Utah HOA EV Charger Rights: Your Own Lot or Exclusive-Use Space Only

The Utah Legislature added Part 8 of the Community Association Act in 2022 by Laws of Utah 2022, chapter 439, and amended § 57-8a-802 by Laws of Utah 2023, chapter 503, effective May 3, 2023. Section 57-8a-801 defines a charging system as a device used to provide electricity to an electric or hybrid electric vehicle and designed to ensure a safe connection between the electric grid and the vehicle. Hybrid vehicles are inside the definition, so a plug-in hybrid owner has the same statutory footing as a battery electric owner.

The operative words in Subsection (1) are the strongest in the section: notwithstanding any provision in an association's governing documents to the contrary. That phrase reaches the recorded declaration itself, not just board rules, which is a meaningfully stronger drafting choice than Utah used for political signs in § 57-8a-218(4), where only a rule is limited. A Utah covenant banning chargers is therefore unenforceable in the two protected locations.

Those two locations define the whole of the right. The first is a parking space on the lot owner's lot that is used for the parking or storage of a vehicle or equipment, which covers a driveway or an attached garage in a typical planned community. The second is a limited common area parking space designated for the lot owner's exclusive use, which covers an assigned carport or an assigned stall in a shared lot. Utah wrote nothing about a general common area parking space, an unassigned visitor stall, or the installation of a shared charger for the community. An owner who parks in an unassigned space has no statutory claim under this section, and the association's ordinary authority over the common areas applies. The Condominium Ownership Act carries the parallel provision at § 57-8-8.2, phrased as a parking space assigned to the unit owner's unit.

Subsection (2) lists what the association keeps. It may require an application for approval of the installation. It may require the owner to agree in writing to hire a general electrical contractor or a residential electrical contractor, both defined by reference to Utah Code § 58-55-102, a cross reference that Laws of Utah 2026, chapter 42, renumbers to § 58-55-202 effective January 1, 2027 without changing the substance. It may require the system to comply with the association's reasonable design criteria governing dimensions, placement or external appearance, and with applicable building codes. It may impose a reasonable charge to cover the costs of review and permitting.

Subsection (2)(e) is the catch-all limit: the association may impose a reasonable restriction on installation and use that does not significantly increase the cost of the charging system or significantly decrease its efficiency or performance. Utah deliberately left significantly undefined here, and the contrast inside the same chapter is instructive. For solar, § 57-8a-701(4)(e) sets a numeric test, permitting a size, location or placement restriction only if it cuts production by 5% or less and raises installation cost by 5% or less. No such percentage appears in § 57-8a-802, so an EV charger dispute in Utah is argued on reasonableness rather than on a number.

Money runs one way. Subsection (2)(f) lets the association require the owner to pay the costs of installation, metering and use, including the electricity the charger consumes and damage to a general common area, a limited common area, or an area subject to another lot owner's exclusive use resulting from installation, use, maintenance, repair, removal or replacement. Insurance is narrower than owners often assume: under Subsection (2)(b)(ii) the association may demand reimbursement for the actual increase in its insurance premium attributable to the system only if the charging system is installed in a common area. A charger on the owner's own lot triggers no statutory insurance reimbursement.

Two duties follow the owner past installation. Subsection (3) requires an owner who installs a charging system to disclose to a prospective buyer both the existence of the system and the owner's related responsibilities under the section. Subsection (4) makes the charging system the personal property of the lot owner unless the owner and the association or declarant agree otherwise, and requires the owner, before transferring ownership of the lot, to remove the system and restore the premises to the pre-installation condition, unless the buyer accepts ownership and all the rights and responsibilities attached to it. In practice the buyer's acceptance is what keeps a Utah charger in place at closing, and it belongs in the purchase contract.

One thing Utah did not write is a decision deadline. Several states give an association a fixed number of days to approve or deny a charger application before approval is deemed granted. Section 57-8a-802 sets no such clock, so an owner facing a stalled application is relying on § 57-8a-218(23), which requires that a rule be reasonable, rather than on a deemed-approval provision.

Section 57-8a-802 contains no fine, no civil penalty and no damages figure, and no Utah agency polices it. An owner whose association refuses a charger enforces the section privately. Utah Code § 57-8a-212.5 permits an action for damages, injunctive relief, or both, brought by an aggrieved lot owner, and § 57-8a-103(1) confirms that the remedies in the chapter, at law, and in equity are not mutually exclusive. Note that the attorney fee provision at § 57-8a-702 sits in Part 7 and applies to an action to enforce that part, which is solar access, so an EV charger claimant has no Part 8 fee-shifting clause to point at.

Running the other way, an association that fines an owner over an unapproved charger must follow § 57-8a-208: a written warning identifying the violated provision, at least 48 hours to cure a continuing violation, then a fine in the amount stated in the governing documents. The owner has 30 days to request an informal hearing before the board and 180 days after the board's final decision to bring a civil action.

The cheaper first step is the Office of the Homeowners' Association Ombudsman under Utah Code § 13-79-102. For a $150 filing fee, and within one year of when the owner knew or should have known of the act, an owner may request a written advisory opinion on compliance with Chapter 8a after exhausting the dispute procedures in the governing documents. The opinion is not binding, but § 13-79-104(10) provides that if the same issue is later litigated and the court rules the same way, the court may award the substantially prevailing party attorney fees and costs from the date the opinion issued, plus a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for a knowing and intentional violation.