Electric Vehicle Charging: The Association Cannot Prohibit It

An association may not prohibit a unit 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. Most protections on this site 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 used to provide electricity to an electric or hybrid electric vehicle and designed to ensure a safe connection between the electric grid and the vehicle.

Where the Protection Reaches, and Where It Stops

The protection covers two specific places:

• a parking space assigned to your unit and used for parking or storing a vehicle or equipment; and
• a limited common area parking space designated for your exclusive use.

Read that as a location test, because it is the boundary of the whole section. The right attaches to a space that is assigned or exclusively yours. It is not a right to install a charging system in a general common area parking, in a shared surface lot, or in a visitor space.

If you are not sure which category your space falls into, that is a recorded documents question, not a statutory one. Under Section 57-8-10(2)(b), an apparatus intended to serve a single unit but located outside the unit's boundaries is a limited common area appurtenant to that unit, whether or not the declaration says so. The declaration and the recorded plat are where assigned and limited common area parking is shown.

What the Association May Require

The prohibition on banning charging systems is not a prohibition on regulating them. Subsection (3) 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 (3)(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 that degrades how well the system charges, runs against that limit even though design criteria are otherwise allowed.

The Costs Are Yours

An association may 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 unit owner's exclusive use resulting from the installation, use, maintenance, repair, removal, or replacement of the system.

That damage exposure is broad. It is not limited to your own space, and it follows the system through its whole life, including removal.

Two Obligations Owners Miss

Disclosure to a buyer. A unit 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, 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 unit, you shall remove it and restore the premises to the condition before installation. There is one way out: the obligation does not apply if the prospective buyer accepts ownership 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. An owner who assumes the charger simply conveys with the unit may be facing a removal and restoration bill at closing.

A Cross-Reference Change on January 1, 2027

Section 57-8-8.2 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. In the version effective January 1, 2027, those definitions come from Section 58-55-202 instead. Subsections (1)(b) and (1)(c).

Nothing else in the section changes. Comparing the two versions provision by provision, the only difference is the cross-reference. The requirement remains what it was: if the association requires it in writing, a licensed contractor installs the system.

Solar: The Condominium Act Has No Solar Provision

The Condominium Ownership Act does not address solar energy systems. 

What that means for a condominium owner. Your ability to install solar is governed by your declaration and your association's rules, subject to the general limits that apply to every rule, and by the physical reality that in most condominium projects, the roof is a common area rather than something you own.

Under Section 57-8-3, the roof is ordinarily part of the common areas and facilities. An owner generally cannot install equipment on a common area without association approval, and no statute overrides that for solar, the way Section 57-8-8.2 does for charging systems.

The general rule limits still apply. A rule shall be reasonable and shall treat similarly situated unit owners similarly. A solar rule applied selectively is vulnerable on that basis. But there is no statutory right to install, so the reasonableness and equal treatment tests are the argument, not a solar-specific protection.

If You Have a Charging or Solar Dispute

For charging, start with the location of the space. If it is assigned to your unit or designated for your exclusive use, Section 57-8-8.2(2) applies, and no governing document may prohibit the installation. Then read what the association actually imposed against the Subsection (3) list, and test any restriction against the significant-cost and significant-efficiency limits in Subsection (3)(e).

Put your application in writing and keep the association's response. An association that neither approves nor denies is still subject to the prohibition in Subsection (2).

For solar, read the declaration first, then the rules, then ask whether the roof or wall surface is a common area. Because there is no solar statute in your act, the analysis runs through the recorded documents and the general rule limits.

For how a design decision is made and what an application is entitled to, read maintenance and repair. For what a rule may and may not do generally, read yard rules, displays, and animals. For parking space categories, read parking, roads, and snow removal.

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