Selling a Wind Turbine

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If you’re the owner of a wind turbine and would like to sell the structure and the land on which it’s located, you might find the process somewhat more complicated than trying to sell a house or flat. However, by following the advice laid out in this guide you should be able to increase your prospects of getting a quick and fair offer for your wind turbine.

1. What are wind turbines?
2. Selling a wind turbine as property
3. Top wind turbine issues for buyers
4. Will you pay tax on the sale of your wind turbine?
5. Your options for selling a wind turbine
6. Top queries when you sell a wind turbine

What are wind turbines?

Wind turbines are a type of renewable energy because they harness the power of naturally occurring wind outside in order to generate electricity for homes, businesses and more.

These structures are immediately recognisable as they all have a similar appearance; very tall white towers of at least a few hundred feet with typically three large blades of over 100 feet in length. When the wind is sufficiently strong enough to turn the blades, that rotation is connected to a generator that then produces electricity which can be supplied to the grid.

Supporters of wind turbines say that it helps to reduce dependence on fossil fuel power sources like coal or natural gas that can have pollution impacts, such as increased air emissions. They also point out that some wind turbines can result in people nearby getting discounted power, saving £200 or more on their energy bills, as has happened with one such pilot scheme in East Yorkshire (see BBC article).

Opponents of wind turbines have concerns that include the potential for harm to birds that hit the rotor blades, creating eyesores for natural landscapes, and for some people a general opposition to anything designated clean energy such as wind or solar.

You can find wind turbines located offshore or onshore, for example on farmland, and by some estimates there are about 11,500 wind turbines throughout the UK, with the vast majority onshore but at least 2,652 offshore.

For several years the UK government has had in place an effective prohibition on building new onshore wind turbines, because the existing rules set strict requirements on the planning permissions required for such structures. But those regulations could soon be softened, which could make it a great time to sell your wind turbine if you own one of these properties.

Selling a wind turbine as property

If you own a wind turbine then this is considered leasehold or freehold property, although whenever one of these structures is sold then the land on which it sits will also usually be sold.

The land on which your wind turbine is located might be freehold, which means that you own it outright. Or it could be leasehold, which means that you own the land for a set amount of time, typically many decades, in exchange for paying the freehold owner of the land a set ground rent, usually on an annual basis. Whichever type of land you possess, you will usually sell it along with the wind turbine as part of the sale. This Wikipedia article discuss wind turbines in the UK further.

One common scenario occurs when planning permission is granted by a local authority for you to build a wind turbine or several wind turbines on a plot of land. Once the wind turbine has been constructed, you can either earn money from the electricity generated or you can choose to sell the wind turbine, which would be considered a property combined with the land.

Top wind turbine issues for buyers

With the potential for easier planning requirements ahead in the UK and reports by MSN on the huge amounts of power that wind turbines are generating, it can be an opportune time to find a buyer for your wind turbine.

As you prepare to sell the property, you should be aware of some of the key factors that might affect whether an individual buyer is interested in the wind turbine. A few of these issues are beyond your control, such as the wind turbine’s location, but others you might be able to address, for example potentially pursuing repairs if the property is in a poor condition.

Size of the turbine: Wind turbines can vary in height and this can affect the amount of power that they are able to generate, as well as affect the overall operating costs depending on the size of the property. Some buyers might be looking to purchase a very specific size of wind turbine, as the size will affect how much power it is able to generate annually.

Condition of the turbine: Before selling you should check whether the wind turbine blades and overall structure are in good condition, and the same applies to looking over the land on which it is located for any potential problems such as subsidence. Buyers will likely view your wind turbine as less valuable if it is in a poor condition or has other negative issues.

Location of the turbine: Where your wind turbine is located can have a major impact on how much power it is able to generate, particularly if it’s in an area that typically doesn’t see very many high wind days. By contrast, a wind turbine that is situated in an area that frequently gets high winds is likely to be much more attractive to a potential buyer.

Turbine’s generation potential: The size and condition of a wind turbine will affect how much electricity it is able to generate, but there are various other elements that contribute to a wind turbine’s overall power production potential. Buyers will favour wind turbines that can generate more electricity, because that means they could earn more income from that power.

Don’t worry if your wind turbine or the land on which it’s located is in a bad condition, because you still have a viable option for a fair sale if you contact a fast property buying company.

These businesses, such as LDN Properties, specialise in making competitive and speedy offers for all types of properties, including selling as is with problems like structural damage or other negative issues that would make other types of buyers lose interest. That means you can not only find a buyer speedily but also avoid having to pay any money to improve the property’s condition.

Will you pay tax on the sale of your wind turbine?

Budgeting is a crucial part of the planning process when selling any type of property, whether that’s a wind turbine, a shop, a house or anything else. And as part of preparing a proper budget when selling your wind turbine, you should review whether you might be liable for paying Capital Gains Tax on the proceeds.

As a levy imposed by the UK government, Capital Gains Tax could be charged on the amount of profit, also called gain, that you might make when you sell your wind turbine. Make sure you speak with a tax professional before selling your wind turbine.

Your options for selling a wind turbine

Once you’ve read this guide and are ready to sell your wind turbine, you will need to decide which of four methods to use for finding a buyer.

Generally your choice will be between selling to a fast property buyer, selling via an estate agent, selling at a property auction, or selling without any assistance. You will discover that there are individual advantages associated with each method, but that a few of the methods also come with rather noticeable disadvantages, such as charging significant commission.

To identify which of the approaches might be best for you, first write down all of the key priorities for the sale of your wind turbine, including your goal sale price, whether you’re willing to pay any fees, how long you can accept waiting to find a buyer, and other relevant factors. Then compare all of these issues against the specifics of the four methods outlined below, and that should assist you in identifying the selling method that matches you unique wants and needs.

Selling to a fast property buyer

LDN Properties and other fast property buyers are companies that have the funds available to make immediate purchases of almost any type of leasehold or freehold property regardless of its age, condition, shape, size or type.

They don’t have to wait for many weeks or months to initially get approved for a mortgage to pay for buying your wind turbine, which reduces the selling process to just a few short weeks, and that includes the time it takes for the key steps like exchanging contracts and paying you the proceeds. It means selling to a fast property buyer is often faster by many weeks and can be the speediest way to sell a wind turbine compared to other methods.

And legitimate quick buyers also never charge property owners any fees when selling, which means you could count on receiving the full proceeds from the sale, keeping your costs low. By contrast, you will have to pay estate agents or auctioneers commission for selling your wind turbine and this fee is charged when the sale is finalised, which will add to your expenses.

Another reason why a quick buyer can be a great idea when selling a wind turbine is that this is a more specialist type of property compared to a conventional home, and quick buyers tend to have more experience with buying and selling more niche types of properties.

LDN Properties, for example, launched 15+ years ago and since then has purchased a wide range of leasehold and freehold properties throughout the UK including vandalised homes, flats where the owner cannot find important documents such as the title deeds, properties located in high risk flood zones, homes suffering from rot, flats that have low Energy Performance Certificates, and more.

Selling via an estate agent

You won’t have to do much work to sell your wind turbine when using the services of an estate agent, because these businesses will take care of almost every step of the process.

This starts with crafting a listing that describes the wind turbine and features photographs of it, then advertising this listing online, in their office and in local newspapers. Next, the estate agent will schedule viewings where they’ll give potential buyers a tour of the property. And finally they will hear offers from any serious buyers, hopefully taking one through to exchanging contracts.

For all of this work, however, they will require that you pay they commission, based on the sale price they’re able to get for your wind turbine. This fee will be deducted from the sale proceeds immediately, making it not the best choice if your top goal with selling is lowering your overall costs.

You might also be waiting a very long time to find a buyer when using an estate agent, because the typical time it takes to sell this way can be more than a full year.

Further, if an estate agent has never sold a wind turbine before then they might not have the knowledge about how to attract interest in your property. If that’s the situation, then it could be even longer before you get any offers. You should always ask estate agents if they have sold wind turbines in the past, and avoid those that don’t have any such experience.

One sneaky trick that some estate agents might try on you is quoting a very large and promising sale price for your wind turbine, despite them secretly knowing that you’ll only attract buyers at a much lower price. They do this in the hope that the high quoted price will convince you to use their services, so that they will be able to earn a good amount of commission if they are able to find a buyer for the property.

You can thankfully avoid falling for this trick fairly easily, starting by asking several estate agents to give you free quotes for the potential sale price of your wind turbine. Then look on Zoopla, Rightmove and other property sales websites where wind turbines are listed and write down the current and past prices of these properties, particularly any located in your area. Finally, calculate the average of all these prices and this should give you a much more realistic estimate of the price at which you should be able to attract offers from buyers.

Selling at a property auction

You could also consider selling your wind turbine at a property auction, where people will place bids of ever-increasing value on the property. It’s an unpredictable way to sell, and if you get zero bids then the property remains unsold and you will have to start over with trying to find a buyer, which could potentially add many weeks or months to the overall timeline.

You’ll be asked to choose a reserve price, which is the lowest price at which you agree the wind turbine can sell. If someone bids at the reserve price it is considered a legally binding and enforceable agreement to purchase your wind turbine, so be sure to select a price that works for you after you have paid the auctioneer their fees.

Auctioneers will make you pay commission if they successfully sell it, and this will add to your selling costs because the fee will be taken out of the sale proceeds right away. You might be able to negotiate a lower commission rate or have the winning high bidder pay some of your costs, so ask if this might be possible.

This is often not the speediest way to sell a wind turbine, because it will take at least many months. There will be a long delay of many weeks between when you first enter the wind turbine for sale and when the auction occurs. And if the property does sell, the winning high bidder will typically get about 28 days to complete all of their legal paperwork and other steps to finalise the purchase. If your main priority is selling as fast as feasible, you should consider other methods.

Beware also that it could be hard to generate any interest from bidders if the auctioneer has zero experience with selling wind turbines, because this suggests they will not know the best ways to market the property in order to generate the most interest from buyers.

Always check with individual auctioneers about their past success, if any, with selling wind turbines and it’s recommended to avoid selling via those with no such experience.

Selling without any assistance

Yet another option for selling your wind turbine would be doing so on your own, which means without any help from a third party, for example an estate agent or auctioneer.

The clear benefit of this approach is that you won’t have to pay anyone commission for selling your wind turbine, so that might help to lower your selling costs. But you will also be responsible for every step of the selling process – including preparing and paying for advertising of a listing for the property, so you could incur significant expenses due to other factors.

This can also be a very slow way to sell a wind turbine, and you should not be surprised if it takes more than a year to find a buyer. And it will require a lot of your time, money and effort, so you should not think that this is something you’ll be able to just do in your spare time.

For example, among the many tasks that you will have sole responsibility for beyond creating and marketing a listing for the wind turbine is scheduling and hosting viewings, and fielding offers from potential buyers. That’s why this selling approach is usually only suggested for those people who have prior experience of finding a buyer for a wind turbine on their own, or if you have an experienced friend or family member who might be willing to help you for free.

Because the only obvious advantage of selling on your own is not having to pay any fees, if that’s your most important issue then you should think about instead selling your wind turbine to a quick buyer like LDN Properties. Trustworthy quick buyers will never make you pay any commission when selling your wind turbine, which helps to lower your expenses. But they also have the potential to make a competitive and swift offer to buy your wind turbine and complete the purchase within a few short weeks, so you would also benefit from a speedy sale.

Top queries and answers about selling a wind turbine

If you’re looking to sell specialist types of property quickly, you may have some questions for us, ranging from the types of property we are able to buy through to selling with a rental agreement in place. Here are some of the key questions we’re asked about selling a wind turbine: