Oregon HOA and Condo EV Charging Station Rights (ORS 94.762)

The right runs against the governing documents. ORS 94.762(1) opens with "Notwithstanding contrary provisions of a declaration or bylaws of a planned community," so a recorded covenant banning charging equipment does not survive contact with the statute. The Legislative Assembly stated the purpose in ORS 94.761(1)(a): to facilitate installation of a charging station by an owner in a planned community for the owner's personal residential use. That same findings section walks through the Oregon fixture test, whether the equipment is physically annexed, whether it is specifically adapted to the property, and whether the annexer objectively intended it to become part of the realty, and it declares the third factor the most important. The point of that detour is ownership: a station installed on or before June 4, 2015 is deemed the personal property of the owner of the associated lot unless the owner and the association negotiated otherwise.

What the association keeps. ORS 94.762(3) leaves a homeowners association four powers. It may require an application before installation, it may require the station to meet the planned community's architectural standards, it may impose reasonable charges to recover the cost of reviewing and permitting the station, and it may impose reasonable restrictions on installation and use, but only restrictions that do not significantly increase the cost of the station or significantly decrease its efficiency or performance. That last qualifier is the operative limit: an architectural condition that quietly doubles the install price is not a reasonable restriction under the statute.

The 60-day clock. Under ORS 94.762(2), once the owner complies or agrees to comply, the association or the declarant acting in its place shall approve a completed application within 60 days of submission. The only permitted delay is one based on a reasonable request for additional information, so an association that simply sits on a complete application is out of compliance when day 61 arrives.

Who must do the work. ORS 94.762(4) overrides the homeowner exemption in ORS 479.540 and requires that the station be installed by a person holding a license, as defined in ORS 479.530, to act at a minimum as a journeyman electrician. A pedestal or similar station hard-wired into the electrical system must be a certified electrical product as defined in ORS 479.530. If a station is not a certified electrical product and the owner owns it, ORS 94.762(8)(b) requires the owner to carry a homeowner liability policy of not less than $1 million covering the station and to name the association as an additional insured with a right to notice of cancellation.

Costs, capacity and resale. The owner bears all costs of installation and use, including the cost of the electricity the station draws and the cost of damage to common property or to areas reserved for other owners caused by installation, use, maintenance, repair, removal or replacement. If the association reasonably determines that the cumulative electricity use from charging stations requires additional infrastructure to keep the community's supply sufficient, ORS 94.762(6) lets it assess the cost of those improvements against the lot of each owner who has installed or will install a station. On sale, the owner must disclose the station and the related responsibilities to a prospective buyer, and under subsection (7)(b) must remove the station and restore the premises to their prior condition before transferring the lot, unless the buyer accepts the station along with every right and responsibility attached to it.

Which communities are covered. The Oregon Planned Community Act, ORS 94.550 to 94.783, applies to planned communities created before January 1, 2002 under the Act and to Class I planned communities created on or after that date. A Class I planned community has at least 13 lots, or a reserved right to exceed 12, plus an estimated annual assessment over $10,000 for all lots or $100 per lot. Class II communities, at least five lots with assessments over $1,000 in total, are covered too. For a Class I or Class II community created before January 1, 2002 that was not created under the Act, ORS 94.572(1) applies ORS 94.762 only to the extent it is consistent with that community's governing documents, and ORS 94.573 gives those owners a route to amend the documents into conformity. A Class III or exclusively commercial or industrial community created on or after January 1, 2002 is covered only if its declaration says so.

There is no state agency that polices this. 783 cause for a suit or action to remedy the violation or to recover actual damages, and the prevailing party is entitled to reasonable attorney fees and court costs. 762(9) awards attorney fees and costs to the prevailing party in any action between an owner and a homeowners association to enforce compliance with the charging station section itself, so an owner who wins a fee award has two independent hooks for it. 780(3) requires the suit or action to be commenced within one year after the discovery or identification of the alleged violation.

627(9). An owner who installs without applying, or who uses an unlicensed installer, loses the protection, because the statute shields only a station "installed and used in compliance with the requirements of this section," and the association may then enforce its architectural covenants normally.