Rent to own situation

Hello! I live in an area where rent prices are spiking and I’m getting priced out. I’m a first-time homebuyer and have been looking for something for about a month. My budget is low for the area and the options are slim. I can mostly afford fixer-uppers or small houses in bad neighborhoods.

I’ve finally found a house I love and put in an offer on it. It’s small ish but updated and is in an okay but up-and-coming neighborhood. I was prequalified with several lenders for about $10,000 over asking and felt good about the offer. The house has solar panels and the owner financed them and is still paying them off, so they act as a lien on the home. My lender won’t approve my loan (luckily there was solar panel verbiage written into the offer so I could still get out of it). I don’t think this home will ever be able to sell until he pays off the panels.

Would a rent to own option here be bad for me? It would give him time to pay off the panels and would allow me to buy the house at a later time at a set rate. Real estate prices are climbing at a staggering rate around here and I think this could be a good way for me to get in, but I know rent to own is generally sketchy.