EV charging for body corporates and HOAs

EV charging is now a trustee issue

More owners are buying electric and plug-in hybrid cars, and each one eventually asks the same question: can I put a charger in my bay? Recent coverage describes trustees under pressure to answer without a policy, metering or a billing framework in place. Handling requests one by one, without a plan, tends to create disputes about cost and capacity later.

We work with trustees, HOA boards and managing agents to put that plan in place: a load assessment, a fair charging policy, metering and billing, and a standard approval pack that owners can submit.

This is general information, not legal advice. It summarises the prescribed rules under the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act as we understand them. Your scheme may have amended rules, and every scheme is different. Please get advice from a sectional title attorney before relying on it.

How approval works in a sectional title scheme

There’s no EV-specific law for community schemes that we’re aware of, so existing rules apply. Two are most relevant.

Prescribed management rule 29 deals with improvements to common property. Improvements that aren’t reasonably necessary need a unanimous resolution. Reasonably necessary improvements need 30 days’ written notice to members with the costs and financing, and a special resolution if a member asks for a general meeting. The same rule lets owners resolve to install separate meters for sections or exclusive use areas and recover the metered cost, and requires a special resolution and 60 days’ notice for prepayment meters.

Prescribed conduct rule 5 requires the trustees’ written consent for changes to the external appearance of a section or exclusive use area, which can include a wallbox in an owner’s bay or garage.

If there’s a dispute, the Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS) is the route for scheme-administration disputes. Our guide on body corporate approval for EV chargers and the body corporate approval regulation page go into more detail, with sources.

Load assessment and load management

Before approving the first charger, find out how many the building can carry. Our site assessment measures the scheme’s supply and existing demand, checks the main and common-property DB boards, and maps cable routes to the parking areas.

Where capacity is tight, load management shares the available power between chargers, so more owners can charge without an immediate supply upgrade. Most residents are well served by a 7 kW home AC charger in their bay; shared or visitor bays suit commercial dual-socket chargers.

Metering and billing that’s fair to everyone

The fairest principle is simple: whoever charges, pays. There are three common ways to do it:

• Own supply: the charger is wired from the owner’s unit meter, so charging appears on their own bill. This works where the bay is close enough to the unit’s DB board.
• Sub-metering: each charger on common property has a meter, and the body corporate recovers the cost through the levy statement.
• Prepaid or app-based billing: the user pays per kWh before or as they charge. Prepayment meters need a special resolution and 60 days’ notice under the prescribed rules.

We supply, install and commission the meters and can set up reporting for your managing agent.

A fair-use EV charging policy

A written policy saves trustees from deciding each case from scratch. It typically covers who may install a charger, approved equipment and installers, metering and cost recovery, insurance, maintenance and what happens when a unit is sold. We’re preparing a body corporate EV charging policy template [coming soon] that you can adapt with your attorney.

How we install

Once approved, our registered electricians handle the installation, test each circuit and issue a Certificate of Compliance for the managing agent’s records. For owners, we have a resident-friendly page on EV charging in apartments and complexes you can share.

Want a scheme-wide plan? Speak with StrataCharge about your complex.