Body Corporate
Plan ahead in any request for body corporate records
Article by Frank Higginson
Current as at July 2, 2026
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Electric vehicles in strata are fast becoming a big issue, with more and more people wanting to charge their vehicles on-site.
The first thing a body corporate committee needs to do is make sure its by-laws provide that committee approval is needed before anyone installs any form of charger or charges from sockets in their car park or otherwise.
The committee needs to act reasonably in making its decision, but there are many questions that arise from this issue.
The Queensland Fire Department (QFD) issued a statement in September 2025 regarding its position on EV charging. QFD has advised that electric and hybrid vehicles in building car parks pose additional and different fire risks due to lithium‑ion batteries, particularly in enclosed apartment and body corporate settings.
As the National Construction Code does not yet contain specific EV fire provisions, QFD treats EVs and EV charging equipment as “special fire hazards” that require additional consideration for firefighting and smoke management.
QFD assumes EVs will be present in car parks unless they are specifically prohibited and supports national AFAC guidance as the benchmark for managing these risks.
There will no doubt be knock-on effects for insurance premiums to accommodate this added risk of EVs and hybrids in carparks.
You can refer to the full statement from QFD here.
Fire safety aside, there are further issues for EVs in a body corporate setting from an administrative and fairness perspective. Most people would agree that it’s fundamentally unfair for someone to be able to charge their car from common power unless they’re metered and being billed for it.
If a body corporate allows chargers to be installed, it must ensure that there’s the ability for everyone to access that same right in due course.
For example, if there are 15 chargers installed and there are 45 car parks, it would be fundamentally unfair if, because of electrical safety or from a load perspective, the other people could not install chargers.
This is an issue a body corporate needs to plan for, even if they don’t need to approve installations now or to look at retrofitting a building to include trunk infrastructure that allows charging to be made more easily.
From a committee perspective, if you haven’t faced this issue already, it is going to be coming around the corner pretty quickly. Get in contact if you need any assistance in preparing by-laws to accommodate EV charging in your scheme.
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