An Owner Wants EV Charging: What the Strata Property Act Asks of Your Council: A Guide for Northern BC Strata Councils

The full guide

Sooner or later the email arrives: an owner wants to install EV charging at their parking stall, and they're asking the strata to approve it. Since 2023, British Columbia has had a legal framework for exactly this conversation — sections 90.1 to 90.3 of the Strata Property Act, added by Bill 22 and brought into force with supporting regulations in December 2023. Here is what that framework asks of your council, plainly.

When the framework applies

For a strata corporation of five or more lots, the owner-request process comes into effect on whichever of these comes first:

• the strata obtains its Electrical Planning Report, or
• the strata's EPR deadline passes — December 31, 2026 or December 31, 2028, depending on its regional district (see the deadline groups).

That "earlier of" rule is worth reading twice, because it means the framework arrives either way. A strata that obtains its EPR opens the process on its own schedule, holding the capacity analysis the decisions below depend on. A strata that waits past its deadline opens the process anyway — without it.

Section 90.1 — the owner's request

An owner may ask the strata corporation to approve alterations to common property (or land held as a common asset) that are needed to install EV charging infrastructure for use at a parking stall. That is the legal shape of the email your council receives: not a courtesy heads-up, but a request the Act has rules for.

Section 90.2 — what the council must do with it

Three things every council should know before the first request lands:

1. There is a clock. The strata must decide within three months of receiving the request.
2. The strata must not unreasonably refuse. Refusal is still possible — insufficient electrical capacity is the recognized example — but it has to stand on something. The Province's guidance points to the Electrical Planning Report as the tool for judging whether a capacity-based refusal is reasonable: a refusal that cites capacity is only as strong as the analysis behind it.
3. Approval can come with written conditions. The strata may require the owner to agree in writing to conditions — for example, approval of the specific infrastructure, contractor, and materials, or an agreement to modify or replace the installation if the strata later builds charging infrastructure for all owners. The strata can also require the owner to pay the costs of the alteration.

What the council may weigh is spelled out too: compatibility with charging infrastructure that already exists or is planned — by the strata or by other owners — with any system used to manage the electricity that charging draws, and the capacity of, and current and anticipated demands on, the strata's electrical system.

Section 90.3 — who does the work

If the request is approved, the alteration can proceed — made by the owner or by the strata corporation, under whatever conditions were agreed. Either way, the electrical work itself is carried out by licensed electrical contractors under permit, like any other electrical alteration in the building.

The other change: majority vote for strata-led charging

Bill 22 made a second change councils should know: a significant change in the use or appearance of common property now needs only a majority vote — not a three-quarters vote — when the change relates to EV charging infrastructure or to managing the electricity it uses. For stratas thinking about a building-wide program rather than stall-by-stall approvals, that lowered threshold, plus the BC Hydro rebate of up to $3,000 toward an EV Ready Plan, makes the coordinated path considerably more reachable than it was before 2023.

Staying ahead of the first request

The framework rewards councils that prepare before the first email arrives:

• Know your spare capacity. Every decision in section 90.2 leans on it, and the Electrical Planning Report your strata already owes under section 94.1 is the document that establishes it. Stratas on the 2028 deadline can read our guide to the 2028 group for how the timing works.
• Treat the first approval as a template. The conditions your council attaches to request one will be looked to on request two. Written conditions, consistent criteria, and a record of the capacity reasoning make every later decision easier to defend.
• Consider the coordinated path early. Stall-by-stall approvals work, but if several owners are heading the same direction, a building-wide plan often serves everyone better — and the majority-vote change exists precisely for that.

CF Electrical Services prepares Electrical Planning Reports and EV Ready Plans for strata corporations across BC. If your council wants its capacity picture in hand before the requests arrive, request a fixed-price proposal.

Authoritative sources

• Strata Property Act, sections 90.1–90.3 — the owner EV-charging request framework (BC Laws).
• Electric vehicle charging in strata corporations — Province of British Columbia overview page.
• New regulations make EV charging requests easier in strata developments — Province of British Columbia news release (December 2023).
• Electric vehicle charging in stratas — Vancouver Island Strata Owners Association.