Electrics and gas
A solar inverter in the loft has no shutdown label the surveyor could read. What isolation procedure was not tested?
The isolation procedure for that inverter was not tested. The unit sits in the loft with no shutdown label the surveyor could read, so the visit cannot say how the system is switched off, in what order, or where the isolators are. The survey saw an unlabelled inverter. It did not operate a shutdown, did not follow a written procedure, and did not produce an electrical certificate. A missing label is a visual limit, not a trial of isolation.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Solar kit can stay live from the panels even when the house supply is off, which is why a readable shutdown label matters in the loft. The surveyor could not read one. That does not prove the isolators are missing, and it does not prove they are wrong. It means the procedure was not available to follow and was not tested. The home survey does not switch a solar system as an electrical inspection.
Ask an electrician, or the solar installer, for the shutdown procedure and a check of the labelling, as electrical work outside this report. Tell the solicitor the survey did not test isolation. Do not tell a lender the loft array was made safe because the inverter was seen. The home survey has not switched it off and has not read a procedure.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What shutdown label, if any, could you read on the loft inverter?
- Did you test an isolation procedure, or only note that you could not?
- Were the isolators identified, or left undescribed?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the inverter isolation procedure as untested.
- Ask an electrician for the shutdown steps and the labels.
- Do not describe seeing the inverter as a test of isolation.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the panels look clean, has the shutdown been proved?
No. Clean panels say nothing about how the inverter is isolated. The survey found no shutdown label it could read and did not test a procedure. Appearance of the array is not an electrical inspection. The loft unit stays unlabelled in the report, and no isolator sequence was tried.
Can you switch the house supply off and call the solar side dead?
Do not assume that. The survey did not test isolation, and a house switch is not automatically a shutdown of the panels. No label was readable to say otherwise. An electrician should confirm the procedure. The home survey has not made the loft system dead and has not said that it is.