Getting an EV charger approved in a complex or sectional title scheme

In a sectional title scheme the parking bay is frequently not yours to modify, the cable run almost always crosses common property, and the electricity supply is often metered to the scheme rather than to your unit. Each of those is a reason the body corporate has a say, and together they are why a charger in a complex is a governance problem before it is an electrical one.

What is actually yours

Under the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act, a scheme is divided into sections owned by individual owners and common property owned collectively, with parking often held as an exclusive use area rather than as part of your section. An exclusive use area gives you the right to use it, not a free hand to alter it or to run new services to it. Establish which of the three your bay is before you plan anything, because it determines whose permission you need.

• Your section: the unit itself, where you have the widest latitude
• Exclusive use area: yours to use, but alterations and new services need consent
• Common property: collectively owned, and any cable route across it needs approval

The three questions trustees will actually ask

Trustees are rarely opposed in principle. They are worried about specific things, and a proposal that answers them in advance moves considerably faster than one that does not. Who pays for the electricity, and how is it measured. Who is liable if the installation causes a fire or damages common property. And whether the scheme's supply can carry it, particularly if other owners follow.

Capacity is the objection you cannot argue away

A scheme has a notified maximum demand, and chargers are a large, sustained load. One is usually absorbed without difficulty; ten is a supply upgrade. A sensible proposal acknowledges this and suggests a policy for the scheme rather than an exception for you, which is also the argument most likely to win over trustees who expect to face the same request again.

The practical route

• Confirm whether the bay is your section, exclusive use, or common property
• Get a written quote including the cable route across common property and a sub-meter
• Confirm who issues the certificate of compliance and that the scheme receives a copy
• Put it to the trustees as a scheme policy, not a personal exception
• Expect the scheme's insurer to be asked about the installation, and have the certificate ready

Rules and their application vary between schemes, and a managing agent will know the specific scheme's requirements better than any general guide. Treat this as the shape of the process rather than as advice on your particular scheme.