Comparison

No driveway: the apartment EV-charging playbook, country by country

By Elena Marsh · EV buyer's advocate · Published August 28, 2026 · updated August 28, 2026

A Tesla at a Supercharger — Photo: “Tesla V4 Supercharger (cropped)” by Gamesyns — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Illustrative free-licence photograph — not a Tesla press image.

"Just charge at home" is advice written by people with driveways. For everyone else the real question is a legal one — what can you actually compel your building to allow? — and the answer changes completely at every border. Here is the map.

Why this is a legal question, not a technical one

Installing a charge point in a shared car park is rarely difficult electrically. It is difficult because it involves altering common property, which means someone else gets a say. What differs by country is how much say they get, and that ranges from "almost none" to "an absolute veto".

The countries where you have a statutory right

These markets have legislated a resident's right to install at their own cost, with the building's role reduced to procedure rather than permission:

France — the droit à la prise. A resident, including a tenant, notifies the building's manager, and the installation proceeds unless the syndicate goes to court to object on specified grounds within a set period. The default is yes.
Spain. Under horizontal-property law, installation in an individual parking space requires only prior communication to the community, not its authorisation, where the owner bears the cost. This is one of the clearest regimes in Europe and is routinely misreported as needing a vote.
Germany. The 2020 reform of condominium and tenancy law gave owners and tenants a legal claim to have a charging installation permitted. The community can decide how it is executed; it cannot simply decline.
Italy. The civil code permits installation, with the assembly able to prescribe alternative arrangements rather than block outright.
Norway. Section-ownership law gives an owner a right to establish charging, refusable only on objective grounds. Given how much of the fleet is electric, this is well-trodden ground and most boards have a policy already.

In all five the practical advice is the same: follow the procedure exactly. These rights are procedural, and the fastest way to lose one is to install first and notify afterwards.

The countries where it is consent, not right

Netherlands. An owners' association decision is generally required. There is no automatic entitlement, though refusals need to be reasoned and many associations now have a standing charging policy. Ask for the policy before you ask for permission — if one exists, you are following a process rather than starting an argument.
United Kingdom. No general statutory right to install in a shared car park; a leaseholder needs landlord consent and often a licence to alter. The counterweight is on the funding side, where the current chargepoint grant scheme is specifically aimed at renters and flat owners rather than at houses with driveways.
Australia. Strata law is state-based. Several states have reformed by-laws to make refusing sustainability infrastructure harder, but the starting point remains an application to the owners' corporation.

The federal countries where it depends which one you're in

United States. A number of states have enacted "right to charge" statutes limiting what a homeowners' association or landlord may refuse; many have not. Whether your state is one of them is the first thing to establish, because it determines whether you are asserting a right or making a request.
Canada. Provincial. Some provinces have condominium provisions specifically addressing charging installations; others leave it to the corporation's discretion.

The benefit is the same either way Where you park doesn't change what a referral attaches at checkout.

Open Tesla with the code applied →

The code is in the toolbar above (tap Copy). This referral link opens Tesla's official store with the benefit attached — always confirm it shows in your order summary before you pay. We may earn Tesla Credits; it costs you nothing.

What to do while the building decides

These processes take months, not days. In the meantime:

Map your workplace and destination charging. For many people this alone is sufficient, and it costs nothing to find out.
Find your two nearest reliable fast chargers and learn their busy hours. A once-a-week planned session is a very different lifestyle from a nightly scramble.
Check whether your referral benefit's charging credit covers the gap. In the markets whose benefit is free Supercharging, it genuinely buys you a runway while the building decides — see what the benefit is worth by country.
Do not rely on an extension lead. Sustained current through domestic wiring not rated for it is the one shortcut in this article with a safety consequence.

The paperwork that makes a yes more likely

Whichever regime you are in, the same submission works better than a request in a corridor: a named installer, a load assessment showing the building's supply can take it, a metering plan showing you pay for your own electricity, a statement that you carry the cost including making good, and a proposal for what happens if you move out. Buildings refuse vagueness far more often than they refuse chargers.

Questions this raises

Can my building legally refuse to let me install a charger?

It depends entirely on your jurisdiction. Several countries give residents a statutory right to install at their own cost, which the building can only resist on specific grounds. Others leave it to the building's consent with no such right. The difference is the single most important fact in this whole question.

Is a normal socket enough if I have no dedicated charger?

It works, slowly, and only on a circuit an electrician has confirmed is suitable for sustained load. Domestic sockets and extension leads are not designed for hours of continuous current, which is why every manufacturer treats it as an occasional fallback rather than a charging plan.