Can I install a charging point for my electric car in my space in the communal garage?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

Yes. You do not need the permission of the owners' general meeting, even if the cable has to run through communal areas of the garage. It is enough to send the technical project to the president or the managing agent of the owners' association (the “comunidad de propietarios”) thirty days in advance and, once the work is finished, the installation certificate. Within that period the association can propose a reasonable alternative, but if it does not carry it out within two months, you can go ahead with the installation you had planned. The installation and the electricity it uses are at your expense. How it is done Article 553-36 of the Catalan Civil Code provides for this in the case of an individual charging point. The steps are as follows: Commission the technical project. The installation must be carried out by an authorised installer, in accordance with the low-voltage regulations for electric vehicle charging. Send the project to the president or the managing agent at least thirty days before starting the work, by a means that leaves a record of the delivery date. If the garage operates as a separate association, with its own president or managing agent, the prudent course is to send it to them as well. Wait for that period to pass. If the owners' association does not propose anything, you can carry out the installation. When the work is finished, send them the technical certificate for the installation. What the owners' association can do Within those thirty days, the owners' association can propose a reasonable alternative that better suits everyone's interests, for example a different route for the cable or a shared installation for the garage. If that alternative is not put into effect within two months, you can carry out your project. What the association cannot do is simply prevent you from installing the charger. If the installation is done badly or creates a risk, for example of fire, the owners' association can demand that it be corrected or removed. If that is not done, it can go to court, after attempting negotiation as the law requires. The owners' general meeting can also approve by a simple majority a charging installation for the whole garage, even if the deed of constitution (“título de constitución”) or the by-laws have to be amended. Who pays Catalan law does not say so expressly, but it is work that you carry out for your own space and on your own initiative, so the installation is at your expense. So is the electricity it uses, which is normally measured with a meter of your own or with a meter that records only what your charging point consumes, so that the owners' association does not pay for it. In the rest of Spain, the Horizontal Property Act (“Ley de Propiedad Horizontal”) also requires only prior notification to the owners' association and expressly states that the cost of the installation and of the electricity used is borne by whoever requests it.