If you rent your home, you enjoy all the benefits of living in the property without having to pay a mortgage and maintain the building. However, you won't have complete control over the property itself. Typically, your rental agreement dictates what you can and can't do to your home and you won't be able to make major changes without your landlord's approval.

On a day-to-day basis, this may not be a worry, but you may run into problems if you want to do something significant that your landlord doesn't agree with. For example, this can be an issue if you want to reap the financial benefits of cutting your power costs by adding solar power to your home, but your landlord doesn't want to go through with the process. After all, from a landlord's perspective installing solar panels doesn't make much financial sense—your landlord pays for the installation but won't see any financial upside as it will be you who saves money on power costs.

If you're in this situation and can't persuade your landlord to follow a traditional solar route, all hope is not lost. You may simply need to find a different route to ensure that you make solar savings with your landlord's blessing. What are your options?

Temporary Roof Solar Panels

Although regular solar panel arrays are permanently fitted to a roof, some companies will fit panels on temporary frames that can be easily removed in the future. Your landlord may not want to pay for a fixed system but may agree that you can pay for a temporary one that you can have removed if you leave the property at a later date.

Tip: Your landlord may want some guarantee that a temporary solar panel system won't damage the roof when it is removed. Your electrician or solar power specialist will be able to advise you on this. You may also need to agree to have the roof put back in good order if any damage is caused when the temporary frames are removed before your landlord will agree to the system going up.

Ground Mounted Solar Panels

If your landlord is against having even a temporary solar panel frame mounted on your home's roof, try talking about portable panels that are ground-mounted. These panels can be easily set up out of the way and out of sight in a garden or yard which can be a good option if your landlord also doesn't like the idea of visible solar panels on the property.

Tip: If you and your landlord can't agree on a temporary solar solution, then you can look at smaller ways to cut power costs. For example, travel solar panels or solar chargers may not save you the same amount of money as a full blown solar system; however, they may be enough to charge portable devices for you like laptops or mobile phones.

If you aren't sure how solar power could work for both you and your landlord, it might be worth talking to a local electrician with experience of installing solar power systems to make sure you understand all the available options.

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