Home charger in block of flats?

[Blueskye]

Has anyone here succeeded in installing a home charger in the “underground”/Groundfloor car-park of their block of flats?

How hard was it?
How long did the process take?
What was the cost??
Which system/ charger did you opt for?

I have been liaising with the management company since February 2020!!!!!! To ask to install them, 8 months on we haven’t even proceeded to obtain quotes. I got them in touch with Pod point and others that are installing them on a nearby section of this development but it’s like pulling teeth.

They also want to amend the long lease of the flat and us to pay for all Landlord costs, etc which is sounding as it will cost me thousands of pounds plus incorporating that to the complex installation in the the carpark.
I’m scared of the cost, but it’s becoming really hard now as next door they are adapting new builds WITH chargers in place, and they forgot about us! (Our building is 2 yrs old)

I’m even thinking to contact the London Mayor to bring light to the issue.
They want us to buy electric cars but fail to consider that the majority of Londoners live in block of flat or converted flats and most do not even have a drive.
Or you go through fights like mine!

the last straw is that the nearest supercharger has been permanently closed!!!!!!

 

[NorfolkMustard]

May not be useful to you in the short term, but landlords will soon turn around when they start to see people moving out and into properties which do have charging.

 

[ElRey]

Has anyone here succeeded in installing a home charger in the “underground”/Groundfloor car-park of their block of flats?

How hard was it?
How long did the process take?
What was the cost??
Which system/ charger did you opt for?

I have been liaising with the management company since February 2020!!!!!! To ask to install them, 8 months on we haven’t even proceeded to obtain quotes. I got them in touch with Pod point and others that are installing them on a nearby section of this development but it’s like pulling teeth.

They also want to amend the long lease of the flat and us to pay for all Landlord costs, etc which is sounding as it will cost me thousands of pounds plus incorporating that to the complex installation in the the carpark.
I’m scared of the cost, but it’s becoming really hard now as next door they are adapting new builds WITH chargers in place, and they forgot about us! (Our building is 2 yrs old)

I’m even thinking to contact the London Mayor to bring light to the issue.
They want us to buy electric cars but fail to consider that the majority of Londoners live in block of flat or converted flats and most do not even have a drive.
Or you go through fights like mine!

the last straw is that the nearest supercharger has been permanently closed!!!!!!

Our building is about 4 yrs old and the developer put several chargers in when it was being built.
I recently had one put at my parking space and the management company makes us pay for the installation as well as a fee for use of electricity.

It is very likely that it shouldn't be too much work as must be a power room down there where the cable can be run from. Just hope it's not too far from where you want it or the installation costs would go up due to that.

It might be worth having a discussion with them to find out what their reservations are.

 

[Blueskye]

May not be useful to you in the short term, but landlords will soon turn around when they start to see people moving out and into properties which do have charging.

I was thinking this... but these are mostly owner occupied buildings..
And in the new ones they’re doing down the road are installing the infrastructure and putting FREE Pod-Points outside the townhouse they are building there. Soooooo annoying.

 

[Blueskye]

Our building is about 4 yrs old and the developer put several chargers in when it was being built.
I recently had one put at my parking space and the management company makes us pay for the installation as well as a fee for use of electricity.

It is very likely that it shouldn't be too much work as must be a power room down there where the cable can be run from. Just hope it's not too far from where you want it or the installation costs would go up due to that.

It might be worth having a discussion with them to find out what their reservations are.

Honestly, I think the agent doesn’t know where to start on this one and they’re overworked as the development is large and there’s ongoing cladding issues so they’re busy with that.
The landlord (freeholder) have been a very incompetent one, so they probably just can’t be bothered.
I’ve done everything honestly, from proposing a course of action, to arranging pod point to speak to them, to pod point having a survey.
They just don’t move from their side.

luckily I’m relatively close to the electrical cabinet!!! Just a few m (maybe 5m or so)
But it’s been a very draining situation.

mom happy to pay installation and I’m happy to install a charger with like a meter or something and pay usage every week/month/quarter, whatever, but they’re just being difficult!

Mita really frustrating being the ones paving the way..

 

[dziny]

I live in a roughly 80 flats development with underground parking (with designated space for each flat). I had the charger installed about a month ago (£1600 after EV charger grant). It was a complicated install (30m of cable connected to my flat meter on the 4th floor). I probably could have connected to "communal electricity" but I wanted to avoid the nightmare of negotiating how much I should pay each month, etc. It is the first charger installed there so I had to negotiate a bit with committee that runs the development (they realise that EVs are coming so they took my install as a test for future installs). I own the flat btw. I've planned for this for a while so I've also had them to pull a fibre optic cable along the electric cable for the internet connection (this was priced into the install). I went for "plastic fibre optic" - it has an advantage that you are able to terminate it yourself (the real glass fibre optic requires special tools to be terminated properly). I've got the kit from germany. The router on the far end is housed in a waterproof plastic box (it's under roof anyway but this prevents wetness to get it). The connection is perfect - full 1Gbps speed on the internal network within flat.

The charger is Ohme, the whole install took roughly 6 hours. All was done a functional in one day including the internet. It took roughly 3 weeks from the initial contact with the installer. They had a guy coming first to see what is needed and they've priced the install for me at that point.

 

[Blueskye]

I live in a roughly 80 flats development with underground parking (with designated space for each flat). I had the charger installed about a month ago (£1600 after EV charger grant). It was a complicated install (30m of cable connected to my flat meter on the 4th floor). I probably could have connected to "communal electricity" but I wanted to avoid the nightmare of negotiating how much I should pay each month, etc. It is the first charger installed there so I had to negotiate a bit with committee that runs the development (they realise that EVs are coming so they took my install as a test for future installs). I own the flat btw. I've planned for this for a while so I've also had them to pull a fibre optic cable along the electric cable for the internet connection (this was priced into the install). I went for "plastic fibre optic" - it has an advantage that you are able to terminate it yourself (the real glass fibre optic requires special tools to be terminated properly). I've got the kit from germany. The router on the far end is housed in a waterproof plastic box (it's under roof anyway but this prevents wetness to get it). The connection is perfect - full 1Gbps speed on the internal network within flat.

The charger is Ohme, the whole install took roughly 6 hours. All was done a functional in one day including the internet. It took roughly 3 weeks from the initial contact with the installer. They had a guy coming first to see what is needed and they've priced the install for me at that point.

Wow thanks.
This is what I wanted to know!
I appreciate this.
I imagine it would be much cheaper for me possibly since I wouldn’t need the internet part and the cable run much shorter as I’m happy to pay the management for the electricity as I’d like to move to a bigger property in a few yrs.
We have a very similar set-up just a larger development...

Did the freeholder required you to legally amend the lease and draft extra contracts? If so, what was your/their cost for that?
Since we also have allocated parking bays (which you own with the flat) they’re asking to amend the lease accordingly.
£1,600 although high, I’d be happy to pay for as it might add value if I sell or rent out the flat in the future..

many issues with neighbours using your charger (and electricity?).

can I also be extra cheeky and ask for a picture of what the setup looks in your bay? So I can show that to my proactive (cough cough) management company? I’d appreciate it a lot!

 

[MrBadger]

We installed a 32A chargepoint in an underground garage - dedicated spaces. Thankfully, 'ours' was very close to meter cupboard so no issues there.

A number of years ago, a resident installed a chargepoint. Not sure what management permission, possibly very little. Coincidentally, not long before we took delivery, the management company questioned the residents whether they might want charge points installed in future and if they were prepared to pay to get the infrastructure installed - different to getting the chargepoint itself installed. This would create a uniform implementation rather than ad-hoc solutions. No significant take up, so plan abandoned.

We then approached management company and got approval, but with caveats. We had to use the previous installer - which ironically solved one problem.

Come install, I got very hands on - some residents insisted on charging their golf buggy's in the meter room and insisted on having access to the meter room during install even though HV access panels were removed I digress, but I got to learn a lot about the issues of installing a high current charge point in a communal shared location.

The flats were all served from a 3 phase supply, so distributed across the phases. This meant that several flats shared the same phase which would ultimately limit the number of charge points that could be installed on each phase to just the one. So a problem for the future that would have been solved by the shared infrastructure :sigh: Anyway, second install, we got lucky and not on same phase as previous install so the calculations allowed us to get the full 32A allocated to us. How things resolve in the future is unknown.

Worth pointing out that the installer was not a regular installer, but he needed industrial grade qualifications (and balls of steel working with the HV cover off and tangle of supplies). He suggested that the lack of communal infrastructure was going to become a problem that could have been resolved if residents had the foresight to pay to sort the infrastructure in advance. The figure for this infrastructure was around £10k which would then have needed to have been shared across all the flats. Our install was circa £1k, with no OLEV, but minimal cable run.

In another property, we are not so fortunate. Not a change of getting anything dedicated installed, although I suspect in future a communal chargepoint may be needed.

 

[ElRey]

I live in a roughly 80 flats development with underground parking (with designated space for each flat). I had the charger installed about a month ago (£1600 after EV charger grant). It was a complicated install (30m of cable connected to my flat meter on the 4th floor). I probably could have connected to "communal electricity" but I wanted to avoid the nightmare of negotiating how much I should pay each month, etc. It is the first charger installed there so I had to negotiate a bit with committee that runs the development (they realise that EVs are coming so they took my install as a test for future installs). I own the flat btw. I've planned for this for a while so I've also had them to pull a fibre optic cable along the electric cable for the internet connection (this was priced into the install). I went for "plastic fibre optic" - it has an advantage that you are able to terminate it yourself (the real glass fibre optic requires special tools to be terminated properly). I've got the kit from germany. The router on the far end is housed in a waterproof plastic box (it's under roof anyway but this prevents wetness to get it). The connection is perfect - full 1Gbps speed on the internal network within flat.

The charger is Ohme, the whole install took roughly 6 hours. All was done a functional in one day including the internet. It took roughly 3 weeks from the initial contact with the installer. They had a guy coming first to see what is needed and they've priced the install for me at that point.

Impressive. I wish I had the option of this. I would have considered this for a number of reasons but mainly:

-We're at the mercy of whatever it is decided we pay for electricity. It's not a problem at the moment but being in full control would be great.
-Having fibre optic run would allow for a security cam to be fitted to cover our allocated spaces and provide wifi for the car as It's an underground car park.

 

[ElRey]

We installed a 32A chargepoint in an underground garage - dedicated spaces. Thankfully, 'ours' was very close to meter cupboard so no issues there.

A number of years ago, a resident installed a chargepoint. Not sure what management permission, possibly very little. Coincidentally, not long before we took delivery, the management company questioned the residents whether they might want charge points installed in future and if they were prepared to pay to get the infrastructure installed - different to getting the chargepoint itself installed. This would create a uniform implementation rather than ad-hoc solutions. No significant take up, so plan abandoned.

We then approached management company and got approval, but with caveats. We had to use the previous installer - which ironically solved one problem.

Come install, I got very hands on - some residents insisted on charging their golf buggy's in the meter room and insisted on having access to the meter room during install even though HV access panels were removed I digress, but I got to learn a lot about the issues of installing a high current charge point in a communal shared location.

The flats were all served from a 3 phase supply, so distributed across the phases. This meant that several flats shared the same phase which would ultimately limit the number of charge points that could be installed on each phase to just the one. So a problem for the future that would have been solved by the shared infrastructure :sigh: Anyway, second install, we got lucky and not on same phase as previous install so the calculations allowed us to get the full 32A allocated to us. How things resolve in the future is unknown.

Worth pointing out that the installer was not a regular installer, but he needed industrial grade qualifications (and balls of steel working with the HV cover off and tangle of supplies). He suggested that the lack of communal infrastructure was going to become a problem that could have been resolved if residents had the foresight to pay to sort the infrastructure in advance. The figure for this infrastructure was around £10k which would then have needed to have been shared across all the flats. Our install was circa £1k, with no OLEV, but minimal cable run.

In another property, we are not so fortunate. Not a change of getting anything dedicated installed, although I suspect in future a communal chargepoint may be needed.

I suspect regs would soon make it mandatory for all new builds to have them and for those without to allow residents install. How that plays out will depend as some management companies will see this as another money making venture and may charge ridiculous amounts.

It's a tricky situation especially when you have properties owned by landlords who aren't on site. Often they aren't interested in any additional cost in the short term. I've had to point out to a few how it could help with marketing the property if you had a charge point in an underground parking space.

 

[MrBadger]

Many management companies are either run by, or on behalf of the residents, as were the cases in my post. No money making to be had with those.

 

[dziny]

Did the freeholder required you to legally amend the lease and draft extra contracts?

many issues with neighbours using your charger (and electricity?).

can I also be extra cheeky and ask for a picture of what the setup looks in your bay? So I can show that to my proactive (cough cough) management company? I’d appreciate it a lot!

I've offered i but nothing was required and hence there were no legal costs.

I've not see it yet. As I control the electricity supply to it I have a fuse box for it next to my meter I can disconnect if I happens in the future and I go away for longer etc. But if a neighbour would ask me to use it ocasionally until they get their charger I would not say no.

Finally a picture:

 

[dan223]

I know this doesn't help in your case, but thankfully my flat is a ground floor flat and my parking space is behind my flat, so other than getting written permission from my leaseholder (which took a lot of bugging), it was fairly easy, my consumer unit is in the middle of my flat, and my meter at the front of the building, so came out from the consumer unit, up and into the ceiling void, across the ceiling to the outside wall, then down again. So all on my electric bill and from the inside you wouldn't know it had been done.

 

[Blueskye]

Impressive. I wish I had the option of this. I would have considered this for a number of reasons but mainly:

-We're at the mercy of whatever it is decided we pay for electricity. It's not a problem at the moment but being in full control would be great.
-Having fibre optic run would allow for a security cam to be fitted to cover our allocated spaces and provide wifi for the car as It's an underground car park.

I fully agree with this! I didn’t consider the WiFi for security and the WiFi for the car! That’s a great suggestion!
Unfortunately for me though, I don’t think they’d allow for this (cam and WiFi) as it’s a large development with many fases and very new, they’re uppity tight at the moment, maybe once the building is 6-7yrs old they won’t care as much, but right now everything is a challenge!

I will ask though!

 

[Blueskye]

I suspect regs would soon make it mandatory for all new builds to have them and for those without to allow residents install. How that plays out will depend as some management companies will see this as another money making venture and may charge ridiculous amounts.

It's a tricky situation especially when you have properties owned by landlords who aren't on site. Often they aren't interested in any additional cost in the short term. I've had to point out to a few how it could help with marketing the property if you had a charge point in an underground parking space.

Agree.

I see the developer building the next phases that are putting the infrastructure for the blocks so ppl can have their own charging points installed and where they are building houses next to the blocks, EACH parking bay has a Pod-Point charger!
Good for them, upsetting for me! There’s not even one EV there yet though...

 

[Blueskye]

Many management companies are either run by, or on behalf of the residents, as were the cases in my post. No money making to be had with those.

Not exactly, in large block of flats the management companies are employed by the freeholder (usually an investment company), you pay their salary through your service charge, but they really work for the landlord (as in they don’t owe you anything). Although they carry out tasks that are on the benefit of the leaseholders (I.e. owners of the individual flats).

 

[Blueskye]

I've offered i but nothing was required and hence there were no legal costs.

I've not see it yet. As I control the electricity supply to it I have a fuse box for it next to my meter I can disconnect if I happens in the future and I go away for longer etc. But if a neighbour would ask me to use it ocasionally until they get their charger I would not say no.

Finally a picture:

Thanks!!!!

I’ll keep the picture to show them how it may look like.

unfortunately for me they want to amend our lease and I’ll incur in my and the freeholders solicitor fees and fees to the agent for their time in dealing with this.

plus the charger installation etc.

hopefully though it will help bring value if I rent the flat out or decide to sell it fingers crossed.

 

[MrBadger]

Not exactly, in large block of flats the management companies are employed by the freeholder (usually an investment company), you pay their salary through your service charge, but they really work for the landlord (as in they don’t owe you anything). Although they carry out tasks that are on the benefit of the leaseholders (I.e. owners of the individual flats).

It will be defined in the lease what form the management company takes - Residents Management Companies are relatively common. I've been a director of one myself many years ago - its a thankless voluntary position but at least you get to control where expenditure is made. At the time we got the EV charge point installed, we had no family member on the board, but there had been at one time so it helped to have that close relationship - around 60 underground parking spaces involved. The one where we wont get a charge point installed we have shares in the residents management company but we employ a property management company to run it on our behalf - we still control the expenditure, but at a coarser level. First item in the agm each year is whether to retain the services of the current property management company. Other residents are still directors, which again we vote in each year. Its a slightly odd one as part of the management company responsibility covers enforcing a service charge for some freehold properties use of communal facilities.

 

[ElRey]

It will be defined in the lease what form the management company takes - Residents Management Companies are relatively common. I've been a director of one myself many years ago - its a thankless voluntary position but at least you get to control where expenditure is made. At the time we got the EV charge point installed, we had no family member on the board, but there had been at one time so it helped to have that close relationship - around 60 underground parking spaces involved. The one where we wont get a charge point installed we have shares in the residents management company but we employ a property management company to run it on our behalf - we still control the expenditure, but at a coarser level. First item in the agm each year is whether to retain the services of the current property management company. Other residents are still directors, which again we vote in each year. Its a slightly odd one as part of the management company responsibility covers enforcing a service charge for some freehold properties use of communal facilities.

We have something similar. There used to be a time when developers built and handed over to residents to manage but off late (last 10 yrs) they have seen the leasehold as a money making scheme and hold on to it to sell later on or continue to make money off the ground rent.

In our development we ended up buying ours and are now the leaseholders and as such employ the management company.

 

[MrBadger]

In our development we ended up buying ours and are now the leaseholders and as such employ the management company.

So hopefully that will be down to getting the other residents on side, which may still be a very difficult/impossible task especially when a considerable expense may be required such as installation of communal or shared infrastructure.

I think in the case of our shared infrastructure, it would have come down to several £££ / flat, which probably would have reduced the install cost by similar amount, if not more for the longer runs. But it was (not unsurprisingly) vetoed by the other residents who at the time, had no foresight that one day, they, or someone else, may need a place to charge their car.