Landlord's Refusal to Allow an EV Charging Outlet Installation

Attorney Answer

California law generally requires a landlord to approve a tenant's written request to install an EV charging station at the tenant's own designated parking space and at the tenant's own expense — and "the electricity is on the owner's bill" is not a valid reason to refuse, because the statute already places that cost on the tenant.

Civ. Code § 1947.6 requires a landlord to approve a tenant's written request to install an EV charging station at the tenant's designated parking space, subject to conditions the statute itself lays out: the installation must comply with Article 625 of the California Electrical Code and applicable law and zoning, the tenant must submit a written agreement covering the landlord's installation and maintenance requirements along with a complete financial analysis and scope of work, and — critically — the tenant must pay all installation costs and the costs associated with the station's electrical usage as part of rent. Because the statute already assigns the electricity cost to the tenant, a landlord cannot use that cost as a basis for outright refusal, especially once the tenant has offered to cover it.

The statute does have real limits, though, and they are threshold questions rather than fine print. It does not apply where the property already has EV charging stations for at least 10% of its designated parking spaces, where the lease provides no parking at all, where the property has fewer than five parking spaces, or where the property is subject to rent control — with a carve-out for leases renewed or extended on or after January 1, 2019. If your rental falls into any of those categories, the statute does not reach your situation at all, so that screen has to be run before anything else.

Assuming none of those exclusions apply, the landlord can still require that the work meet the statute's conditions, and can require you to carry personal liability coverage up to ten times your annual rent — unless the station is certified by a nationally recognized testing laboratory and installed by a licensed electrician, in which case that insurance requirement does not apply.

What you can do

1. Run the statute's exclusions against your own rental first — count the property's designated parking spaces, confirm whether parking is included in your lease, and check whether the property is under local rent control and when your lease was last renewed or extended.

2. Confirm with a tenant-rights attorney whether the specific installation you want — a 120-volt wall outlet rather than a dedicated charging unit — falls within what the statute treats as an EV charging station, since the statute's protections attach to that defined category.

3. If the statute applies, submit or resubmit your request in writing, including a written agreement to cover all installation costs and the station's electricity costs as part of rent, plus a complete financial analysis and scope of work.

4. Plan on a licensed electrician and certified equipment meeting Article 625 of the California Electrical Code, which also removes the added liability-insurance requirement.

5. If the landlord still refuses without pointing to one of the statutory exclusions, get the request and the refusal in writing, then consult a California tenant-rights attorney or a local tenant legal aid organization about enforcement options.