# Solar Ground Lease — Six-Year Pilot Installation
Date: 19 October 2026
Parties and reference: Landlord: Helen Ward, 8 Orchard Farm Lane, Exeter EX4 1PX. Tenant: Fern Solar Pilot Ltd, 16 Energy Court, Exeter EX1 2PX. Site: Orchard Farm pilot plot, Example Lane, Exeter. Deed EXAMPLE-SOLAR-06. All land and title references are fictional.
## 1. Demise, site schedule and term
By this deed the landlord lets the fenced 600-square-metre pilot plot for six years from 2 November 2026 to 1 November 2032 inclusive, solely for a ground-mounted solar installation not exceeding 30 kW and its approved inverter. The textual site schedule defines a 20-metre east–west by 30-metre north–south rectangle, with its southwest corner at the marked pilot stake, 10 metres east of the farmyard's southeast corner. The landlord retains the remaining farm; no dwelling, grazing rights, mineral rights or general development option is included. The fictional diagram below is descriptive only, not a Land Registry-compliant survey plan.
## 2. Plan description and ancillary access
Site sketch, north at top: north edge 20 metres; east and west edges 30 metres; south edge 20 metres; gate centred in the west fence. A three-metre-wide access strip runs west from the gate for 10 metres to the farmyard, then along the existing southern farm drive to Example Lane. The approved cable follows the north edge of that strip in a 0.5-metre-wide corridor; no off-farm cable or grid easement is granted. Access is shared, non-obstructive and limited to installation, maintenance, emergency response and removal. No access through the dwelling is allowed. Real use requires a measured plan, title verification and all necessary third-party rights before commitment.
## 3. Rent and payment terms
Rent is £2,400 for the first year, payable in advance on 2 November and each anniversary, plus VAT only if lawfully chargeable against a valid invoice. Rent rises by 3% on each anniversary; the second-year annual rent is £2,472. There is no turnover rent or premium. The tenant pays metered electricity used, rates attributable to its occupation and its own connection charges, not unrelated farm costs. Unpaid rent carries simple interest at 3% above Bank of England base rate after 14 days overdue, subject to lawful limits. The landlord must provide a receipt and verify any bank-detail change independently.
## 4. Consents, installation and operating controls
The assumed completion file records planning consent EXAMPLE-PC-30, lender consent and the separate network connection approval as obtained before this deed; these fictional references are not real permissions. The tenant must verify every required consent remains effective, comply with approved drawings and conditions and use competent insured contractors. No installation starts without a method statement and ground-condition record agreed with the landlord. The tenant maintains fencing, vegetation, drainage, cabling and equipment, prevents glare and nuisance, and cannot add batteries, increase capacity or alter the layout without written consent and renewed statutory checks. No generation income or grid availability is guaranteed.
## 5. Quiet enjoyment, insurance and liability
While the tenant complies, the landlord permits quiet enjoyment and must not build or plant so as materially to obstruct the approved panels or access. The landlord may inspect on 48 hours' notice, except a genuine emergency, and must minimise disruption. The tenant insures its plant and maintains public-liability cover of at least £5,000,000, giving annual evidence. Each party answers for loss caused by its own negligence or breach; the tenant indemnifies direct third-party claims caused by its works, excluding the landlord's fault. No exclusion limits liability for fraud or death or personal injury caused by negligence.
## 6. Assignment, security and early break
No assignment, underletting, sharing possession or charging of the lease is permitted without prior written landlord consent, not unreasonably withheld for a suitable solar operator offering adequate covenant strength. A lender receives no automatic step-in right; any direct agreement must be separately negotiated. The tenant may break on 2 November 2029 with at least six calendar months' written notice and payment of rent apportioned up to but excluding that date. Prepaid rent for later periods is refunded within ten working days. Removal and reinstatement obligations survive the break. There is no landlord convenience break or automatic forfeiture on an allegation; recovery of possession must follow lawful procedures and applicable relief rights.
## 7. Decommissioning and restoration security
Before installation the tenant deposits £6,000 with the parties' independent solicitor as stakeholder solely for reasonably evidenced removal and restoration costs on tenant default, not general rent arrears. Review adequacy annually against a competent contractor's quote and agree a justified top-up before further works. Remove panels, inverter, foundations and tenant cables and restore soil and drainage by expiry, or within 60 calendar days after an earlier ending; during that limited removal access no new generation business may continue. Give notice and an opportunity to remedy before drawing security except urgent safety work, provide accounts and return the unused balance. Security is not a cap on liability; lawful planning restoration duties remain.
## 8. Security of tenure, notices and title checks
The parties agree to exclude sections 24 to 28 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. In the assumed record the landlord served the prescribed warning on 28 September 2026, the tenant's authorised director made the required simple declaration on 15 October and neither party was contractually bound before execution on 19 October, more than 14 days after service. Copies of the warning and declaration must be kept with the deed; a clause alone cannot contract out. Formal notices are hand delivered or sent by recorded post to the stated addresses, effective on actual delivery, with no email service agreed. Conveyancers must check title, priority, any restriction, registrability of rights and tax filings; the six-year term does not dispense with those checks.
## 9. Deed execution and delivery
English law and the courts of England and Wales apply. Executed as a deed by Helen Ward in the physical presence of witness Maya Ellis, 20 Meadow Court, Exeter EX4 2PX, teacher: Helen Ward signed; Maya Ellis witnessed and signed, both on 19 October 2026. Executed as a deed by Fern Solar Pilot Ltd acting by director Daniel Reed in the physical presence of witness Owen Clarke, 11 River Court, Exeter EX1 3PX, accountant: Daniel Reed signed; Owen Clarke witnessed and signed on the same date. Delivered as a deed by both parties on 19 October. These typed fictional execution records are examples only, not actual signatures, witness attestations, measured plans or permission to enter real land.