Illinois condo and HOA EV charging rights

On your own unit or a parking space deeded to or set aside for you, an EV charger is protected. A covenant or rule that effectively bans it, or loads it with unreasonable conditions, is void. A charger you install is your property, not part of the common elements. The board keeps some control: it can impose reasonable restrictions and require the charger to meet safety and zoning rules. If the charger goes in a common area or exclusive use common area, it can also require written approval, its architectural standards, a licensed and insured electrical contractor, a certificate of insurance naming the association as an additional insured within 14 days after approval, and you paying for installation and electricity.

The 60-day rule gives the right teeth. If you submit a written application and the board does not deny it in writing within 60 days, it is deemed approved, unless the board has made a reasonable request for more information. A board that willfully violates the Act can owe you actual damages and a civil penalty of up to $500. Attorney fees go to whichever side wins in court, so a weak claim carries risk for the owner too.

If you drive electric, read these before you make an offer:

• Whether your parking is a deeded or exclusively designated space, where the protection is strongest.
• Any blanket ban on electrical modifications or chargers, which the Act voids.
• Insurance, contractor, or approval conditions the association requires.
• Whether the home already has a charger and whether it was approved.

EV charging is now a settled right in Illinois community associations, and a board cannot simply say no on a deeded space. The conditions it can set are about safety and insurance, not a veto, and the 60-day clock protects you from being stalled.

An HOA Notes brief checks the declaration and rules for an EV restriction, confirms your parking designation, flags a rule that overreaches, and cites the page behind each finding.

765 ILCS 1085/30 (Illinois Electric Vehicle Charging Act, effective January 1, 2024) (EV charging installation rights). Any covenant, restriction, or governing-document provision that effectively prohibits or unreasonably restricts an electric vehicle charging system within a unit owner's unit or designated parking space (a deeded space, a space in the owner's exclusive use common area, or a space specifically designated for that owner) is void. An application must be decided in writing and is deemed approved if not denied in writing within 60 days, unless the delay comes from a reasonable request for more information. A charger the owner installs is the owner's property. An association that willfully violates the section owes actual damages and a civil penalty of up to $500, and the court awards reasonable attorney's fees to a prevailing party. The association may impose reasonable restrictions and process the application like an architectural or common-element modification. For a charger in a common area or exclusive use common area, it may require written agreement to its architectural standards, a licensed and insured electrical contractor, a certificate of insurance naming the association as an additional insured within 14 days after approval, and the owner paying installation, electricity, maintenance, and damage costs. A charger in non-exclusive common area is allowed only if installing in the owner's designated space is impossible or unreasonably expensive, under a license agreement.

When you read the disclosure packet, watch for no electric vehicle charging equipment or outlets in any parking space or garage, no modifications to electrical systems without board approval -- used to deny all EV applications, and blanket denial of EV charger applications. HOA Notes flags each of these against the statute and tells you which restrictions are actually enforceable.