Legal Advice
As with all things in residential leasehold management, the lease is the starting point. Our legal service will initially review leases and make recommendations accordingly.
Introduction
The most common problems in property management are the leases, and it is unlikely that even the most modern leases will allow the installation of an electric vehicle charger at your flat or apartment.
Relying on general “sweeper” clauses could be risky, especially as there is no mature case law to guide property managers.
A review of the lease(s) should be the starting point before commencing with ANY further actions in relation to the installation of EVC’s whether this be for an individual leaseholder or a site-wide scheme.
It is important that all parties are protected from legal challenges at a later date. At the very least, “licenses to alter” will be required and, in some cases, lease amendments.
Services
Lease reviews
It is first necessary to determine the powers of each party granted under the terms of the lease(s). It is likely that freeholder permission will be required, however, it is not a given that the freeholder will be capable of granting such permission. This is evidenced by Duval -v- 11-13 Randolph Crescent Ltd where the Supreme Court held that the landlord had breached its obligation to enforce tenant covenants by granting a license to carry out a structural alteration, where an absolute covenant in the lease prevented the leaseholder from doing so.
In light of the above judgement, property managers and landlords will need to consider the following:
- In light of Duval -v- 11-13 Randolph Crescent [2020], can a licence be granted.
- Would granting a licence now create problems further down the line. e.g. is there a limit to the number of licenses that are capable of being granted?
- What would the terms of the licence be?
Licenses to alter
Even where the EVC is on land demised to the property owner this is still an issue. Whilst the licence to alter will make the leaseholder responsible for its upkeep and maintenance, the government has set a precedent in the fire safety bill 2021 by making the fire safety compliance of front doors the responsibility of a third party (in most cases) even though the front doors are generally demised to individual flats. Could this be extended to EV chargers at a later date?
Where the EVC or associated infrastructure serving it is installed on land, which is not owned or leased by the leaseholder, this issue is even more pertinent.
The licence granted for the parking space must set out, or the lease or transfer for the property will need to be amended to ensure that it defines
- Who pays for the electricity costs?
- How are these costs recovered?
- The enforcement process if either party defaults in its obligations at a later stage?
- Recovery of costs if a dispute does arise?
- Consideration for integration into a future site-wide scheme?
Absolute Covenants
Where an absolute covenant exists, it may be necessary to apply to the FTT (First Tier Tribunal) to amend leases to allow the installation of EVC’s and associated infrastructure. This may be an issue with listed or heritage buildings.
Frequently Asked Questions
From 1st April 2022, grants will be available on the basis of £350 per charger and £500 per charger as a contribution towards infrastructure costs. EV Solutions Group can apply for grants on behalf of clients.
We can. EV Solutions Group sees individual leaseholders as the starting point of any EV charging infrastructure within a leasehold environment. Our project plans start with single leaseholders and can take a site through the whole evolution to a site-wide scheme.
We anticipate that the managing agent/property manager will do this with support from EV solutions with specification documents, quotations and answers to leaseholder or landlord queries.
In some cases, this may be possible if the car parking space is close to the leaseholder’s electricity meter AND the local transformer can handle the increased load. In most leasehold developments, there is usually a considerable distance between the leaseholder’s electricity meter and the car parking space with cost and safety issues rendering this approach impractical.
