A guide for residents who want a charger in their parking space or in the building's garage — and for building managers who receive such a request. When a decision is needed, what majority it takes, what it must say and how to make the meeting end with a “yes”.
Translated from Serbian. Prices, quotes from company websites and data are given in English for convenience; where the exact wording matters, the Serbian original applies.
Short answer: if the cable to your space passes through common parts of the building, you need a decision of the residents' assembly (skupština stambene zajednice). As a rule it is taken by a simple majority of those present at a meeting with a quorum, and it takes 4–10 weeks from the request to installation. Assemblies do not say “no” to a charger — they say “no” to an unclear electricity bill and unclear liability. With good paperwork, the conversation is different.
The Law on Housing and Building Maintenance puts it simply: you may alter and adapt your own separate unit (a flat, a garage that is yours) “without encroaching on the common parts of the building” — and may work on the common parts only “with authorisation obtained” (Article 12, paragraph 1, item 3). A charger is an installation, so the question is always the same: where the cable runs and whose meter the electricity comes from. Three typical situations:
The garage is your separate unit, it has its own connection or the circuit runs from your flat's meter, and the cable does not pass through common parts. By law, no assembly decision is needed. Even so: inform the building manager in writing and keep the test certificate — that is what you will show when a neighbour asks “who allowed you to do that?”
The most common case in new buildings: the space is yours, but the cable runs through the building's garage area, along a common wall or from a shared distribution board. Here authorisation is needed — an assembly decision. Since this is not a disposal of common parts (nothing is sold, let or transferred), the decision is as a rule taken by a simple majority of the votes of those present (Article 44). If the building manager treats the request more strictly and asks for 2/3 of all votes, it is not the end of the world — it just means the meeting has to be better prepared.
If the space is not registered as your separate unit and you use it by agreement or by allocation, a charger there really is a use of a common part of the building, and an individual request rarely gets through. The realistic route is a project for the whole garage: one shared circuit, several spaces, metering per user, and no cost to the building — more on that at the bottom of the page.
A rented garage? Then it is not the residents' assembly you need but the owner: their written consent is enough. How to reach an agreement with the owner, and a consent template.
Four regulations govern a charger in a building's garage. None of them prohibits it; each requires it to be done properly.
It regulates the electric vehicle charging service in public places. Your garage and your parking space are not a public place: charging your own car is not a public charging service and does not require a licence. Reimbursing metered electricity to the owner or the building is a re-invoicing of costs, not a sale of energy — details in the electricity guide.
The Rulebook on technical norms for the fire safety of garages (Official Gazette of RS Nos. 31/2024 and 59/2025) is a new regulation that also covers electric vehicle charging points in garages. The message for the residents' assembly is simple: charging in a garage is regulated, not prohibited — it requires a dedicated installation and protection, not an extension cord through the corridor.
The installation is carried out by an authorised contractor in line with the technical norms for low-voltage electrical installations, with testing and a test certificate. The standard for EV connections is SRPS HD 60364-7-722 (special protection: a type A RCD with 6 mA DC detection or a type B RCD, a dedicated circuit). The test certificate is a document the building manager is entitled to ask for — and one you will gladly provide.
This is a guide, not legal advice. The building's rules (the owners' rules) may set additional conditions; the building manager knows how voting works in your building. The aim of this text is for you to come to the meeting with answers, not with quotations.
From conversations with building managers and residents, every “no” comes down to one of these three. Answer them before the meeting — in writing, in the specification — and the vote becomes a formality.
The only answer the building accepts: me — exactly as much as I use, and it is visible every month. If the circuit runs from your flat's meter, the building pays nothing by definition. If it runs from the shared meter, a certified MID meter sits on the circuit and you reimburse the building for your consumption at the price on its bill, with no markup, with a monthly statement to the building manager. No meter — no decision, and rightly so.
You — which is why the installation is done by an authorised contractor, with a dedicated circuit, type A RCD + DC protection, certified equipment and a test certificate that the building manager gets to inspect. The device comes with a warranty, and if you want to settle the last question too, a liability insurance policy costs less than the neighbours think.
This is actually a good question — it means the assembly is thinking ahead. The answer: the first charger is installed so that it does not block the next ones. A smart charger with dynamic load management does not trip the breakers, and for a garage with several interested residents there is a solution for the whole garage at once, with one circuit and metering per user. A building manager likes a plan, not one-off holes in the wall.
This is a text you can send to the building manager today. Fill in the square brackets with your details; the building manager adapts it to your building's rules. With our packages you receive a completed version together with the technical specification.
“Granting consent to the owner of separate unit [flat no. __ / garage no. __] to set up an electric vehicle charging installation in parking space / garage no. __, at their own expense, in accordance with the attached technical specification.”
1. The residents' assembly of the homeowners' association at [address] gives consent to [full name], owner of separate unit [no. __], to set up, at their own expense, an electric vehicle charging installation with a power of up to [__] kW in parking space / garage no. [__], in accordance with the technical specification dated [date], which forms an integral part of this decision.
2. The work is carried out by an authorised contractor in accordance with the applicable technical regulations. On completion of the work, the owner provides the building manager with the test certificate (test report) for the installation.
3. The installation's electricity consumption is measured by a separate MID-certified meter. The owner pays for the energy consumed [to the homeowners' association — at the price on the supplier's bill, with no surcharge, on the basis of a monthly statement / to the supplier — through their own meter].
4. The owner maintains the installation at their own expense and is liable for any damage arising from its use. The installation must not endanger the safety of the building or the power supply to the common parts.
5. This consent does not change property rights over the common parts of the building and does not prevent other owners from requesting consent under the same conditions.
First ask why — the answer is almost always one of four: “who is going to pay for it”, “it's dangerous”, “we don't want cables all over the garage”, “then everyone will want one”. All four have an answer on paper (a meter, a test certificate, a neatly routed cable, a plan for the whole garage), which is why a second attempt with a specification often ends differently from a first attempt made “verbally at the meeting”.
A blanket ban on charging electric vehicles in the garage has no basis in the regulations — since 2024, charging in garages has been regulated by a dedicated rulebook, not prohibited. But the assembly may turn down a specific request, and a quarrel with the neighbours is the most expensive route. A better route is to change the question: instead of “may I”, propose “how shall we” — a solution for the whole garage that costs the building nothing, in which each user pays for their own space and their own electricity, and the garage gets a plan instead of one-off holes in the wall. Professional building managers recommend exactly this order: specification, electrician's assessment, vote, installation with a test certificate, separate metering.
Technical specification, draft decision and agenda item — completed for your garage after the assessment. You simply present them and sign.
For a single charger on an existing installation — no: this is installation work by an authorised contractor, with a test certificate. For larger systems (a new circuit from the building's supply connection, several spaces, a new distribution board) a decision approving the works under Article 145 of the Law on Planning and Construction may be required, applied for through the CEOP portal — this is handled with a designer as part of a project for the whole garage.
No. The building manager implements the assembly's decisions and runs the procedure, but authorisation for works on common parts is given by the assembly. A good building manager will help you get the item onto the agenda and have the decision worded correctly — so send them a ready-made text.
Realistically 4–10 weeks: 7–15 days to convene the meeting, the meeting itself, possibly a repeat meeting within 3–30 days if there is no quorum, then installation in one day. The time goes on the procedure, not on the work.
The assembly may set conditions — for example, that the installation must be removable, neatly routed and covered by a test certificate. What it may not do is sell you electricity at a markup: electricity is reimbursed at the price on the bill, by the meter. Anything beyond that is a matter to discuss with the building manager and a lawyer, not standard practice.
Then an individual request rarely gets through, because it really is a common part. Propose a solution for the whole garage: one shared circuit, several spaces, metering per user, no cost to the building. Assemblies accept a proposal like that much more readily than an individual one.
Until the homeowners' association has been formed, consent is given by the developer as the owner of the common parts. New buildings are often the easiest: the garages already have conduits in place or reserved capacity — ask for the garage's electrical installation design.
After the on-site assessment you receive a technical specification, a draft decision and an agenda item — completed for your garage. Or write to us if you are a building manager and want a solution for the whole building.
BlokVolt is an independent guide to electric cars in Serbia: companies, prices, procedures, regulations and figures — all with a source and a check date. The site is run by the team behind Evolako, which installs chargers itself; in comparisons it is marked as “our offer” and shown in the same columns as every other company.