EV charger request: what the condo board should check

Everything is written for the owner who wants a charger. Nothing for the board that receives the request. Here is what to examine, and in what order.

An owner announces they are installing a charging point in the car park. The board discovers it through a copy of the letter to the property manager, often unsure what it may say, or what it should check.

There is no shortage of guidance — from the applicant's point of view. For the board, the subject is almost always treated as paperwork, when it commits the building's electrical installation for years.

The principle: an individual request that is not voted on

In France, the "right to plug in" lets an owner, or a tenant, have a charging point installed at their own expense on their parking space. The request is notified to the property manager with a description of the works and a wiring diagram. The general meeting does not authorise it, and the manager may object only on serious grounds — proven technical impossibility, or a collective project already under way.

The board's role is therefore not to accept or refuse, but to inform: it is the board that knows the state of the installation, the works history and the projects in progress.

The six points to clarify

1. The power requested and the connection point: common areas or the applicant's own meter? The answer decides who pays for the electricity, and it is the first source of dispute.
2. The installer's qualification: above a certain power, the work calls for a professional certified for charging infrastructure.
3. The cable route: where does it run, which common areas does it cross, what making good is planned afterwards?
4. The impact on the available power of the common supply: a charger adds to lighting, the lift and ventilation. Have the remaining headroom checked.
5. Fire safety: the rules for covered car parks are evolving, and charging points can change the building's obligations.
6. Reinstatement and liability for damage, to be set out in writing before work starts.

The first charger is an individual request. The fifth is an infrastructure problem.

The real subject: anticipating the collective solution

A building that handles requests one by one ends up, after a few years, with mismatched connections, cables running everywhere and no spare capacity. What follows is predictable: the next requests hit a technical impossibility, and the building has to fund in a hurry an infrastructure it could have planned.

From the very first request, the board has an interest in getting a collective infrastructure priced — a dedicated riser each owner can then connect to at their own expense. It is a natural item for the multi-year works plan, and one to put on the agenda long before it becomes urgent: see how to get your items listed.

What to file

• The applicant's notification and the date it was received: that is what starts the manager's response period.
• The technical description and wiring diagram provided.
• Photos of the car park before the works, exactly as for any project — see the issue log for the method.
• The manager's reply, and the board's opinion if given.

That record serves twice: for the next request, to handle it the same way, and on the day the collective infrastructure is decided, to show how long the subject has been on the table. It belongs naturally in the condo board annual report.

Keeping the history of the subject

Charger requests spread over years, and the board changes in the meantime. With CoproHarmony, every request, quote and exchange stays available with its date, whatever the turnover. Create your space for free.

Two other installations follow the same access-right logic: fibre optic and the use of parking spaces.

Parking is changing for two-wheelers too: see creating a bike store and providing an adapted space.