The Florida Legislature recently approved House Bill 841 – a community association law which includes new provisions to accommodate electric cars.
A preamble to the new law says: “The Legislature finds that the use of electric vehicles conserves and protects the state’s environmental resources, provides significant economic savings to drivers, and serves an important public interest. The participation of condominium associations is essential to the state’s efforts to conserve and protect the state’s environmental resources and provide economic savings to drivers. Therefore, the installation of an electric charging station shall be governed as follows:”
The five provisions or conditions concerning electric vehicle charging stations are:
- Condominium residents may not be prohibited from installing an electric vehicle charging station within their parking area.
- The installation cannot cause irreparable damage to the condominium property.
- The electricity for the charging station must be separately metered and the unit owner must pay for the electricity.
- The unit owner installing the charging station is responsible for all associated costs.
- If the owner decides to remove the station, they must pay for the costs of the removal.
Many condominium associations have considered installing communal charging stations on the common elements so that those with electric cars can share a station and the cost of installation and the electric usage. This appeared to be a good idea to minimize the amount of rewiring and electric lines that would need to be installed on the common elements. Condominium owners, though now having the right to install their own stations, may opt for this communal system to save costs.
