Homeowner sustainability loan
A municipal loan for owner-occupiers installing solar panels on a house in Nissewaard when the national Energiebespaarlening cannot finance the same costs.
Tato příležitost je nyní dostupná v angličtině.
This entry covers buying and installing solar panels. You can borrow €2,500–€25,000, capped at the purchase costs and additional work necessarily connected with the eligible measure.
SVn provides a personal loan without collateral or a mortgage on your home. Its Nissewaard product has a 10-year term for amounts up to €7,500 and a 15-year term above that amount. Interest stays fixed; your regular monthly payment covers both interest and repayment of the borrowed money, leaving the loan fully repaid at the end. The municipality indicates interest of 1.6%–2.1%; SVn’s calculation and loan offer establish your exact rate. There is no arrangement fee, but you pay any financial adviser yourself.
For solar panels, the money goes into a building depot: an account held by SVn to pay installation invoices after municipal approval. Repayments start immediately. If you have already paid an invoice, SVn can reimburse you after checking proof of payment; any bank transfer charges are passed to you. You must pay any invoice amount exceeding the remaining depot balance yourself, and cannot deposit your own money into it.
The depot normally lasts 12 months and can be extended once, on request, for up to another 12 months. It closes when all money is drawn or the work is complete; SVn may also close it after six months without transactions. Any unused balance reduces your loan. For up to 12 months, the depot earns the credit interest stated in your loan documents, which offsets periodic payments.
You may repay early without a penalty, with extra repayments of at least €250. SVn adjusts the instalment after a partial repayment and may shorten the term if the resulting instalment falls below €35. You still owe the loan if the installer fails to fulfil its contract. Late payment incurs statutory interest and may incur administration or collection costs.
SVn can demand the entire outstanding debt in the circumstances listed in its terms, including arrears lasting at least two months that remain unpaid after formal notice; leaving your permanent residence in the Netherlands, or an expected departure within months; bankruptcy or statutory personal debt restructuring; deliberate material misinformation, including not using the loan for the agreed measures; or death where SVn has grounds to expect non-payment. If you borrow jointly, each borrower is liable for the whole debt.
Eligibility
- You must be older than 18 and younger than 76, own and live in the house, and be registered as a resident in the Netherlands. Landlords and tenants are excluded. Non-Dutch nationals must have lawful residence within the categories in Article 8(a)–(e) or (l) of the Vreemdelingenwet 2000.
- The house must be in Nissewaard’s address register, accessible directly at street level, with a residential floor at ground level. Apartments, houseboats, caravans and homeowners’ associations (VvEs) are excluded.
- The same costs must be ineligible for the national Energiebespaarlening from Nationaal Warmtefonds. The municipality may refuse or withdraw approval if that national loan can or could previously have covered the purchase costs.
- Municipal approval is followed by SVn’s separate credit assessment. Your income, assets, household, housing and employment circumstances must allow you to meet the new monthly repayments alongside existing expenses; SVn also checks the BKR credit register. Municipal approval does not guarantee a loan.
- The municipality may make an exception to its ordinance where applying those rules would cause serious unfairness for the applicant. This is discretionary and does not replace SVn’s credit assessment.
How to apply
- Stav
- Průběžně otevřené
- Podmínky daného kola žádostí
- Municipal pretest open to new applicants; lending depends on available budget. SVn application requires municipal approval and must follow within eight weeks of its dispatch.
First check eligibility for the national Energiebespaarlening. If it cannot finance your costs, request the municipal pretest using DigiD on the official programme page. State the proposed measures and their cost. After receiving the municipal approval decision, apply through SVn within eight weeks of the decision’s dispatch date; use your own email address and phone number.
Upload the requested documents in MijnSVn and complete SVn’s credit assessment. If SVn approves your application, accept its loan offer to take out the loan. Payments of interest and principal then begin; submit installation invoices for municipal approval and direct payment from the depot to the installer.
Applications depend on the municipal lending budget. Its annual ceiling is €900,000 plus unused funds carried forward; allocation follows the order in which SVn issues offers, and lending is refused if the ceiling would be exceeded.