Installing an EV Charger in a Queensland Apartment: How Body Corporate Approval Works

Byron Knight, Licensed Electrical Contractor

QLD Lic. 1511406 · 20+ years’ experience · Gold Coast & SEQ · Updated October 2026

Buying an electric car is the easy part. If you live in a unit or townhouse on the Gold Coast, the harder question is where you plug it in. The car space is usually common property, the power supply behind it is usually shared, and nobody on the committee has dealt with an EV charger request before.

This guide covers the approval pathway under Queensland’s body corporate legislation, what the committee will want to see, and what an electrician needs to put in front of them. For the electrical rules that apply to any Queensland charger install, see our EV charger installation requirements guide. This post is about the strata layer on top.

Do you need body corporate approval for an EV charger?

If the charger will connect to common property in any way, yes. The Queensland Government’s guidance on improving common property and lots says an owner can make an improvement to common property if it is approved by the committee or by the body corporate at a general meeting. That page does not name EV chargers specifically, but a charger on common property is an improvement of that kind.

The Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management (BCCM) has published a fact sheet on electric vehicles in bodies corporate, republished by Stratacare. It is based on the BCCM Act and the Standard Module regulation, and it says that if a charger will be connected to common property utility infrastructure in some way, the owner must seek body corporate approval under section 187 of the Standard Module.

The part that catches owners out: the fact sheet also says that even when a charger is installed inside your own lot, the electrical wiring can still be common property. Cabling in a wall, a riser or a shared conduit is often owned by the body corporate. So “it’s inside my unit” is not a safe assumption.

Who can approve it: committee or general meeting?

Short answer: the committee, if the charger is cheap, unobtrusive and unlikely to cause problems for other residents. If not, the owners at a general meeting.

The $3,000 test is on the total cost: the charger plus installation. Where the car space is a long cable run from the supply, or metering has to be added, the total can go over that line, and the request then needs a general meeting. That is worth knowing early, because general meetings take time to schedule. The official page also notes that an owner may have to pay any extra insurance premium caused by the improvement.

Metering and who pays for the electricity

A charger can draw a lot of power for hours, so the committee will ask how the electricity is paid for. The BCCM fact sheet lists this as a question the body corporate should consider: how will it meter and charge the owner for usage? It also notes that the body corporate can enter a service agreement with the owner for utility supply under section 210 of the Standard Module.

The Commissioner’s 2023 article on electric vehicles, also republished by Stratacare, says a body corporate can only seek the actual costs it incurs, so a metering device may be important. It also warns that it is illegal to operate a private electricity network without a network exemption from the Australian Energy Market Operator. If a scheme plans to on-sell power to several owners through its own wiring, that is a question for the body corporate manager and the scheme’s legal adviser before any electrician quotes the work.

What the committee will want from the electrician

1. A load assessment. How much spare capacity the supply and switchboard have, and whether the charger needs to be set to a lower current to stay within it. See our 7kW vs 22kW charger guide for why the biggest charger is not always the right one.
2. A cable route. Exactly where the cable runs, what it passes through, and who owns each section. Penetrations through fire-rated walls and slabs are a committee concern.
3. Protection and isolation. A dedicated circuit with safety switch (RCD) protection and a clearly labelled isolator. Our RCD vs RCBO guide explains the difference.
4. A metering proposal. How usage will be measured and who pays, so the committee is not left to invent an answer.
5. A fixed-price scope. An itemised quote the committee or owners can approve as written.

The BCCM fact sheet adds that the body corporate should seek advice from a fire safety professional and contact its insurer before approving a charger. It says the fact sheet was prepared in collaboration with the Queensland Fire Department. Expect questions about the location of the charger relative to egress routes and the building’s fire systems, particularly in a basement.

If your building already has a flat or dated switchboard, the load assessment may point to a board upgrade first. We cover that in switchboard upgrade cost, and our switchboard inspection service checks the existing board before anyone commits to a charger.

EV charging in Gold Coast apartment buildings

The Gold Coast has a large stock of older strata buildings with basement car parks, and many were never designed for vehicle charging. High-rise areas such as Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach, Main Beach and Mermaid Beach are where shared-supply questions come up most. Townhouse complexes in Robina and Burleigh Waters can have simpler options where each lot has its own meter and garage.

We work with committees and strata managers through our strata and body corporate electrician service, and install chargers through our EV charger supply and installation service. Shared chargers in the carpark go through our commercial and body corporate EV charger service. For who is responsible for which part of a building’s electrical system, see body corporate vs unit owner electrical responsibilities.