The Netherlands introduces a template deed for establishing rights of superficies for solar PV rooftop projects

On 11 September 2018 the Dutch Banking Association (NVB) has published a (Dutch language) template deed for establishing a right of superficies in relation to solar PV systems on (company) rooftops. The template deed has been developed in collaboration with the Royal Notarial Association and aims to facilitate the financing of solar PV rooftop projects. Since in particular the smaller projects will generally not have the budget to allow for customised financial and legal arrangements, the availability of the template deed is believed to increase the success rate of the development of rooftop projects. The template deed can be used for rooftop projects on company buildings regardless of their capacity, but is less suitable for projects on private roofs. Under the template deed the duration of the right of superficies is 17 years, consisting of the realisation period for the project and the SDE+ subsidy period.

The template deed aims to take the interests into account of all key parties involved in rooftop projects: the owner of the building, the project company that develops and operates the project, the financiers of the project as well as the bank that has a mortgage on the building. The template deed for instance aims to make it easier for banks to agree amongst each other on the establishment and change in priority of the necessary security rights on the building and the rooftop.

The NVB expects a broad support for the template deed as, next to the Royal Notarial Association, many parties have been involved in the development thereof, including representatives of the solar PV branch, several banks, Ministries, RVO and real estate appraisers. It will be interesting to see whether these expectations will be met. If so, banks and (other) financiers might in the future require that the template deed is used to ensure bankability of the rooftop projects.

The NVB has indicated that it also plans to develop template deeds for rooftop projects with lease structures and company buildings located on leasehold land.

For more information please visit the NVB website (in Dutch).

CMS has been in the forefront of the developments in solar PV. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions with respect to the NVB template deed and its possible implications.