Electric Vehicle Charging: The Association Cannot Prohibit It

An association may not prohibit a lot owner from installing or using a charging system, notwithstanding any provision in the association's governing documents to the contrary. 

That opening phrase is doing the real work. Many protections in the state code limit what a rule may do, leaving the declaration a separate question. This one overrides the governing documents outright. A declaration provision banning charging systems does not survive it.

A "charging system" is a device that provides electricity to an electric or hybrid electric vehicle and ensures a safe connection between the electric grid and the vehicle. 

Where the Protection Reaches

The protection covers two places:

1. a parking space on your lot used for parking or storing a vehicle or equipment; and
2. a limited common area parking space designated for your exclusive use.

For most owners of a detached or attached dwelling on an owned lot, that is your own driveway or garage, and the protection is squarely on point. It is still a location test. It is not the right to install a charging system in a general common-area parking area or in a shared visitor lot.

What the Association May Require

The prohibition on banning charging systems is not a prohibition on regulating them. Subsection (2) lists six things an association may do:

• require you to submit an application for approval of the installation;
• require you to agree in writing to hire a general electrical contractor or residential electrical contractor to install it;
• for a system installed in a common area, requires you to agree in writing to reimburse the actual cost of the increase in the association's insurance premium attributable to the installation or use;
• require compliance with the association's reasonable design criteria governing dimensions, placement, or external appearance, or with applicable building codes;
• impose a reasonable charge to cover review and permitting costs; and
• impose a reasonable restriction on installation and use.

Subsection (2)(e) carries its own internal limit, and it is the provision worth knowing. A restriction is permitted only if it does not significantly increase the cost of the charging system or significantly decrease its efficiency or performance. A design condition that makes the installation substantially more expensive or degrades the system's charging performance violates that limit, even if the design criteria are otherwise allowed.

An association may also require you to pay the costs associated with installation, metering, and use, including the cost of electricity, and including damage to a general common area, a limited common area, or an area subject to another lot owner's exclusive use resulting from the installation, use, maintenance, repair, removal, or replacement of the system.

Two Obligations Owners Miss

Disclosure to a buyer. A lot owner who installs a charging system shall disclose to a prospective buyer both the existence of the system and the owner's related responsibilities under this section. This is a statutory duty on you as the seller, not on the association.

Removal before transfer. Unless you and the association or declarant agree otherwise, the charging system is your personal property, and before transferring ownership of your lot, you shall remove it and restore the premises to their condition prior to installation. The obligation does not apply if the prospective buyer accepts ownership of the system and all rights and responsibilities that apply to the system under this section.

So the removal duty is a default, not a certainty. The buyer can assume it instead, but that has to actually happen, and it belongs in the sale documents rather than in an assumption. See Section 7.3 of the REPC if you are looking to purchase or sell a home in an association with a charging system.

A Cross-Reference Change on January 1, 2027

Section 57-8a-801 has a version taking effect January 1, 2027. The change is narrow and does not affect any owner's rights or any association's authority.

In the current text, "general electrical contractor" and "residential electrical contractor" take their meaning from Section 58-55-102. After January 1, 2027, those definitions come from Section 58-55-202 instead.

Nothing else changes. The requirement remains as it was: if the association requires it in writing, a licensed contractor must install the system.

Solar: You Have a Statutory Right

Title 57, Chapter 8a, Part 7 governs solar energy systems. 

The core protection: no governing document other than a declaration may prohibit installation of a solar energy system by the owner of a lot with a detached dwelling, or by the owner of a dwelling attached to other dwellings if three conditions are met. 

Read the phrase "other than a declaration" carefully, because it is the shape of this right. A rule, a design guideline, or a board policy may not prohibit your solar installation. A recorded declaration provision can. That is the opposite of how the charging system protection works, and it is why the amendment vote thresholds below matter so much.

A "detached dwelling" for this section means a detached dwelling for which the association does not have an ownership interest in the roof. For an attached dwelling, the owner qualifies only if the association has no ownership interest in the roof or building exterior, has no maintenance, repair, or replacement obligation for them, and all lot owners with attached dwellings in the building agree to the installation. 

The Two Vote Thresholds, Which Run in Opposite Directions

To impose a solar prohibition, 67%. An association may not amend the declaration to prohibit installation of a solar energy system unless it approves the prohibition by a vote of at least 67% of the allocated voting interests.

To remove an existing prohibition, 51%. An association may amend an existing declaration provision that prohibits solar on a lot with a detached dwelling if it approves the amendment by a vote of at least 51% of the allocated voting interests.

The legislature made it harder to ban solar than to unban it. If your declaration currently prohibits solar and you want that changed, the lower threshold applies. That is a concrete, achievable path, and it is worth knowing before assuming a recorded prohibition is permanent.

What a Declaration or Rule May Still Require

Subsection (4) lists conditions an association may impose. It may require that the system:

• comply with applicable health, safety, and building requirements of the state or a political subdivision;
• if used to heat water, be certified by the Solar Rating and Certification Corporation or a nationally recognized solar certification entity;
• if used to produce electricity, comply with standards of the National Electric Code, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Underwriters Laboratories, an accredited electrical testing laboratory, or the state;
• if roof-mounted, not extend above the roof line, or have panel frames, support brackets, and visible piping or wiring in a color or texture similar to the roof material; and
• if ground-mounted, not be visible from the street the lot fronts.

It may also require you to pay reasonable application review costs; hold you jointly and severally liable with any subsequent owner for enforcement costs during a violation; and require you to record a deed restriction running with the land that indemnifies the association or its members for loss or damage caused by the installation, maintenance, or use, including attorney fees.

The deed restriction condition deserves attention before you sign. It is recorded against your lot, it runs with the land, and it obligates the current owner to indemnify. It is a permitted condition, so an association requesting one is within the statute, but it is not a mere formality.

The 5% Test on Size, Location, and Placement

An association may impose restrictions on a system's size, location, or manner of placement only if the restriction decreases production by 5% or less and increases installation cost by 5% or less, compared to the installation without the restriction. A placement condition that costs you more than 5% of production, or more than 5% in installation cost, exceeds what Subsection (4)(e) permits. If you are in that dispute, a quote or production estimate showing the delta is the evidence that matters.

Which Associations and Documents Part 7 Reaches

The solar requirements apply to a declaration or an official association action, regardless of when the declaration was recorded or the action was taken.

There are two carve-outs, and they matter. They do not apply to an express prohibition or restriction on solar installation described in a declaration recorded before January 1, 2017, or created by an official association action taken before January 1, 2017. And it does not apply during the period of administrative control. 

So the date your declaration was recorded is a threshold question. If an express solar prohibition predates January 1, 2017, Part 7 does not reach it. If your community is still declarant-controlled, Part 7 does not apply yet.

If You Have a Charging or Solar Dispute

For charging, start with the location. A space on your lot or a limited common area space designated for your exclusive use is covered, and no governing document may prohibit installation there. Then read what the association imposed against the Subsection (2) list, and test any restriction against the significant-cost and significant-efficiency limits in Subsection (2)(e).

For solar, work through four questions in order. Is the restriction in a rule or in the declaration, since a rule may not prohibit, but a declaration may? Do you qualify under Subsection (2)(a), which turns on association ownership of the roof and, for attached dwellings, the agreement of the other owners in the building? Does the pre-2017 carve-out in Section 57-8a-703(2) apply? And if the condition concerns size, location, or placement, does it fall within the 5% limits?

If your declaration prohibits solar and you want it changed, the amendment threshold for removing an existing prohibition on a detached dwelling lot is 51%, not 67%.

Put every application in writing and keep the response. 

Additional questions? Email our Office.

Reviewed against Utah Code, current as of September 9, 2026.