Committee knocked back the shared charger proposal — is wiring a GPO to my own car space actually a legal workaround?
Been in this block eighteen months now, one of five owners with an EV (up from two last year, so it's clearly not a phase). There's a shared underground garage, everyone's got a numbered space, but only two spaces near the old caretaker's room actually have a GPO close enough to reach. Committee put a proposal to the last AGM for a shared L2 setup near the lift core, three of us split the quote, seemed reasonable. Got voted down — a few owners without EVs didn't want to set a precedent for the building subsidising anyone's petrol savings, was basically the argument.
So now I'm stuck. My own space is about 12 metres from the nearest GPO, no way to run an extension cord that far without it becoming a trip hazard across the aisle. I could pay an electrician to run a dedicated GPO just to my own bay, at my own cost, no shared infrastructure involved. Is that actually within my rights as an owner without going through the same committee fight? Or does anything touching the common property garage still need a vote regardless of who's paying?
Filed under: Apartments & Public Charging
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14 answers
14 ANSWERS
@milla_kateJuly 24, 2026
A dedicated GPO to your own bay is usually a common-property by-law question, not a capital works motion — different process to what got voted down at the AGM. Our building approved five of these individually after our shared install stalled, cheaper and faster than reopening the whole fight. Ask the committee for that specific motion, not another 'EV charging' line item — the wording is what gets it through.
Does that still need to go to a full AGM, or can the committee sign off on it outside of that?
Ours went through as an out-of-session resolution, no AGM wait, about a month once the wording was right. All five owners did it the same way once the first one set the precedent.
@trent_b87July 24, 2026
Twelve metres off the nearest GPO is well past what you'd want tapping off an existing circuit anyway. At that distance get a dedicated run straight from the switchboard priced separately — ask for it as its own circuit, not an extension of whatever's already feeding that wall.
Would that mean digging up the garage floor for new cable, or is there usually existing conduit down there already?
Most underground carparks built in the last twenty years already have spare conduit or cable tray in for exactly this. Ask the building manager for the electrical as-builts before anyone assumes a full dig-up, that's rarer than people think.
@petey_fxJuly 24, 2026
Did you ever get a straight answer on whether wiring just your own space still counts as "common property" work, or did you decide it wasn't worth finding out? Curious if there's an actual line between "my own meter, my own spot" and anything that touches the shared garage structure, or if that's exactly the kind of thing that only gets settled by someone actually pushing it to a vote.
Wouldn't give up that early if I were you. The individual by-law route is usually a lot less contested than the shared install once the building isn't being asked to pay for anyone's power.
There is a real line, but it's not as simple as 'own meter equals no vote needed.' Physically running new cable through common-property conduit or risers is works on common property almost everywhere, so technically it does need consent regardless of whose meter it ends up on. Where it gets easier is that a few states have added specific fast-track provisions for EV charging in the last couple of years — the idea being a committee can't just knock back a compliant own-meter install the way they can knock back a shared capital works motion. Worth checking your specific state's strata legislation for an EV charging clause before assuming it's the same fight as the AGM vote. That's the angle I'd push the committee on rather than trying to argue it's not common property work at all, because it usually still technically is.
@bazza_wJuly 24, 2026
Half the BYD and MG owners I know in apartments hit the exact same wall. Got nothing to do with the car, it's entirely a building politics problem once you're past the dealer.
@davo9July 24, 2026
Genuine question since I've never had to deal with a body corporate — does it actually matter whether the new cabling is metered off your own supply versus the building's, or does anything physically running through common-property conduit trigger the same approval process regardless?
@gregolasJuly 24, 2026
Granny charger straight off a GPO's been fine for me, but that's a house on its own board with nothing else pulling off it. A shared garage on a building switchboard isn't really the same risk profile.
@just_lurking22July 24, 2026
does it matter if the electrician runs the new GPO off your own meter instead of tying into the building's shared supply?
@hankmoodyJuly 26, 2026
Still just researching, but does a dedicated GPO like this need a fresh quote each time, or can the same sparky who did the first four just do a fifth on the same wording?
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