A Tenant Wants to Install an EV Charger: What Civil Code 1947.6 Requires of LA Owners

For Owners · Leasing & Compliance · October 2026 · 10 min read

A tenant in your 12-unit building emails a quote from an electrician. She has bought an electric car, her lease includes space 7 in the garage, and she wants a Level 2 charger installed there. She offers to pay for it. Your first instinct may be to say no because of the panel, the liability, or simply because nobody has asked before. In California that answer may not be yours to give. Civil Code section 1947.6 requires a landlord to approve a qualifying request, and it also gives the landlord a set of conditions to attach to that approval.

This guide walks through when the duty applies, which properties are exempt, how rent control changed the picture in 2019, what you can require of the tenant, and how the insurance rules work now. It is written for owners in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Inglewood and the neighborhoods around them.

The rule in one paragraph

For any lease executed, extended or renewed on or after July 1, 2015, the lessor of a dwelling must approve a tenant’s written request to install an electric vehicle charging station at the parking space the lease gives that tenant. Two conditions attach. The request has to comply with section 1947.6, and it has to go through your own procedural approval process for modifications to the property. Approval is the default; the statute does not give you a general right to refuse.

“Charging station” is defined broadly. Subdivision (c) covers any level of electric vehicle supply equipment designed and built under Article 625 of the California Electrical Code, so the definition is not limited to one charging level.

When the rule does not apply

Subdivision (b) lists the residential rental properties the section does not reach. Check these first, because they settle the question before any other analysis.

An exemption from section 1947.6 does not stop you from agreeing to a charger. It only means state law does not require you to. If you do agree on an exempt property, the written agreement described below is still a sensible way to do it.

Rent-controlled units are covered now

When the section took effect, rent-controlled dwellings were exempt. AB 1796, effective January 1, 2019, narrowed that exemption so it no longer applies to a lease executed, extended or renewed on or after that date. For owners here, that means units under the City of Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance and rent-stabilized units in Culver City, Inglewood and Beverly Hills are not exempt merely because rent control applies, once the lease is on or after that date.

The remaining carve-out in (b)(5) is for a city that had both rent control and its own charger-approval ordinance on or before January 1, 2018. In that case the city’s ordinance governs. West Hollywood’s own published guidance says it amended its code in 2017 to require landlords of rent-controlled buildings to follow the state requirements, and it applies the same approval duty, cost rules and exemptions. If you own in West Hollywood, read the city’s version as the one that controls.

The statute does not say whether a month-to-month tenancy that simply continues counts as “extended.” Do not assume an older tenancy is exempt on that basis without an attorney’s view.

What you can require of the tenant

The tenant’s written request has to include consent to enter into a written agreement. Subdivision (g) lists what that agreement covers:

• Your requirements. The tenant agrees to comply with your requirements for the installation, use, maintenance and removal of the charging station, and for the installation, use and maintenance of its infrastructure.
• A complete financial analysis and scope of work. The tenant provides one, covering the installation and the infrastructure it needs.
• How, when and where. A written description of how, when and where the modifications will be made, consistent with the Permitting Checklist in the Office of Planning and Research’s Zero-Emission Vehicles in California: Community Readiness Guidebook.
• Payment up front. The tenant pays you all costs associated with the installation before any work begins, including permits, supervision, construction and, if the contractor requires them, performance bonds.
• Ongoing costs as part of rent. The tenant pays, as part of rent, for the electricity the charger uses and for damage, maintenance, repair, removal and replacement of the charger and of any modifications or improvements made to the property for it.

Your “procedural approval process” is where you put the practical items: the licensed contractor, the permit, the route of the conduit, whether a new circuit or a sub-meter is needed, work hours, and the condition the space has to be in when the charger comes out. Write that process down before the first request arrives, and apply it the same way to every tenant who asks.

Money: electricity, parking and the rest

Section 1947.6 puts the costs on the tenant. Installation is paid before work starts, and electricity and upkeep are paid as part of rent. How you measure the electricity is a design question for the installation itself. A charger wired to the tenant’s own meter bills itself; one on the house meter needs a sub-meter or another fair way to allocate usage. Our guide to utility billing and submetering covers the wider rules on passing utility costs to tenants.

Two more rules shape the economics. Under subdivision (d) you do not have to give the tenant an additional parking space to make room for a charger. Under subdivision (e), if the charger has the effect of giving the tenant a reserved space, you may charge a monthly rental amount for that space.

In a rent-controlled unit, check before you add any new monthly charge. Both the “as part of rent” language and a new rent for a reserved space interact with local rules on what counts as rent and how much it may rise. Confirm the treatment with the city’s rent program, such as the Los Angeles Housing Department for an RSO unit, or with your attorney, before the agreement is signed.

Insurance: the rule changed in 2020

The original version of the section required the tenant to carry a $1 million general liability policy naming the landlord as an additional insured. SB 638 (Chapter 855, Statutes of 2019) replaced that requirement. Under the current text:

• Subdivision (h). The tenant, and each successor tenant, must obtain personal liability coverage as described in Insurance Code section 108, in an amount not to exceed 10 times the annual rent for the dwelling, covering property damage and personal injury proximately caused by the installation or operation of the charger. The policy has to stay in force from installation until the charger is removed or the tenant gives up possession of the dwelling.
• Subdivision (i). No insurance is required at all if the charger is certified by a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory approved by federal OSHA and the charger and any related alterations to the dwelling’s electrical system are performed by a licensed electrician.

If your lease addendum or charger agreement was drafted before 2020, it may still ask for the old $1 million policy. Have it updated so it matches the current section.

Codes, permits and the building

Subdivision (f) requires the charger and every modification made for it to comply with federal, state and local law, all applicable zoning and land use requirements, and any covenants, conditions and restrictions on the property. Subdivision (g) already lists permits among the installation costs the tenant pays. The tenant’s scope of work should show the permit from the city’s building department, and you should keep the final inspection sign-off with the property file.

The approval duty does not make your building’s electrical capacity the tenant’s problem to solve by improvising. If the panel or service cannot carry the load, that has to show up in the financial analysis and scope of work, and subdivision (g) puts the costs associated with the installation on the tenant, paid before work begins. Have your own electrician review the tenant’s plan before you sign off.

Rented condos and HOAs

If you rent out a condo, two sets of rules meet. Section 1947.6(f) requires the installation to comply with the CC&Rs, and the association’s approval runs through Civil Code section 4745, which deals with owners rather than tenants. Under section 4745 the association handles a charger request like an architectural modification, may not willfully avoid or delay it, and must put its approval or denial in writing. An application not denied in writing within 60 days of receipt is deemed approved, unless the delay comes from a reasonable request for more information. Where the charger goes in a common area or an exclusive use common area, as the declaration designates them, subdivision (f) adds conditions: the owner uses a licensed contractor, pays for installation and electricity, provides a certificate of insurance within 14 days of approval and every year after, and the responsibilities pass to later owners and have to be disclosed to buyers.

In practice, the unit owner is the applicant to the association. Section 1947.6 does not say whether a rented condo counts its own parking spaces or the whole complex’s for the five-space exemption, so ask an attorney before you rely on the exemption for a single unit.

A process that keeps you on solid ground

• Check the exemptions first. Count designated spaces and existing tenant chargers, confirm parking is in the lease, and note the date the lease was executed, extended or renewed.
• Answer in writing. Acknowledge the request, send your written approval process and the agreement you will ask the tenant to sign.
• Get the full package before any work. Scope of work, financial analysis, the how-when-where description, the contractor’s license, and the permit application.
• Collect installation costs up front. Permits, supervision, construction and any required performance bond are paid before work starts.
• Settle insurance or the waiver. Either proof of the subdivision (h) coverage, or the NRTL certification and licensed-electrician documentation that satisfies subdivision (i).
• Decide how electricity is billed. Tenant’s meter, a sub-meter, or another documented method, written into the agreement.
• Schedule access properly. Work inside the unit or a private area follows the rules on entry notice.
• Plan the exit. The agreement should say who removes the charger at move-out, how the space is restored, and how any cost interacts with the security deposit.

Questions owners ask

Can I refuse because I worry about fire risk?

Not as a blanket answer where the section applies. Your protection comes through the conditions: your approval process, a licensed contractor, permits, the insurance in subdivision (h) or the certified equipment and licensed electrician that replace it under (i), and the tenant’s responsibility for damage.

I own a fourplex with four garage spaces. Do I have to approve?

No. Subdivision (b)(3) exempts properties with fewer than five parking spaces. You can still agree voluntarily, using the same kind of written agreement.

My building is under the LA Rent Stabilization Ordinance. Is it exempt?

Not for a lease executed, extended or renewed on or after January 1, 2019. Rent control by itself stopped being an exemption on that date. Check any new monthly charge with the Los Angeles Housing Department or your attorney before you add it.

Who owns the charger when the tenant moves out?

The section makes the tenant responsible for removal and replacement costs but does not set a default for ownership. Put it in the agreement: whether the tenant removes the unit and restores the space, or leaves it in place on terms you both sign.

Can I make the tenant use my electrician?

The statute lets you set requirements for installation through your approval process, and the subdivision (i) insurance waiver turns on the work being done by a licensed electrician. Whether you can insist on a specific contractor is a question for your attorney; requiring a licensed, insured electrician and a permit is the safer standard to write down.

Does a new building have to provide chargers anyway?

New construction has its own requirements under the state building standards, which are separate from section 1947.6. This guide covers existing rentals and tenant requests.

Sources and disclaimer. California Civil Code section 1947.6, subdivisions (a) through (i), and Civil Code section 4745, read from the text published by the California Legislature as reproduced at California.Public.Law; AB 2565 (Chapter 529, Statutes of 2014), which added section 1947.6; the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee analysis of AB 1796 (2018); SB 638 (Chapter 855, Statutes of 2019); and the City of West Hollywood’s published guidance on electric vehicle charging for tenants. Current as of October 2026. This article is general information for property owners from a California DRE-licensed property management company, not legal advice. Whether section 1947.6 applies to a particular lease, how a new charge interacts with local rent limits, and what your agreement should say should be confirmed with a real estate attorney before you rely on them.