your home sale. Note any buyer credit score requirement, transfer fee, and notice period. If it requires the buyer to qualify, your future sale depends on a stranger's credit — which is a real problem worth knowing about now rather than in escrow.

4. The Performance Guarantee

Find the guaranteed annual production number and the remedy for a shortfall. Compare it to what the sales proposal projected. These are often different numbers, and the guarantee typically reimburses far less than the shortfall actually costs you.

5. Roof, Insurance, and Damage Responsibility

Who pays when the roof needs replacement and the array must come off and go back on? Who is responsible for penetration leaks? What insurance are you required to carry? Roof removal and reinstall charges surprise homeowners constantly.

6. Default and Remedies

What counts as default, what Sunrun may do about it, and whether there is an acceleration clause. Read this before you ever consider withholding payment.

What Happens at the End of the Term

A 20- or 25-year lease ends with a decision, and the options are typically some combination of renewing the agreement, purchasing the system at fair market value, or having Sunrun remove the equipment. Two things worth thinking about now:

• The equipment will be decades old. Inverters generally don't last the full term without replacement, and panel output degrades. "Buy it at fair market value" is a different proposition for aging hardware.
• Removal is not always free or clean. Check who bears the cost of removal and roof restoration when the term ends.

Red Flags That Your Sunrun Sale Was Legally Defective

If any of these describe your experience, the rescission route in Exit 1 is worth investigating seriously:

• You signed at your home, and no Notice of Cancellation form was attached — or it was blank or undated.
• The sale happened in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean, and you never got a written translation before signing.
• There is no bold, large-type disclosure document on the front or cover page of your contract.
• You were told your electric bill would be eliminated, or nearly so.
• You were told you'd receive the federal tax credit on a lease or PPA. You legally cannot.
• Nobody walked you through the escalator, or you were told payments were "fixed."
• The salesperson implied an affiliation with your utility, a government program, or a rebate that was expiring that day.
• Signatures were collected on a tablet and you never received a complete copy of what you signed.
• The company on your permit is not the company on your contract.
• You were pressured to sign the same day, or told the price was only good that evening.

Any one of these is worth a review. Several together is a pattern, and patterns are what these cases are built on.

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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.