Legislative Reform | New South Wales
Electric vehicles are becoming increasingly popular, and apartment owners want to charge them at home. Until now, getting a charger approved in a strata building has meant navigating the standard works approval process – general meeting votes, committee discretion, and by-laws that have sometimes been used to block installations outright.
That is about to change.
The Strata Schemes Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill 2025 has passed the NSW Legislative Assembly and is currently before the Legislative Council. When enacted, it will give lot owners a standalone legal right to install an EV charging station on their lot – even where the installation requires work on common property.
How it works
The owner sends a written installation notice to the strata committee, along with information prescribed by the regulations. The committee then has three months to respond. If it doesn’t, approval is deemed granted. If it objects, it must do so in writing with reasons — and those reasons must be reasonable. A by-law that unreasonably prohibits EV charging on an owner’s lot will have no force or effect. If an owner considers the committee’s objection unreasonable, they can apply to NCAT for an order requiring approval.
The owner pays all installation costs and indemnifies the owners corporation for any ongoing maintenance costs and damage to common property. The process sits entirely outside the existing cosmetic, minor, and major works framework — it cannot be blocked by an existing works by-law.
What this means for your scheme
The practical risk for committees is not the first request – it’s the fifth. Individual chargers are manageable; a wave of simultaneous installations without any load management planning is not. The smartest thing a committee can do right now is develop a building-wide EV charging policy before the requests arrive, so there is a consistent and legally defensible framework in place.
Developers should also take note: buildings with adequate electrical capacity and governance documents that anticipate EV charging will be increasingly attractive to buyers.
How Bugden Allen can help
We can assist committees with EV charging policies, advise on what constitutes a reasonable objection, draft by-laws and governance documents for new developments, and represent owners or owners corporations in any NCAT disputes that arise. Contact our NSW team to discuss your scheme.
Further Information
For further information, the NSW Government’s Energy NSW website has guidance on making strata buildings EV ready: energy.nsw.gov.au. The Bill in its current form can be viewed on the NSW Parliament website.
© Bugden Allen Group Legal Pty Ltd. This is general information only and not legal advice. You should not rely on this information without seeking legal advice tailored to your specific circumstances.
