An owner of an apartment in a condominium sought to install an electric car charging station in his private parking space and the condominium committee agreed only subject to issuing a third-party insurance cover and a personal undertaking to bear any damage caused by the electric charging station.
The Supervisor of Condominiums held that the condominium committee may not require an apartment owner to provide a personal commitment to bear any damage as a condition to installing an electric car charging station. Each of the apartment owners in a condominium may make normal and reasonable use in a common area as long as such use does not prevent similar use by the other apartment owners. Installing an electric car charging station on a parking lot pole or wall is a use of the common property, even if it is a private parking space. However, installing a charging station, when it is duly installed and connected to the apartment’s electricity meter, does not prevent another apartment owner from making similar use and therefore, is a reasonable use of the common area which does not require obtaining the consent of the apartment owners nor the condominium committee. The condominium committee may present as a reasonable condition that the apartment owner seeking to install an electric car charging station will present a third-party insurance policy to cover damage that may be caused from the charging station, but it may not demand from an apartment owner a personal liability for damage not covered by such a policy as such demand infringes upon the property rights of the apartment owner to a reasonable use of the common property.