Who wants Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging and who should pay?
Posted 05 April 2022
Category: By-Laws
With the current rise in fuel prices affecting Australia, the demand for Electric Vehicles (EV) is at an all-time high. Discussion around EV charging are attracting all sorts of attention as recently set out in this Sydney Morning Herald article.
In a group setting such as an owners corporation where you have owners and tenants with different agendas, often people will need to put forward something which benefits them but needs approval from the other members where it has no benefit for them.
In NSW, the law permits additions to common property such as separate metering and electrical wiring, and separate invoicing in accordance with the terms of a user pays by-law as requested by an owner.
Naturally, a proposal would need to present a situation which would not financially disadvantage the other owners who are not benefitted by the proposal.
Without this style of user pays system in place, the requisite levels of support from the group would not normally be obtained. Â A common issue to confront is that those who have no intention of using an EV charging vehicle do not want to contribute financially to costs associated with the proposal, much the same as the EV vehicle owner would not like to contribute towards petrol or diesel consumption of another owner.
In NSW, an owner or group of owners wishing to install EV charging can put forward a by-law or a licence agreement to cover this user pays system. If an owner is not wishing to support a tenant’s request, the tenant can put forward their own request in the form of a licence.
Last year in NSW, the law was amended to provide for a reduced voting threshold for the passing of a sustainability infrastructure motion. Now, a sustainability infrastructure motion will carry if the value of the unit entitlements against the motion by owners entitled to vote are not more than 50%.
If any owners corporation refuses the proposal, an application to NCAT can be made for an order to grant approval for the proposal.
For further information, please have a look at the following articles:
***The information contained in this article is general information only and not legal advice. The currency, accuracy and completeness of this article (and its contents) should be checked by obtaining independent legal advice before you take any action or otherwise rely upon its contents in any way.
