Commercial
EV Charging for Flats and Apartment Blocks: 2026 Guide
EV charging for flats and apartment blocks in 2026: grants for freeholders and RMCs, billing options, wayleaves and a phased plan for shared car parks.
By Evova · Published
You can put EV charging into an existing block of flats in 2026, and there is still government money for the chargers themselves — but the grant stack changed on 1 April 2026. The residential landlord chargepoint grant pays 75% of costs up to £500 per socket (up from £350 before April 2026), for up to 200 sockets per year, and freeholders, residents’ management companies (RMCs) and right to manage (RTM) companies are all eligible. (Individual residents have their own grant route, and our flat owners’ guide covers the resident’s side of the process.) The separate OZEV infrastructure grant that funded ducting and supply upgrades in residential car parks closed to new applications on 31 March 2026, so infrastructure costs now sit with the building. That leaves three decisions that shape the whole project: how charging is metered and billed, what consents the lease requires, and how chargers share the building’s electrical supply.
What grants blocks can actually get in 2026
| Scheme | Who applies | What it’s worth | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residential landlord chargepoint grant | Freeholder, RMC, RTM company, managing agent acting for a landlord | 75% of cost, up to £500 per socket, up to 200 sockets/year | Funded until at least 31 March 2027 |
| EV chargepoint grant (flats and renters) | Individual residents | 75% of cost, up to £500 for one socket | Funded until at least 31 March 2027 |
| Residential landlord infrastructure grant | — | Funded car-park ducting and supply works | Closed 31 March 2026 |
| Workplace Charging Scheme | Businesses, for staff/fleet parking only | Up to £500 per socket, up to 40 sockets | Funded until at least 31 March 2027; rarely relevant to resident bays |
Rates and status last checked July 2026 — confirm on GOV.UK before applying.
The landlord grant has conditions worth knowing before you commit: the applicant must be registered with Companies House, VAT registered, or a registered provider of social housing; each parking space must be off-street, private and clearly defined; you must hold proof of legal rights where the installation crosses land you don’t control; and the chargepoint must not be installed before OZEV confirms eligibility. Since 1 April 2026 applications go through a new platform (OZEV initially estimated up to 10 working days to assess) and installers submit photographic evidence of each install. Individual residents with allocated bays can also apply for their own grant — our flat-owners guide covers that route, and our grants hub tracks all the schemes.
Metering and billing: each flat’s meter, or the landlord supply?
There are two workable models. Wiring a charger to the flat’s own meter is the cleanest billing outcome — the resident simply pays their own supplier at their own tariff — but it only stacks up where the meter room is close to the parking and bays are allocated, because every metre of cable run adds cost.
The alternative is running chargers from the landlord (communal) supply, with a chargepoint operator metering each socket and billing residents per kWh. Ofgem’s maximum resale price rules would normally stop a landlord reselling electricity above cost, but a 2014 Ofgem decision disapplied those rules for EV charging — which is what makes operator billing with a margin lawful. Two cautions: Ofgem opened a call for input on these rules in October 2025, the first major review in two decades, so the framework may change; and Ofgem’s guidance on supplying electricity to chargepoints sets out when selling electricity needs a supply licence — ask any operator to confirm their model against it. This is regulatory territory, so take professional advice before signing.
Consents: leases, Section 20 and wayleaves
Most leases require the freeholder’s consent for alterations, typically documented in a licence for alterations. Where cables cross communal areas or third-party land, you’ll need wayleaves or equivalent legal rights — and OZEV requires proof of them as a grant condition, so sort the paperwork before applying.
If the block funds works through the service charge and the cost to any one leaseholder exceeds £250, Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires formal consultation first; skip it and recovery is capped at £250 per leaseholder. Whether costs fall on the service charge, a reserve fund or only the leaseholders who want chargers depends on your lease — this is legal advice territory, so involve your managing agent and a solicitor early.
Load management, the DNO and infrastructure-first phasing
A block’s supply already feeds lifts, pumps and communal lighting, so multiple 7kW chargers need dynamic load management to share the remaining headroom. The installer you choose will assess the incoming supply and distribution boards as part of the quote. “Connect and notify” only applies where maximum demand including the charger stays under 60 amps per phase, so block projects usually need a DNO application before installation; connection quotes can take anywhere from 5 to 65 working days depending on complexity, and since April 2023 most demand connections no longer pay for wider network reinforcement (below a high-cost cap). Talk to the DNO early.
The most cost-effective retrofit pattern is infrastructure-first: trench and duct every bay once, energise only the bays with demand today, and add chargers later without re-digging the car park. Costs vary too widely to generalise — supply headroom, trenching distance and the number of bays energised on day one drive the price far more than the chargers themselves — so treat any headline figure with suspicion and get building-specific quotes. Installers experienced with shared supplies are the right people to price your building: find an installer near you or request a quote, and see our commercial charging hub for larger projects.
Grant rates, application platforms and Ofgem’s billing rules all moved within the last eighteen months and may move again — everything above was last checked in July 2026, so confirm the current position on GOV.UK and Ofgem before committing budget.