Michigan EV Charger Rights Stop at the Association's Common Area

Michigan has no standalone EV charging statute for community associations. The protection comes from a definition. MCL 559.303(b) of the homeowners' energy policy act defines electric vehicle supply equipment as a machine or other device located within this state that is supplied with electricity and designed or used for placing or delivering electricity into the battery storage system of a motor vehicle, and MCL 559.303(c)(ix) puts that equipment on the list of energy-saving improvements or modifications the act protects.

That placement carries real force. MCL 559.305(1)(a) makes a homeowners' association provision invalid and unenforceable as contrary to public policy if it prohibits, or requires the approval of the association for, a member to replace, maintain, install, or operate an energy-saving improvement or modification. MCL 559.305(1)(b) does the same for a provision compelling or requiring approval for the auxiliary changes needed for the installation. For a charger, the auxiliary work is usually the expensive part: a service or panel upgrade, a subpanel, a conduit run along the exterior wall, or a trench to a detached garage. Because approval requirements are void and not merely limited, a Michigan owner installing a Level 2 charger on a detached single-family home or a site condominium unit does not file an application with the board and does not wait out a review period. That is a different posture from solar under the same act, where MCL 559.311 still requires a written application and gives the association 30 days to decide.

MCL 559.305(2) reaches the permit counter as well. A local unit of government, defined at MCL 559.303(d) as a county, township, city or village, shall not require a member to obtain association approval to install or operate the equipment or to make the auxiliary changes it needs. A building department cannot hold an electrical permit for a charger hostage to an HOA sign-off letter. Subsection (3) leaves the municipality's own requirements intact, and MCL 559.309(1)(f)(v) confirms that a member must comply with state and local building codes and permit requirements when installing an energy-saving improvement, so the licensed electrician, the permit and the inspection all remain.

The exclusion is what decides most Michigan cases. MCL 559.313 says the act does not apply to the replacement, maintenance, installation or operation of an energy-saving improvement or modification in a common area or on a shared roof. MCL 559.303(a) defines common area as a portion of a building, land, or amenities owned or managed by the homeowners' association that is generally accessible to all members, and its illustrative list expressly names a garage, along with hallways, stairways, elevators, lobbies, laundry and recreational rooms, playgrounds, community centers, public green space, parks and fitness rooms. A structured or shared garage, an association-owned surface lot, and a carport built as a common element are therefore outside the statute. So is the wall the conduit would cross to reach them.

The act is also silent on the terms that usually make or break a charger installation in a shared building. It does not allocate the cost of electricity, require the member to carry additional liability insurance or name the association as an additional insured, assign maintenance responsibility, require removal and restoration on sale, or grant an easement across common elements for a feeder run. Nothing in 2024 PA 68 obliges an association to permit any of that. Where the parking is a common element or a limited common element, the owner negotiates under the master deed and bylaws of the Condominium Act, MCL 559.101 et seq., and an alteration to a common element generally needs the approval the condominium documents specify.

Enforcement is entirely private. 315 provides that if a homeowners' association violates the act, a member may bring a civil action against the association for damages, and a court may award a prevailing member reasonable attorney fees and the costs incurred in bringing the action. There is no administrative complaint route; the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs registers condominium projects but does not resolve charger disputes. 305(1) makes the offending covenant invalid and unenforceable rather than merely waivable, a fine assessed for installing electric vehicle supply equipment at a member's own home or unit rests on a provision with no legal effect, and the member can raise the statute as a defense to a collection or lien action. 313 puts that work outside the act and leaves the association's normal architectural and common-element authority in place.