How do I tell the comunidad that I am installing an EV charger?

A notice, not a request for permission

Article 17.5 of Spain’s Horizontal Property Act (Ley de Propiedad Horizontal) asks only one thing of you before installing a charger in your own space in a communal garage: that you tell the comunidad (the community of owners) beforehand. You are not asking for permission, you are giving notice. How you do it still matters, because a clear and complete notice avoids arguments and proves you have complied.

What the notice should include

1. Your details as owner and the number of your parking space.
2. The installation layout: usually a line from your own meter to the space (layout 2 of ITC-BT-52, the Spanish EV charging regulation), or a new meter in your name (layout 3).
3. The cable route through the common areas, with the type of conduit or cable tray.
4. The charger: brand, model and power.
5. The registered installation company that will do the work.
6. Your commitment to pay for the installation and the electricity, and to make good any common element affected.

With this, the comunidad has all the information it could need and little room to object.

How to send it and to whom

Address it to the president of the comunidad or the property administrator (administrador de fincas, the managing agent). Use a method that records the date and the content: burofax (a certified letter service of the Spanish post office), a recorded letter with acknowledgement of receipt or an email with acknowledgement. Keep a copy.

The 30 days: good practice, not law

The law sets no waiting period. The 30 days are a practice recommended by lawyers and installers: they give the comunidad time to arrange access to the meter room and the plans, and they strengthen your position if there is a disagreement.

If they do not reply or they object

Silence does not stop you installing once the courtesy period has passed. In December 2025 the Spanish Supreme Court confirmed that no authorisation is needed even if the cable runs through common areas, unless the impact on them is disproportionate. If you are refused access to the meter room, request it formally by burofax.

If several owners want chargers

A shared installation may make more sense: a backbone line with load management (layout 1), approved by one third of the owners. It avoids filling the garage with loose cables and each owner connects later. See communal EV charging backbone and, for your own space in Seville, Spain, EV charger in a communal garage, where we prepare the technical details for your notice.