EV Charger Requests From Tenants in NSW Strata: What Strata Managers Need to Do

A tenant in a strata building wants an EV charger installed in their parking space. They contact the strata manager directly, provide a charger model and may even have an electrician ready to quote.

The request itself is not unusual. The important difference is that the person requesting the installation does not own the lot.

For strata managers, that changes the first stage of the process. A tenant can start the conversation and provide technical information, but NSW Government guidance says tenants should obtain their landlord’s approval and work through the owner when changes to common property are involved.

The practical approach is therefore straightforward: acknowledge the enquiry, establish whether the owner is involved, and do not treat the installation as formally approved or owner-authorised until that step has been resolved.

Can a tenant request an EV charger in a strata building?

Yes – a tenant can raise an EV charging enquiry with a strata manager, building manager or property manager.

But an enquiry from a tenant is not the same thing as an application supported by the lot owner.

NSW Government guidance for EV charging in residential strata states that tenants must seek their landlord’s approval, after which the landlord can act on their behalf with the owners corporation. It also notes that tenants have limited ability to make changes to common property and need to work through the property owner.

That distinction is important because an apartment EV charger often involves much more than fixing a wallbox to a parking-space wall. The installation may require new cabling, electrical distribution equipment, cable tray, metering, load management or other work affecting common property.

A practical process when the request comes from a tenant

Rather than rejecting a tenant enquiry or allowing it to progress informally, strata managers can route it through a consistent process.

1. Confirm whether the resident owns or rents the lot. If they are a tenant, establish whether the landlord or managing agent is already aware of the proposal.

2. Ask for owner involvement before treating the proposal as an installation application. The tenant can continue to participate, obtain quotations and provide technical information, but the landlord needs to be brought into the approval process.

3. Define what is actually being installed. Establish where the charger will be located, how it will be supplied, what cabling route is proposed, whether common electrical infrastructure will be used and whether new metering or load management is required.

4. Determine which strata approvals apply. This depends on the design and the property affected. Work involving common property may fall within the sustainability infrastructure provisions and may also require a by-law.

5. Do not allow installation to begin simply because the tenant and installer are ready. Required owner and strata approvals should be resolved first, together with responsibility for installation, maintenance, electricity consumption and any future removal or rectification.

This gives the tenant a clear path forward without putting the strata manager in the position of informally authorising work that may later become difficult to unwind.

Why the technical scope should be established early

Two requests that both sound like “I want an EV charger in my car space” can require very different approvals.

One building may already have an EV charging backbone with distribution boards, cable pathways, load management and billing in place. Adding another charger may largely involve connecting to infrastructure the owners corporation has already approved.

In another building, the same request could require a new supply from the main switchboard, extensive common-property cabling, additional distribution equipment and a system for measuring and recovering electricity costs.

NSW guidance on making apartment buildings EV ready describes EV-ready infrastructure as potentially including electrical circuits, cable trays, distribution boards and energy management systems. It also notes that responsibility for maintenance and billing depends on the ownership and management model adopted by the building.

For that reason, it is risky to decide the approval path before the proposed electrical design is understood.

A strata manager does not need to design the system, but they do need enough information to identify what part of the building will be affected and which decisions need to go to the owners corporation.

How sustainability infrastructure rules apply to EV charging

The Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 defines sustainability infrastructure to include changes to common property that facilitate sustainable forms of transport, with electric vehicle charging stations specifically given as an example.

Section 132B also requires an owners corporation to consider matters including the cost of the infrastructure, expected running and maintenance costs, who will own, install and maintain it, and whether it will be available to all lots or only some of them.

One point is worth getting right because it is frequently simplified.

The voting test for a sustainability infrastructure resolution is that less than 50% of the value of votes cast are against the resolution. NSW Government EV guidance describes the same threshold.

That should not automatically be treated as the voting rule for every other resolution associated with an EV project.

For example, where a by-law is required, the by-law has its own approval requirements. NSW Government EV charging resources have historically provided separate motions for the sustainability infrastructure works and the associated by-law.

In practice, the resolutions required should be identified for the particular installation rather than assuming that one EV charging voting threshold applies to every decision the meeting needs to make.

What changed for sustainability infrastructure

Since 1 July 2025, strata by-laws cannot prevent sustainability infrastructure from being installed solely because of the external appearance of a lot or common property.

There is an exception where the property is heritage listed or located within a heritage conservation area, as outlined in the NSW Government guidance on strata by-laws and sustainability infrastructure.

This does not mean that every EV charger must be approved regardless of its design or impact. It removes external appearance alone as a basis for a by-law prohibition in the circumstances covered by the provision.

Technical feasibility, electrical capacity, common-property impacts, safety, cost allocation and the specific approvals required for the proposed work still need to be addressed.

The by-law should not be an afterthought

Where an EV charging project requires a new or amended by-law, that step should be dealt with as part of the approval process rather than after installation.

The by-law may need to address matters such as use of common property, ongoing maintenance, responsibility for damage, electricity consumption, access to equipment and what happens if the charger is later replaced or removed.

NSW Government EV charging resources also note that an approved by-law must be registered with NSW Land Registry Services within six months of approval. The relevant NSW Government EV charging by-law resource provides example motions for this process.

The appropriate wording will depend on the building and the ownership model for the charging infrastructure, so generic EV by-laws should not simply be copied without considering the particular scheme.

What if the landlord does not respond?

This is one of the main practical differences between an owner-originated and tenant-originated EV charging request.

An owner who wants a charger has a direct incentive to progress the application. A tenant may have completed the research, obtained a quotation and be willing to pay for the installation, while the landlord has little reason to deal with the request quickly.

For the strata manager, the important point is to keep the roles clear.

The owners corporation should not treat the tenant as though they have replaced the lot owner in decisions that require owner participation or consent. At the same time, there is no need to frame the building as refusing the charger.

The response can simply record that strata is able to assess the proposal once the owner is involved and the required information has been provided.

Tenants in strata also operate under both tenancy rules and strata by-laws, with the real estate agent generally acting as their main point of contact under the NSW Government guide to renting in strata.

If a dispute develops between the tenant and landlord, that is separate from the strata manager’s role in approving works to the scheme.

Three mistakes that create problems later

The first is treating a tenant’s request as though it already has the lot owner’s authority.

The second is concentrating on the charger itself while overlooking the electrical infrastructure required to connect it. In apartment buildings, the expensive or legally significant part of an installation is often the work between the building supply and the parking space, not the wallbox.

The third is allowing installation arrangements to get ahead of formal approvals. Once an electrician has been booked, equipment has arrived and a resident expects work to start on a particular date, resolving an incomplete approval process becomes much harder.

A short intake process at the beginning prevents all three.

A proposed new EV charging process is before NSW Parliament

Further changes have been proposed through the Strata Schemes Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill 2026.

The Bill proposes a new section 132D dealing with the installation of EV charging stations on an owner’s lot. Under the proposed process, an owner would give the strata committee an installation notice containing the required information. The committee would then have a prescribed period – currently drafted as three months – to issue either a no-objection notice or an objection with reasons.

Under proposed section 132D, the committee must not unreasonably object. If it does not respond within the required period, it would be taken to have issued a no-objection notice. It also provides for an owner to apply to the Tribunal where an objection is alleged to be unreasonable.

For tenant requests, one detail is particularly relevant: the proposed section is drafted around an owner giving the installation notice. It does not create an equivalent direct notice process for a tenant.

As of 18 September 2026, the NSW Parliament record for the Bill lists it as being in the Legislative Council, so this proposed process should not yet be treated as current law.

For strata managers, this is an area worth monitoring because the approval pathway may change if and when the legislation passes and the relevant provisions commence.

A better way to handle tenant EV charging enquiries

Tenant requests do not require a completely separate EV charging policy.

What they need is a clear entry point into the building’s existing approval process.

Confirm who owns the lot. Bring the owner or property manager into the conversation. Understand the proposed electrical work before deciding which approvals apply. Keep the sustainability infrastructure resolution, any required by-law and the technical approval process distinct. Then make sure the required approvals are in place before installation starts.

That approach gives tenants a workable path to charging without leaving the owners corporation with undocumented electrical work, unclear maintenance responsibilities or an installation that was never properly authorised.

VeCharge works with strata managers and owners corporations across Sydney to assess existing electrical infrastructure, develop EV charging solutions and manage installations from initial enquiry through to commissioning.

For assistance with an individual EV charger request or a building-wide EV charging strategy, contact info@vecharge.com or call 1300 315 688.

This article provides general information about EV charging and NSW strata processes and is not legal advice.