Harris County solar lien search

Where do you search for a solar lien in Harris County?

In the Harris County Clerk's real property records, which you can search online for free. A solar lien is usually a UCC fixture filing, and Texas sends fixture filings to the county clerk, not to the Secretary of State. Searching the state UCC index and finding nothing does not clear a Harris County home.

The state says so itself. TheTexas Secretary of State's UCC FAQsends a fixture filing to "a Texas county clerk". For a house in Houston, Pasadena, Katy's Harris County side or anywhere else in the county, that clerk is theHarris County Clerk. The general version of this, for Florida, Illinois and every other state, is onwhere to search for a solar lien.

Which fields do you fill in?

Your own name, twice. Search it in the Grantor field, then again in the Grantee field, because a filing can index the homeowner on either side depending on who prepared it. Leave the date range open or start it at the month you signed the solar paperwork. Then read the Instrument Type column for anything described as a UCC, a financing statement or a fixture filing.

Two habits save time. Try your name the way it appears on your deed, including a middle initial, and then without it, because an index matches what was typed. And if the house is in two names, search both. A filing made against one spouse will not come up under the other.

What does a clean result actually tell you?

That nothing is indexed under the names you typed, as of a day or two ago. It is good evidence, not a title opinion. A misspelled name, a filing indexed under a previous owner, or one recorded this week can all hide from a name search. If you are selling, your title company runs the search that counts, and running yours first just means their answer is not a surprise.

What do you do if you find a solar filing?

Open the document image and read who filed it and what it covers. If it secures a solar loan you paid off, ask the lender for a UCC-3 termination and get it recorded. If it protects a lease or PPA that is still running, ask the provider in writing what they need for a sale or a refinance. Start that now, because the reply is the slow part.

The reason it matters at a sale is lender rules, not the panels.Fannie Mae's Selling Guiderequires a UCC search on a property with solar and requires a filing that ranks ahead of the mortgage to be subordinated before the loan closes. The closing-table version of this is atselling a house with solar, and the refinance version atsolar leases, refinancing and DTI.

Does every kind of solar leave a filing?

No. Loans almost always do, leases and power purchase agreements often do, and cash purchases and subscriptions leave nothing on the record. The full breakdown is ondo solar panels put a lien on your house. We sell subscriptions, which is the no-filing kind, so read that page knowing where we stand.

Looking at solar for a Harris County home?

If you want solar without anything recorded against the house,run your bill through the estimator. It takes about a minute, and a real person in Houston follows up. The Texas page covers CenterPoint delivery charges and who the product is a bad fit for.