Washington HOA EV Charging

Quick-Reference EV Charging Table

RCW 64.90.513 is the operative EV provision. ESSB 5129, chapter 119, Laws of 2025, extended it to all common interest communities effective January 1, 2026, and the legacy-act EV provisions, RCW 64.34.395, RCW 64.38.062, RCW 64.32.290, are superseded through January 1, 2028.

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

Washington has a detailed, owner-protective EV-charging statute, RCW 64.90.513, that makes governing-document provisions effectively prohibiting or unreasonably restricting the installation or use of an electric vehicle charging station unenforceable.¹ The provision sits within the Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, WUCIOA, RCW 64.90, and after ESSB 5129, chapter 119, Laws of 2025, it reaches all common interest communities regardless of formation date, effective January 1, 2026.² The statute isn't a blanket ban on association authority. An association may still impose reasonable restrictions, apply reasonable architectural standards, require a certificate of insurance for many community types, and place installation cost, electricity cost, maintenance, and damage responsibility on the owner.¹ That combination of a strong installation right paired with defined association conditions places Washington among the owner-protective EV-charging states, alongside California, Civil Code section 4745, and Colorado, C.R.S. section 38-33.3-106.8.³ The sections that follow set out the statutory framework, the ESSB 5129 transition, the operational do-and-do-not list, recent legislative and judicial activity, and national positioning. This page reflects RCW 64.90.513 as currently amended and extended.

Section 2: The statutory and regulatory framework

2A. RCW 64.90.513 and the WUCIOA EV framework

The operative EV provision is RCW 64.90.513, titled "Electric vehicle charging stations," within WUCIOA, RCW 64.90.¹ It isn't RCW 64.90.510, which is the WUCIOA solar-energy-panel provision, and it's distinct from RCW 64.90.580, the WUCIOA heat-pump provision.⁴ The EV provisions were first enacted in 2022 through Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1793, effective June 9, 2022, alongside the parallel legacy-act provisions RCW 64.34.395, RCW 64.32.290, and RCW 64.38.062.⁵ RCW 64.90.513 was amended by ESSB 5129, 2025 c 119 s 21, effective January 1, 2026, and further amended by SHB 2354, chapter 96, Laws of 2026, effective June 11, 2026; this page reflects that current text and cites by subsection.⁶

The core rule is a rule of unenforceability. Under RCW 64.90.513(1)(a), an association may not adopt or enforce a restriction, covenant, condition, bylaw, rule, regulation, provision of a governing document, or master deed provision that effectively prohibits or unreasonably restricts the installation or use of an EV charging station for the personal, noncommercial use of a unit owner within the boundaries of a unit or in a designated parking space, or that conflicts with the section.¹ Subsection (1)(b) preserves an association's ability to impose reasonable restrictions and states the policy of the state to promote, encourage, and remove obstacles to EV charging.¹ A "reasonable restriction," defined in subsection (11)(c), is one that doesn't significantly increase the cost of a station or significantly decrease its efficiency or specified performance.¹

Owner responsibilities are specific. Under subsection (6)(a), unless otherwise agreed by written contract with the association, the owner bears installation cost; under subsections (4)(e) and (8)(c), the owner pays for electricity usage associated with the station.¹ Subsection (4)(b) requires the owner to engage an electrical contractor familiar with the standards for installation of EV infrastructure, and subsection (5) requires local permits and compliance with building codes and health and safety standards.¹ The insurance requirement in subsection (4)(c) is a certificate-of-insurance requirement, not a fixed dollar policy limit: in a common interest community other than an association of single-family homes, a site condominium, or a planned use development where units aren't immediately adjacent, the owner must provide a certificate of insurance naming the association as an additional insured within 14 days after the association approves the installation.¹ Under subsection (8), the owner and each successive owner remain responsible for inspection, maintenance, repair, replacement, damage, electricity, and, on removal, restoration.¹

Approval mechanics run through architectural review. Under subsection (2), an association may require an application before installation unless the installation is exempt under subsection (1)(c). Under subsection (3)(a), the application must be processed and approved in the same manner as an application for an architectural modification, and under subsection (3)(c), if the association doesn't deny the application in writing within 60 days of receipt, the application is deemed approved, unless the delay results from a reasonable request for additional information.¹ A willful violation exposes the association to actual damages and a civil penalty up to $1,000, plus mandatory attorneys' fees and costs to a prevailing unit owner under subsection (10).¹

2B. The ESSB 5129 transition and how it reaches older communities

Before 2025, EV charging in Washington associations turned on creation date across four acts. WUCIOA, RCW 64.90.513, governed communities created on or after July 1, 2018; the Washington Condominium Act, RCW 64.34, EV provision RCW 64.34.395, governed condominiums created July 1, 1990 through June 30, 2018; the Horizontal Property Regimes Act, RCW 64.32, EV provision RCW 64.32.290, governed pre-1990 condominiums; and the Homeowners' Associations chapter, RCW 64.38, EV provision RCW 64.38.062, governed older HOAs.⁵

ESSB 5129, chapter 119, Laws of 2025, accelerated key WUCIOA provisions, including RCW 64.90.513, to apply to all common interest communities effective January 1, 2026, moved up from the January 1, 2028 date originally set by ESSB 5796, chapter 321, Laws of 2024.² The same act repealed the legacy-act EV provisions, RCW 64.34.395, RCW 64.38.062, and RCW 64.32.290, effective January 1, 2026, 2025 c 119 s 32.⁷ The legacy acts themselves, chapters 64.32, 64.34, and 64.38, are repealed effective January 1, 2028 under ESSB 5796.⁸ The result is that RCW 64.90.513 is now the operative EV rule regardless of creation date; pre-2018 communities aren't exempt from it. A pre-2018 community may still find legacy-act references in older governing documents during the transition, but those references no longer control EV charging, and conflicting document language is superseded by operation of law.⁹

2C. The role of governing documents and corporate law

Declarations, bylaws, and rules operate subject to RCW 64.90.513. An association may impose reasonable restrictions and reasonable architectural standards, but it may not impose an effective prohibition or a restriction that significantly increases cost or significantly decreases efficiency or specified performance.¹ WUCIOA generally doesn't permit governing documents to vary provisions that confer rights or impose obligations, under RCW 64.90.015, and SHB 2354 confirmed that governing documents may not vary the financial-responsibility allocation for EV charging stations, so that only the owner of a station serving the owner's unit bears that cost.¹⁰ The order of precedence runs from WUCIOA's non-variable provisions, including RCW 64.90.513, to governing documents consistent with the statute, to rules adopted under them.¹⁰ Most associations are incorporated as nonprofits under the Washington Nonprofit Corporation Act, RCW 24.03A, which supplies corporate-formality scaffolding such as board duties and meeting mechanics but confers no EV-specific authority.¹¹ Where the statute and documents 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

An association may not effectively prohibit or unreasonably restrict the installation or use of an EV charging station for personal, noncommercial use within the boundaries of a unit or in a designated parking space; such governing-document provisions are unenforceable, RCW 64.90.513(1)(a), a statutory mandate.¹ A "designated parking space" includes a garage, a deeded parking space, and a parking space in a limited common element restricted to one or more owners, RCW 64.90.513(11)(a).¹ An association may install a station in the common elements for the use of all owners, in which case it must develop appropriate terms of use, RCW 64.90.513(9), a permitted association option.¹ For associations of single-family homes, site condominiums, or non-adjacent planned use developments, the association may not require approval at all unless the station is installed within or upon a common element or connected to a common electrical power supply, RCW 64.90.513(1)(c).¹ The line between a permitted reasonable restriction and a prohibited effective prohibition is the statutory definition: a restriction is unreasonable if it significantly increases cost or significantly decreases efficiency or specified performance, RCW 64.90.513(11)(c).¹

B. Conditions an association may impose

An association may require architectural approval and compliance with reasonable architectural standards, processed as an architectural modification, RCW 64.90.513(3)(a), (4)(a), permitted options subject to the deemed-approval clock.¹ It may require the owner to engage an electrical contractor familiar with EV infrastructure standards and to obtain permits and meet code and safety standards, RCW 64.90.513(4)(b), (5), mandated conditions on the owner.¹ For community types other than single-family-home associations, site condominiums, and non-adjacent planned use developments, the association may require a certificate of insurance naming it as an additional insured within 14 days after approval, RCW 64.90.513(4)(c), a permitted condition, with no fixed dollar limit specified.¹ Reasonable aesthetic and location conditions are permitted so long as they don't significantly increase cost or decrease efficiency, RCW 64.90.513(1)(b), (11)(c).¹ A timely written denial must be in writing and must not be willfully avoided or delayed; absent a written denial within 60 days, the application is deemed approved, RCW 64.90.513(3)(b), (3)(c).¹ An association may not charge a placement fee, but may charge a reasonable application-processing fee only if such a fee exists for all architectural-modification applications, RCW 64.90.513(3)(d).¹

C. Cost, metering, and maintenance allocation

The owner bears installation cost unless otherwise agreed by written contract, RCW 64.90.513(6)(a), pays for electricity usage and the means to facilitate payment, RCW 64.90.513(4)(e), and, together with successors, is responsible for inspection, maintenance, repair, replacement, and damage, RCW 64.90.513(8).¹ On the utility side, the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission regulates investor-owned utilities and doesn't regulate electric vehicles or private chargers; an owner charging on a private or dedicated meter and paying for that owner's own electricity is generally not reselling utility service.¹² Metering and submetering arrangements should be structured to reflect the owner's own consumption rather than a resale of power for profit.¹²

D. Dispute resolution and enforcement

RCW 64.90.513(10) provides the enforcement mechanism: a willful violation exposes the association to actual damages and a civil penalty up to $1,000, and a prevailing unit owner is entitled to reasonable attorneys' fees and costs.¹ Washington has no dedicated ongoing HOA regulator and no agency that adjudicates EV-charging disputes for associations. Trial-level disputes proceed through Washington Superior Courts, with appeals to the Washington Court of Appeals, which sits in three divisions, Division I in Seattle, Division II in Tacoma, and Division III in Spokane, hearing appeals in three-judge panels, subject to discretionary review by the Washington Supreme Court.¹³

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

B. Recent appellate rulings

No published or unpublished Washington appellate decision has interpreted RCW 64.90.513 or its repealed legacy counterparts, RCW 64.34.395, RCW 64.38.062, RCW 64.32.290, and no Washington appellate decision addresses an owner's right to install an EV charging station in an association. This absence is consistent with the statute's recency: the EV provisions were first enacted in 2022, and the current unified rule took effect for all communities only in 2026. Rather than pad this section with unrelated matters, this page states plainly that there's no controlling appellate authority on RCW 64.90.513 as of the current review.

C. Active legislative debates

The 2025-2026 sessions were active on common interest communities generally, and further technical amendments to WUCIOA remain plausible as the January 1, 2028 full transition approaches; as of this review no pending proposal would repeal or narrow the core EV installation right in RCW 64.90.513.²

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Washington sits among the owner-protective EV-charging states, alongside California, Civil Code section 4745, and Colorado, C.R.S. section 38-33.3-106.8, enacted by SB 13-126 in 2013 and expanded by HB23-1233 in 2023, and applying only to residential units, each of which voids governing-document provisions that effectively prohibit or unreasonably restrict an owner's charging station while permitting reasonable restrictions.³ Nationally, EV-charging law falls into three broad categories: mandate states that grant an affirmative installation right, including California, Colorado, and Washington; states that address EV charging more narrowly; and states with no EV-charging-specific statute, where the declaration controls. One notable divergence is insurance: California's SB 770 removed its additional-insured requirement effective January 1, 2026, leaving owners to carry liability coverage but not name the association, while Washington retains a certificate-of-insurance and additional-insured requirement for many community types; and Washington doesn't import California's former section 4745 requirement of at least $1,000,000 in liability coverage, which California itself eliminated in a 2018 amendment.³ For a multi-state operator, the practical implication is that Washington grants strong installation rights that most states don't, and after ESSB 5129 those rights reach older communities too, so a playbook built for a silent state doesn't transfer. RCW 64.90.513 was recently amended and extended, and this page is re-verified each quarter.

HOA Weekly's Washington EV Charging coverage updates quarterly as the legislature and courts act, and RCW 64.90.513 is re-verified against current text each cycle, including the legacy-act transition running through January 1, 2028. Federal incentives may affect installation economics, but no federal law mandates HOA EV charging access.

Footnotes

1. RCW 64.90.513, Electric vehicle charging stations (current text via app.leg.wa.gov) ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
2. Final Bill Report, ESSB 5129, chapter 119, Laws of 2025 ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
3. California Civil Code section 4745 (California Legislative Information); SB 770 additional-insured removal effective January 1, 2026; Colorado C.R.S. section 38-33.3-106.8 (enacted by SB 13-126, 2013; expanded by HB23-1233, 2023) ↩ ↩ ↩
4. RCW 64.90.510, Solar energy panels (via app.leg.wa.gov) ↩
5. RCW 64.32.290, Electric vehicle charging stations (via app.leg.wa.gov); EV provisions first enacted by ESHB 1793, effective June 9, 2022 (2022 c 27) ↩ ↩
6. Substitute House Bill 2354, chapter 96, Laws of 2026 (session law) ↩ ↩
7. Chapter 64.38 RCW Dispositions (RCW 64.38.062 repealed by 2025 c 119 s 32, effective January 1, 2026) ↩
8. Chapter 64.34 RCW Dispositions (RCW 64.34.395 repeal; legacy act repealed effective January 1, 2028) ↩
9. SB 5129 bill page, Washington State Legislature ↩
10. HB 2354, Section 1 (RCW 64.90.015 varying provisions) and Section 2 (RCW 64.90.513) ↩ ↩
11. Chapter 24.03A RCW, Washington Nonprofit Corporation Act ↩
12. Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment ↩ ↩
13. Washington Courts, Court structure (Court of Appeals divisions and Supreme Court review) ↩