Install of EV Charger – Tenant or landlord cost?

Install of EV Charger – Tenant or landlord cost?

8:46 AM, 20th April 2022, About 2 years ago 19

Text Size

With the increase of electric and hybrid cars replacing both petrol and diesel vehicles, it is only a matter of time before tenants will start to ask landlords to install wall mounted home chargers on their properties.

So, whose responsibility is it to pay for the installation of these devices?

Tenants will argue that home chargers are fixtures and that it is government policy that stipulates that all new car registrations from 2030 must be electric vehicles. The Government in its wisdom has already withdrawn the grant of £350 towards the installation of these units in single dwellings wef 31 March 2022 (in England) which has pushed up the cost to approx. £1,000 each.

Landlords will argue that vehicle choice rests with the tenant at least until 2030 so why should they pay?

Does anyone have any experience with this or know who is legally responsible for bearing this cost?

Many thanks

Phil


Share This Article


Comments

Reluctant Landlord

16:00 PM, 20th April 2022, About 2 years ago

most tenants are going to be skint just paying rent that is being increased to ensure the LL can tick all the boxes (additional licencing, EPC 'upgrades' etc) are able to actually continue to legally rent a property to them in the first place.

They will have no money to buy a car to travel anywhere...

Neilt

13:49 PM, 21st April 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by DSR at 20/04/2022 - 10:25
You'll never be left with a dead duck. Sooner rather than later all cars will be EV s - I have three in my household already.
Nevertheless, generally, you don't need to have a specific charge point installed. We've been using a 13 amp point for the last 2.5 years - plug in at night, full tank in the morning. So just get an outside power point installed.

NewYorkie

14:05 PM, 21st April 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by neilt at 21/04/2022 - 13:49
For the vast majority living in towns and cities, some practical questions they will need answers to are: Where will I put this '13amp plug'? How will I ensure I can park in the street next to my plug? What happens if I can't find a [working] public charging point nearby? How will I secure it? What happens if someone trips over the wire or gets a shock, and sues me?

Neilt

14:16 PM, 21st April 2022, About 2 years ago

Forgive me, New Yorkie, I thought that the question was "whose responsibility is it to pay for the installation of these devices?"

NewYorkie

14:22 PM, 21st April 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by neilt at 21/04/2022 - 14:16
Not a problem. I answered that early on, and was simply commenting on your post.

Paul Power

19:18 PM, 21st April 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Tony Hodge at 20/04/2022 - 09:57
Good points, there is also the possibility of it being a legislative requirement eventually as well as being potentially a must for tenants. However one thing I will expect is that it remains LL responsibility as it will be tapped into the mains and therefore most likely subject to standard inspections. You may be able to defer responsibility but not accountability. Therefore it will need clearer guidance on who is ultimately responsible in the event of accidents etc as that could potentially be a legal minefield. I doubt you can add it to any AST as a condition either as trying to work around statutory regs in such a way may breach contractual law.

Jessie Jones

10:05 AM, 23rd April 2022, About 2 years ago

It may be premature to install an EV charging point at the moment. We know that the govt are planning to change the EPC requirements, but we also know that the current EPC system focuses on monetary cost rather than carbon cost so there is likely to be a big change to how EPC's are calculated. It is also possible that there will be a cap on the amount that landlords have to spend to bring the property up to the new standards. Installing an EV charging point may well be part of the new EPC, so any expenditure could count towards the cap, but not if it is spent now.

Adrian Alderton

20:34 PM, 23rd April 2022, About 2 years ago

Hopefully govt will see sense of incentivising this at some stage. Just as an aside I have a modern house with a EV charger. I’m on my 5th tenant all been working with cars. The EV has never been used.

Chris Brown

11:08 AM, 26th April 2022, About 2 years ago

We have been trying to do this at several of our properties for years.
At the first, we paid to have 3 phase to replace the orginal 2 phase supply to a property with 5/6flats, only to be told there was insuffcient supply at the substation to support EV chargers. My response was a routing switch, 10kw shower or car charger. WIP! Subsequent installation of EWI will increase the fun for this one.
At another, where we lfted the suspended ground floor to install underfloor heating, we got suppliers agreement and installed the heavy cables to outside waterproof boxes for both, flats, whilst also installing an acoustic ceiling. These await tenants wanting a EV.
The third has inadequate supply to the building.
The funding for the supply side infrastructure seems to be inadequate.

Leave Comments

In order to post comments you will need to Sign In or Sign Up for a FREE Membership

or

Don't have an account? Sign Up

Landlord Tax Planning Book Now