Maine Right to Charge: Condo EV Charger Bans Void Since January 1, 2026

Maine's right to charge is 33 M.R.S. § 576-A, titled Electric vehicle charging stations allowed and enacted by PL 2025, c. 280, § 1. Subsection 2 sets the start date and the effect: beginning January 1, 2026, any provision of a declaration or bylaw that prohibits or places an unreasonable restriction on the installation or use of an electric vehicle charging station in a unit parking space or limited common element parking space, or is otherwise in conflict with the section, is void and unenforceable. Subsection 1(H) defines an unreasonable restriction as one that significantly increases the cost of the station or significantly decreases its efficiency or specified performance, which is the same cost-and-efficiency test Maine uses in its low-impact landscaping statute.

The protection covers two kinds of space and no others: a unit parking space, and a limited common element parking space. A limited common element takes its meaning from 33 M.R.S. § 1601-103(16). For a limited common element space, subsection 3 adds a consent step: the owner must obtain the written approval of the unit owner of each unit to which use of that space is reserved. General common area parking is not covered by the owner's right, though subsection 5(A) lets the association install stations in the common elements for all owners and adopt rules for their use.

The timetable in subsection 3 is the part an owner should calendar. The executive board must acknowledge receipt of the application in writing not later than 30 days after receipt, and must process it in the same manner as an application for an addition, alteration or improvement under the declaration or bylaws. Approval or denial must be in writing and issued not later than 60 days after the date the application was received. If no written denial arrives within those 60 days, the application is deemed approved, unless the board reasonably requested additional information within the same 60 days.

Subsection 4 makes approval mandatory rather than discretionary once the owner accepts four written commitments: to comply with the declaration or bylaw provisions on additions, alterations and improvements; to provide a certificate of insurance within 14 days of approval showing coverage in amounts the executive board determines sufficient; to pay the costs of installation, expressly including increased master insurance policy premiums, attorney's fees incurred by the association, engineering fees, professional fees, permits and applicable zoning compliance costs; and to pay the electricity usage costs of the station.

The money obligations follow the equipment, not the person. Under subsection 4(B) the unit owner and each successive unit owner is responsible for the cost of any damage to the station, common elements or units arising from installation, use, maintenance, repair, removal or replacement; for maintenance, repair and replacement until the station is removed; for restoring the physical space after removal; for the electricity; and for common expenses resulting from uninsured losses under any master policy. A selling owner must also disclose to prospective purchasers that the station exists, what responsibilities come with it, and that the purchaser must accept it unless it is removed before transfer. The station must meet all applicable health and safety standards under state or federal law or municipal ordinance, with one narrow relief: no liability coverage policy is required for an existing National Electrical Manufacturers Association standard alternating current power plug, which is the ordinary 120 volt outlet used for Level 1 charging.

Subsection 5 preserves four association powers. It may install stations in the common elements and write rules for them, it may create a new parking space where none existed to make an installation possible, it may require the owner to remove the station before a sale unless the buyer agrees to take ownership of it, and it may assess the owner for any uninsured portion of a loss associated with the station, including a deductible, whether or not the association actually files a claim.

One codification detail is worth knowing. Section 576-A was placed in Title 33, chapter 10, subchapter 1, the older Unit Ownership Act, whose section 562 provides that the chapter applies only to property submitted to it by a recorded declaration, and 33 M.R.S. § 1601-102(b) provides that sections 560 through 587 do not apply to condominiums created after the Maine Condominium Act took effect. Section 576-A itself is drafted to stand alone, with its own definitions of bylaw, executive board, rule and purchaser and with common interest community taking the broad meaning in 38 M.R.S. § 3002(3), which covers a condominium, a cooperative or other real property where ownership of a parcel carries an obligation under a recorded covenant to pay toward taxes, insurance, maintenance or improvement of other property.

Section 576-A supplies its own enforcement lever in subsection 6: in any action seeking to enforce compliance with the section, the prevailing party must be awarded reasonable attorney's fees. That is a mandatory award, not a discretionary one, and it applies to either side, so a board that denies a conforming application on grounds the statute does not allow is exposed to the owner's legal costs, and an owner who sues over a restriction that is in fact reasonable pays the association's.

The first thing an owner should check is the calendar. If the executive board never acknowledged the application in writing within 30 days, or let 60 days pass without a written denial and without reasonably requesting additional information within that window, subsection 3 deems the application approved and the board has no further gatekeeping role. A denial that rests on a declaration clause banning chargers outright is void under subsection 2 as of January 1, 2026, and a condition that significantly raises the cost of the station or significantly cuts its efficiency or specified performance is an unreasonable restriction under subsection 1(H).

The association keeps real remedies against an owner who skips the process. Subsection 4 forbids installation unless the owner complies with its requirements, so a charger installed without board approval, without the certificate of insurance filed within 14 days of approval, or without the written approval of every owner whose use the limited common element space is reserved to, is not protected by the section at all. The association may also assess the owner for the uninsured portion of any loss tied to the station under subsection 5(D), including a deductible and regardless of whether it submits an insurance claim, and may require removal of the station before a sale under subsection 5(C) unless the buyer agrees to take it on.