Virginia HOA EV Charging

Quick-Reference EV Charging Table

Chapter 19, the Condominium Act, governs condominiums via § 55.1-1962.1, and Chapter 18, the Property Owners' Association Act, governs planned communities via § 55.1-1823.1; the two provisions are parallel but distinct, with the condominium provision more detailed, separate metering, licensed installer, removal and restoration, and the planned-community provision permitting the declaration to override the installation right on a lot owner's own property. A parallel provision for cooperatives, § 55.1-2139.1, exists in the Real Estate Cooperative Act.

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

Virginia has enacted electric-vehicle-charging-station provisions for community associations, one for condominiums at Va. Code § 55.1-1962.1¹ and one for planned communities at Va. Code § 55.1-1823.1,² both added in 2020 by Chapter 1012 of the Acts of Assembly.³ The two-statute structure tracks Virginia's separate community-association acts: condominiums fall under the Virginia Condominium Act, Title 55.1, Chapter 19, planned communities under the Property Owners' Association Act, Title 55.1, Chapter 18, and each provision operates alongside the community's recorded declaration. The two provisions aren't identical. The condominium provision is the more detailed of the two, setting out a specific list of conditions an association may impose, while the planned-community provision is shorter and leaves more to the declaration. Within the national landscape, Virginia sits in the owner-protective group of states that limit an association's power to block EV charging; the 2020 act placed Virginia among at least seven states, including Maryland, New York, and Florida, with right-to-charge measures for common interest communities, though its provisions are narrower and separately drafted for each community type rather than following the broader California Civil Code § 4745 model.³ The sections below detail the statutory framework, the operational limits on association authority, and recent legislative and judicial activity.

Section 2: The statutory and regulatory framework

2A. Virginia's EV-charging statutes

Virginia addresses EV charging in community associations through two parallel Code sections enacted together in 2020: § 55.1-1962.1 in the Virginia Condominium Act for condominiums, and § 55.1-1823.1 in the Property Owners' Association Act for planned communities.¹² Both were added by Chapter 1012 (2020), which originated as Senate Bill 630, patroned by Senator Scott Surovell, who described the measure as modeled on Florida law and adapted to Virginia practice.³ A third parallel provision, § 55.1-2139.1, was added to the Virginia Real Estate Cooperative Act by the same 2020 act and mirrors the condominium provision; it applies to cooperatives and isn't the focus of this page.⁴

The core rule differs between the two acts. Under the condominium provision, an association may not prohibit a unit owner from installing a charging station for personal use within the unit or a limited common element parking space appurtenant to the unit, except where installation isn't technically feasible or reasonably practicable due to safety risks, structural issues, or engineering conditions.¹ Under the planned-community provision, an association may not prohibit a lot owner from installing a station for personal use on property the lot owner owns, except to the extent the declaration or other recorded governing document provides otherwise, and it may prohibit or restrict installation on the common area.²

These EV provisions are distinct from Virginia's solar-energy-collection-device provisions, which appear separately at § 55.1-1951.1, condominiums, and § 55.1-1820.1, planned communities, and operate under a different standard.⁵ The solar sections don't govern EV charging, and the two regimes shouldn't be merged.

2B. Condominiums: Va. Code § 55.1-1962.1 under the Virginia Condominium Act

Section 55.1-1962.1 sits in Article 3, Management of Condominium, of the Virginia Condominium Act, Chapter 19, § 55.1-1900 et seq., and applies to condominiums governed by that act.¹ Subsection A establishes the installation right: except to the extent the condominium instruments provide otherwise, no unit owners' association shall prohibit a unit owner from installing a charging station for the owner's personal use within the boundaries of a unit or a limited common element parking space appurtenant to the unit owned by the owner.¹ Subsection B supplies the narrow ground for prohibition: notwithstanding any other provision of the chapter or the condominium instruments, the association may prohibit installation if it isn't technically feasible or reasonably practicable due to safety risks, structural issues, or engineering conditions.¹

Subsection C lists the conditions the association may impose as a condition of approval. The owner may be required to: provide detailed plans and drawings prepared by a licensed and registered electrical contractor or engineer (C.1); comply with applicable building codes or recognized safety standards (C.2); comply with reasonable architectural standards adopted by the association governing the dimensions, placement, or external appearance of the station (C.3); pay the costs of installation, maintenance, operation, and use (C.4); indemnify the association against any contractor or supplier claim under Title 43, the mechanics' lien title (C.5); pay the cost of removal and restoration of the area when the owner decides the station is no longer needed (C.6); separately meter, at the owner's sole expense, the utilities associated with the station and pay the cost of electricity (C.7); engage a licensed electrician or engineer to install the station (C.8); obtain and maintain insurance and provide a certificate of insurance naming the association as an additional insured within 14 days after approval (C.9); and reimburse the association for any increase in common expenses attributable to the installation, including any increased insurance premium, within 14 days' notice (C.10).¹ Subsection D provides that these conditions run with title to the unit, and subsection E requires the owner to indemnify and hold the association harmless and authorizes the association to require insurance naming it as a named insured.¹ For condominiums, § 55.1-1962.1 controls the EV question; the condominium instruments operate within its limits rather than displacing the core installation right, since subsection B applies "notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter or the condominium instruments."¹

2C. Planned communities: Va. Code § 55.1-1823.1 under the Property Owners' Association Act

Section 55.1-1823.1 sits in Article 3, Operation and Management of Association, of the Property Owners' Association Act, Chapter 18, § 55.1-1800 et seq., and applies to planned communities governed by that act, such as single-family subdivisions and townhouse developments created by a recorded declaration imposing mandatory assessments.² Unlike a state with no statute, where the declaration alone would control, Virginia planned communities are statutorily governed on EV charging.

Subsection A establishes the lot-owner installation right: except to the extent the declaration or other recorded governing document provides otherwise, no association shall prohibit a lot owner from installing a station for the lot owner's personal use on property owned by the lot owner, and the association may establish reasonable restrictions concerning the number, size, place, and manner of placement or installation on the exterior of property owned by the lot owner.² The declaration-override clause is the defining feature of the planned-community regime: a contrary declaration or recorded governing document can limit or displace the installation right. Subsection B gives the association authority over the common area, allowing it to prohibit or restrict installation there and to set reasonable restrictions on number, size, place, and manner of placement on the common area.² Subsection C addresses liability: any lot owner installing a station shall indemnify and hold the association harmless from all liability, including reasonable attorney fees, arising out of the installation, maintenance, operation, or use of the station, and the association may require the owner to obtain and maintain insurance and to include the association as a named insured.² The planned-community provision doesn't contain the condominium provision's separate-metering mandate, licensed-installer requirement, or removal-and-restoration clause.²

The order of precedence for a planned community runs from the non-variable statutory provisions, to the declaration and other recorded governing documents where the statute permits them to control, to the bylaws, and then to the rules. Most Virginia associations are organized as nonstock corporations under the Virginia Nonstock Corporation Act, § 13.1-801 et seq., which supplies corporate-formality scaffolding such as director and meeting requirements but confers no EV-specific authority.⁶ Where the statute and the declaration are silent, common law contract and property doctrine fills the gap.

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

A. Installation rights and prohibitions

For condominiums, the association may not prohibit a unit owner from installing a charging station for personal use within the unit or an appurtenant limited common element parking space, and may prohibit installation only where it's "not technically feasible or reasonably practicable due to safety risks, structural issues, or engineering conditions," § 55.1-1962.1(A)-(B).¹ For planned communities, the association may not prohibit a lot owner's installation on property the owner owns, except to the extent the declaration or other recorded governing document provides otherwise, and it may prohibit or restrict installation on the common area, § 55.1-1823.1(A)-(B).² In both settings, the distinction between prohibiting installation and conditioning it matters: an outright ban is limited by statute, but reasonable conditions are expressly permitted.

B. Conditions an association may impose

Both acts allow reasonable architectural or placement standards. For condominiums, the association may require compliance with reasonable architectural standards governing dimensions, placement, or external appearance, § 55.1-1962.1(C.3); for planned communities, it may impose reasonable restrictions on the number, size, place, and manner of placement on the owner's property, § 55.1-1823.1(A); true for both.¹² Professional or licensed installation and code compliance are condominium-provision requirements: plans prepared by a licensed and registered electrical contractor or engineer, engagement of a licensed electrician or engineer, and compliance with building codes or recognized safety standards, § 55.1-1962.1(C.1), (C.2), (C.8); the planned-community provision doesn't specify these.¹ On insurance and indemnification, the condominium provision lets the association require a certificate naming it as an additional insured, § 55.1-1962.1(C.9), and, in subsection E, as a named insured, while the planned-community provision lets the association require the owner to include it as a named insured, § 55.1-1823.1(C); both provisions require owner indemnification.¹² Reimbursement of increased common expenses, including any increased insurance premium, is a condominium-provision term, § 55.1-1962.1(C.10).¹

C. Cost, metering, and maintenance allocation

The installing owner bears installation cost in both settings, expressly under the condominium provision, § 55.1-1962.1(C.4), and as a matter of the personal-use installation structure under the planned-community provision, § 55.1-1823.1(A).¹² Separate metering at the owner's sole expense, and payment of the electricity cost, is required only by the condominium provision, § 55.1-1962.1(C.7); the planned-community provision doesn't specify metering, leaving it to the declaration.¹ Maintenance, repair, and damage responsibility falls on the owner, backed by the indemnification obligation in each provision, § 55.1-1962.1(E); § 55.1-1823.1(C).¹² On utility-resale considerations, an owner charging on a private meter for personal use is generally not reselling utility service; Virginia's utility regulator is the State Corporation Commission, and § 56-1.2:1 provides that furnishing EV charging service isn't a retail sale of electricity where the electricity is used solely for transportation and was procured from the authorized public utility, with the Commission not setting rates for non-utility retail EV charging.⁷

D. Where the station may be installed

For condominiums, the station may be installed within the unit or a limited common element parking space appurtenant to the unit, § 55.1-1962.1(A).¹ For planned communities, the station may be installed on property owned by the lot owner, and on the common area only as the association permits, § 55.1-1823.1(A)-(B).² Neither § 55.1-1962.1 nor § 55.1-1823.1 sets an application-approval deadline or a deemed-approval-on-silence rule; on that question the honest entry is that it's not specified by statute.¹²

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

No Virginia bill since 2020 has amended § 55.1-1823.1 or § 55.1-1962.1; both carry the lone historical citation "2020, c. 1012."¹² Recent EV-charging legislation has addressed infrastructure and utilities rather than the association installation right, but one 2026 measure has downstream implications for community associations.

B. Recent appellate rulings

No published Virginia appellate opinion from the Court of Appeals of Virginia or the Supreme Court of Virginia decided between 2022 and 2026 addresses EV charging in a community association. The most relevant recent appellate authority on the scope of association power over owners is Burkholder v. Palisades Park Owners Association.

C. Active legislative debates

The 2025 and 2026 sessions saw active debate over utility ownership of EV charging: HB 2087 (2025) passed the General Assembly but was returned by the Governor with amendments and didn't become law, while the transportation-electrification bills HB 1225 and SB 407 were signed on March 31, 2026; those measures concern utility infrastructure, transportation-electrification planning, and fast-charging rates rather than the association installation right in § 55.1-1823.1 or § 55.1-1962.1.¹¹

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Virginia belongs to the owner-protective group of states that limit an association's power to ban EV charging, alongside states such as California, whose Civil Code § 4745 broadly voids covenants that prohibit or unreasonably restrict charging stations, and Colorado, whose C.R.S. § 38-33.3-106.8 bars associations from prohibiting them. A second group addresses EV charging within a condominium or HOA act in narrower terms, and a third group has no EV-charging-specific statute, leaving the declaration to control. Virginia enacted EV-charging provisions in both of its community-association acts in 2020, but in narrower and more prescriptive terms than California's model, and its condominium and planned-community provisions differ from each other in material respects. For a multi-state operator entering Virginia, the practical implication is that condominium and planned-community portfolios must be administered under different rules, since the separate-metering, licensed-installer, and removal obligations apply only to condominiums. This is a fast-moving area, and Virginia's provisions should be re-checked each quarter against the current Code text.

HOA Weekly's Virginia EV Charging coverage updates quarterly as the legislature and courts act, and § 55.1-1962.1 and § 55.1-1823.1 are re-verified against current text each cycle. Federal incentives such as the Section 30C credit may affect installation economics, but no federal law mandates HOA EV charging access.

Footnotes

1. Va. Code § 55.1-1962.1, Electric vehicle charging stations permitted (Virginia Condominium Act) ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
2. Va. Code § 55.1-1823.1, Electric vehicle charging stations permitted (Property Owners' Association Act) ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
3. Va. Code § 55.1-1962.1, historical citation "2020, c. 1012" (Senate Bill 630, Sen. Surovell) ↩ ↩ ↩
4. Va. Code § 55.1-2139.1, Electric vehicle charging stations permitted (Virginia Real Estate Cooperative Act) ↩
5. Va. Code § 55.1-1820.1, Installation of solar energy collection devices; see also § 55.1-1951.1 (condominiums) ↩
6. Va. Code § 13.1-801 et seq., Virginia Nonstock Corporation Act ↩
7. Va. Code § 56-1.2:1, Retail sale of electricity in connection with the provision of electric vehicle charging service ↩
8. Virginia HB 833 (2026 Regular Session), Chapter 679 ↩
9. Burkholder v. Palisades Park Owners Association, Inc., 76 Va. App. 577, 882 S.E.2d 906 (2023), Record No. 0187-22-4 ↩
10. Va. Code § 17.1-405, Appellate jurisdiction — civil matter appeals (SB 1261, eff. Jan. 1, 2022) ↩
11. Virginia HB 1225 (2026 Regular Session, signed March 31, 2026); see also SB 407 (2026) and HB 2087 (2025) ↩