Maryland HOA EV Charging

Quick-Reference EV Charging Table

Section 11-111.4 governs condominiums and § 11B-111.8 governs homeowners associations; the two provisions were added by SB 144 (2021), effective October 1, 2021, and track each other closely, but each column must cite its own section, and EV-charging values must be drawn from the correct section for each column.

Section 1: Overview — How EV charging is regulated for HOAs in Maryland

Maryland has written an owner-protective "right to charge" statute that renders void and unenforceable any recorded covenant, declaration provision, bylaw, or rule that effectively prohibits or unreasonably restricts the installation or use of electric vehicle recharging equipment in an owner's deeded parking space or a space specifically designated for that owner, and it reaches both condominiums and homeowners associations.^1,2 The protection is carried in two parallel sections: Real Property § 11-111.4 for condominiums and Real Property § 11B-111.8 for homeowners associations, both added by SB 144 (2021), the Electric Vehicle Recharging Equipment for Multifamily Units Act.³ The association isn't powerless: it may impose reasonable restrictions, process the request in the same manner as an architectural-modification application, require insurance, and place the full cost of installation, maintenance, electricity, and removal on the owner and each successive owner.^1,2 This places Maryland among the group of states with owner-protective EV-charging mandates, alongside states such as California, Civil Code § 4745, and Colorado, and apart from the many states that have no EV-charging-specific statute and leave the question to the declaration.⁴ The sections that follow work through the statutory framework, the operational rules for boards and managers, and recent legislative activity, all keyed to the current text of the two sections.

Section 2: The statutory and regulatory framework

2A. Maryland's EV-charging statute (§ 11-111.4 and § 11B-111.8)

The condominium provision, § 11-111.4, sits within the Maryland Condominium Act, Real Prop. § 11-101 et seq.; the homeowners-association provision, § 11B-111.8, sits within the Maryland Homeowners Association Act, Real Prop. § 11B-101 et seq.^1,2 Both were enacted by SB 144, 2021 Regular Session, the Electric Vehicle Recharging Equipment for Multifamily Units Act, effective October 1, 2021.³ Each section makes a covenant, declaration provision, bylaw, or rule void and unenforceable if it conflicts with the section or effectively prohibits or unreasonably restricts installation or use of recharging equipment in the owner's deeded parking space or a space specifically designated for that owner.^1,2 The governing body must approve installation in a covered space where the installation doesn't unreasonably impede the normal use of an area outside the owner's parking space and is reasonably possible, and where the owner agrees in writing to comply with building codes and the community's architectural standards, engage a licensed contractor, and pay for electricity.^1,2 If approval is required, the application gets processed the same way as an architectural modification, and if it isn't denied in writing within 60 days it's deemed approved, unless the delay results from a reasonable request for additional information.^1,2 The owner and each successive owner bear installation, damage, maintenance, repair, removal, replacement, restoration, and electricity costs, and the owner must either provide a certificate of insurance naming the association as an additional insured or reimburse the association for the increased premium attributable to the equipment; the statute sets no dollar coverage amount.^1,2 The 2024 amendment expanded the definition of recharging equipment to include electric bicycles.⁵

2B. Condominiums: the Maryland Condominium Act

Condominiums are governed by the Maryland Condominium Act, Real Prop. § 11-101 et seq., and § 11-111.4 is the controlling provision for EV charging within that act.¹ The statute deliberately routes an EV application through the association's existing architectural-review machinery: the governing body processes and reviews the application "in the same manner as an application for approval of an architectural modification to the condominium."¹ That means a board keeps its ordinary design-review tools — written standards, application forms, contractor documentation — but must run the 60-day clock and issue any denial in writing.¹ The location protection matters for condominium boards because parking is often a common element or a limited common element assigned to a unit. Section 11-111.4 protects installation in the unit owner's deeded parking space or a space specifically designated for that owner, not the general common elements at large.¹ The statute also authorizes the governing body, notwithstanding the general limits in § 11-125 of the Condominium Act, to grant a license for up to three years, renewable at its discretion, on any common element necessary for the installation or the supply of electricity.¹ Where the general condominium framework and § 11-111.4 would conflict on EV charging in a covered space, § 11-111.4 controls, because a conflicting declaration or bylaw provision is void under the section.¹

2C. Homeowners associations: the Maryland Homeowners Association Act, plus governing documents and corporate law

Homeowners associations, or developments, are governed by the Maryland Homeowners Association Act, Real Prop. § 11B-101 et seq., and § 11B-111.8 is the controlling EV-charging provision within that act.² Section 11B-111.8 tracks § 11-111.4 nearly word for word, adopting the § 11-111.4 definition of recharging equipment and applying the same void-and-unenforceable rule, the same 60-day deemed-approval clock, the same insurance mechanic, and the same cost allocation, but framed in terms of a lot owner, a dwelling, and the development's common area.² The location protection reaches the lot owner's deeded parking space or a space specifically designated for that owner.² The order of precedence for a board runs: the non-variable statutory provisions of § 11B-111.8 first, then the declaration to the extent consistent with the statute, then bylaws, then rules; a governing-document provision that conflicts with the section is void.² Maryland associations commonly incorporate as nonstock corporations under the Corporations and Associations Article, and the Maryland General Corporation Law supplies corporate-formality scaffolding — meetings, notice, board authority — but grants no EV-specific authority; the substantive EV rules come from § 11B-111.8.² Where the statute and declaration stay silent, ordinary Maryland contract and property doctrine fills the gap. Maryland has never adopted the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act; the Condominium Act and the Homeowners Association Act are bespoke Maryland statutes, and the EV provisions aren't UCIOA-derived.

Section 3: What HOAs can and cannot do regarding EV charging

A. Installation rights and prohibitions

An association may not effectively prohibit or unreasonably restrict installation or use of recharging equipment in the owner's deeded or designated parking space; a conflicting covenant, declaration provision, bylaw, or rule is void — § 11-111.4 for condominiums, § 11B-111.8 for homeowners associations, true for both.^1,2 The protection is bounded by location: it reaches the owner's deeded parking space or a space specifically designated for that owner, not general common areas at large, true for both.^1,2 The operative line is between a permitted reasonable restriction and a prohibited effective prohibition: a rule that sets safety, contractor, and design conditions is generally permitted, while one that makes compliant installation impossible or economically unreasonable in a covered space is void, true for both.^1,2

B. Conditions an association may impose

The board may require that the application be processed as an architectural modification, and must deny in writing within 60 days or the application is deemed approved, subject to tolling for a reasonable request for additional information, true for both.^1,2 The board may impose reasonable restrictions, including that installation not unreasonably impede normal use of an area outside the owner's space and be reasonably possible, true for both.^1,2 The board may require a certificate of insurance naming the association as an additional insured or reimbursement of the increased premium, and may require the owner to obtain any county or municipal permit, true for both.^1,2 The ceiling on these conditions is statutory, not merely the declaration; a condition that operates as an effective prohibition in a covered space is void even if the declaration would otherwise support it, true for both.^1,2

C. Cost, metering, and maintenance allocation

The owner and each successive owner are responsible for installation, damage, maintenance, repair, removal, replacement, restoration, and electricity costs, true for both.^1,2 Maryland doesn't impose a California-style dedicated time-of-use meter mandate on the association; the statute requires the owner to pay for the electricity usage associated with the separately metered equipment, and leaves the metering arrangement to the declaration and the owner's setup, true for both.^1,2 On the utility side, the Maryland Public Service Commission regulates public utilities, but Maryland's Public Utilities Article treats a person who charges an electric vehicle at a charging station as a retail electric customer rather than an electric company or supplier, so an owner charging on a private meter is generally not reselling utility service, true for both.⁶

D. Where the station may be installed

For condominiums, the covered location is the unit owner's deeded parking space or a space specifically designated for that owner; because condominium parking is frequently a limited common element assigned to a unit, the deeded-or-designated-space limitation of § 11-111.4 interacts directly with the association's authority over limited common elements.¹ For homeowners associations, the covered location is the lot owner's deeded parking space or a space specifically designated for that owner under § 11B-111.8.²

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

B. Recent appellate rulings

Research of the published opinions of the Appellate Court of Maryland, the intermediate court, renamed from the Court of Special Appeals effective December 14, 2022, and the Supreme Court of Maryland, the highest court, renamed from the Court of Appeals, didn't identify a reported decision within the past 36 months construing § 11-111.4, § 11B-111.8, or an EV-charging dispute in a Maryland community association.⁹ A trial-level EV dispute would proceed through the Maryland Circuit Courts, with smaller matters in the District Court of Maryland, with appeal to the Appellate Court of Maryland and discretionary review by the Supreme Court of Maryland; in Montgomery County, certain community-association disputes over the authority of a governing body may instead be heard by the county's Commission on Common Ownership Communities.^9,10

C. Active legislative debates

HB 405 (2026) is the most recent enacted change and closes the board-authority gap for common-area installations; no further bill amending § 11-111.4 or § 11B-111.8 was pending at the close of the 2026 session.⁷

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Maryland sits in the first of three national tiers: states with EV-charging mandates that void or limit HOA prohibitions, such as California, Civil Code § 4745, and Colorado, C.R.S. § 38-33.3-106.8; states that address EV charging within a condominium or HOA act more narrowly; and the many states with no EV-charging-specific statute, where the declaration controls.^4,11 Maryland belongs in the first category, voiding effective prohibitions on EV charging in a covered parking space across both condominiums and homeowners associations, while limiting that protection to the owner's deeded or designated space rather than common areas at large.^1,2 For a multi-state operator entering Maryland from a silent state, the practical implication is that owners hold statutory installation rights in their covered spaces that the declaration cannot override. This is a fast-moving area, and Maryland's provisions are worth rechecking every quarter.

HOA Weekly's Maryland EV Charging coverage updates quarterly as the legislature and courts act, and we re-verify § 11-111.4 and § 11B-111.8 against current text each cycle. Federal incentives may affect installation economics, but no federal law mandates HOA EV charging access.

Footnotes

1. Md. Code, Real Prop. § 11-111.4 (Electric vehicle recharging equipment, condominiums), current text via mgaleg.maryland.gov ↩
2. Md. Code, Real Prop. § 11B-111.8 (Electric vehicle recharging equipment, homeowners associations), current text via mgaleg.maryland.gov ↩
3. Maryland General Assembly, SB 144 (2021), Electric Vehicle Recharging Equipment for Multifamily Units Act ↩
4. Plug In America, Right-to-Charge Policies (state-by-state) ↩
5. Maryland General Assembly, SB 465 (2024), Chapter 269, chaptered text (approved April 25, 2024; effective October 1, 2024) ↩
6. Md. Code, Public Utilities § 1-101 (Definitions), via mgaleg.maryland.gov ↩
7. Maryland General Assembly, HB 405 (2026), Chapter 753, Condominiums and Homeowners Associations – Governing Documents – Electric Vehicle Recharging Equipment ↩
8. Maryland General Assembly, HB 159 (2024), Chapter 268 (cross-file of SB 465) ↩
9. Maryland Judiciary, Voter-approved constitutional change renames high courts to Supreme and Appellate Court of Maryland (Dec. 14, 2022) ↩
10. Montgomery County, Commission on Common Ownership Communities ↩
11. Cal. Civ. Code § 4745, California Legislative Information ↩