Installing electric vehicle chargers when you live in a flat or apartment is predominantly more difficult compared to installing the same solution in a freehold property – but it is possible.
It is becoming customary for leaseholders to ask property managers and/or freeholders for permission to install an EV charger, and whilst they can guide you with such requests, expect them to charge fees for this. Most management contracts cover the maintenance and management of an estate but are unlikely to include provisions to assist leaseholders to install EV chargers.
There are two reasons for this:
- Such a project represents an improvement or upgrade to the demise
- A single EV charger only benefits the leaseholder installing it. It is unreasonable that an individual leaseholder should expect a managing agent to include this as part of a management agreement, as it does not benefit ALL leaseholders on an estate.
How can I reduce the fees a managing agent/freeholder will charge?
In the first instance, assess the feasibility of installing an EV charger at the simplest level:
- Would the landlord be agreeable “in principle” to such a request? As there will be a limit to the number of leaseholders that can have an EV solution, mainly due to the probable lease restrictions and possible electrical capacity constraints, then many freeholders may simply reject such requests. As the installation of any EV charger will usually involve running cables over communal land, the freeholder is within their rights to deny permission to do this. Unlike demised premises, there is no compulsion on the freeholder to grant such permissions for improvements or upgrades.
- Do you have an allocated or demised parking space? If not, it is unlikely you will be given permission to install a charger if you have no rights to the land upon which your electric vehicle will need to be parked to use the charger
- Do you have an electricity supply to tap into? In an ideal world, this supply would be linked to your flat, but car parking spaces are more often than not too far away from the flat’s electricity supply to be viable. Even if it was close to your space, you’ll need to have enough room to install a separate 32 AMP spur off your own supply. You’ll also need to check that there is enough space to be able to install the EV charger safely. If this isn’t your own supply, is there a communal supply close by? If you use a communal supply, you will also need to get a meter installed such that the costs of the electricity you use can be recovered.
These first three considerations will, at the very least, determine if you are UNABLE to install an EV charger. If the above considerations do not rule out installation of a single EV, then EV solutions Group has created a free document to enable leaseholders to explore the viability of a single EV charger for their own use and this can be downloaded from the link below
EVSG – Installing an electric vehicle charger at my flat or apartment self-help document