You've just bought an electric car, or you're about to. One question remains: can you actually charge it in your apartment building's car park? The short answer is yes — but the rules for EV charging in apartment buildings work differently from fitting a socket inside your own flat. Because the car park is common property, you first need a resolution from the owners' general meeting, and then you need to confirm that the building's electrical infrastructure can carry the extra load.

This guide walks through the legal framework, the voting threshold, the technical requirements, realistic cost ranges, and the issue that causes more arguments between neighbours than anything else: billing.

Why an apartment car park is a special case

Installing a charger at a detached house is a job for an electrician. In an apartment building, three things come into play at once:

The car park is common property. Even if it's your own designated space, mounting a unit on the wall and running cable counts as alteration work in a common area.
The electricity comes either from the common meter or from your flat. Each option has different legal and technical consequences.
The building's supply capacity is finite. A main distribution board designed in 1998 was never sized for five 11 kW chargers running at the same time.

Systems installed before these three points are settled tend to either start tripping breakers or become a standing item on the management committee's agenda.

The legal framework: what does condominium law say?

In Türkiye, the matter falls under Article 42 of Condominium Law No. 634. A 2021 amendment explicitly added EV charging units to the "improvements and additions" listed in that article. Three principles matter most in practice:

Required majority: Installing a charging unit and its wiring requires a resolution passed by a majority of owners both in number and in land share. Unanimity is not required — but a simple "the building manager said it's fine" isn't enough either. You need more than half of the owners and more than half of the land shares.
Cost allocation: Installation and operating costs are borne by those who benefit from the system. A neighbour without an electric car cannot be charged for your unit.
Get it in the minute book: A verbal understanding carries little legal weight. Having the resolution passed at the owners' general meeting and recorded in the minute book protects you when the building management changes later.

If your building's management plan contains specific provisions about car park use (for example, "no fixed equipment may be mounted in common areas"), that provision must be considered alongside the resolution.

Note: Legislation changes. Before the meeting, it's worth checking the current text of the law and your own management plan.

The regulator's side: when does it count as a "charging service"?

Türkiye's Charging Service Regulation (April 2022) made operating a charging station subject to a charging network operator licence and a station certificate. For an apartment building, the practical distinction is this:

A unit for your own use, closed to third parties — personal use, no licence involved.
A shared unit operated by charging residents a fee — this is a grey area. If you plan to charge for electricity, partnering with a licensed charging network operator and handing operation over to them is the cleanest route, both for compliance and for bookkeeping.

There are also rules requiring new buildings to provide charging infrastructure in car parks (empty conduit, cable routes, board capacity). If your building is new, ask for the project drawings — if the groundwork is already there, your cost can be cut roughly in half.

The rules for EV charging in apartment buildings: the approval process step by step

1. Get a site survey done (before the meeting). Walking into the general meeting without a technical quote is the surest way to push the decision into next year. The survey should establish: the building's supply capacity, spare capacity on the main board, the distance from the meter to the parking space, the cable route, and the recommended unit power.

2. Submit the agenda item in writing. "Installation of an EV charging unit in the car park" must appear in the meeting notice. Resolutions passed on items not on the agenda can be challenged.

3. Choose the electricity source. The option that draws the fewest objections is feeding the unit from your own flat's meter: the electricity lands on your bill and the common-expense argument never arises. If the common meter is used, separate metering (a unit with a kWh meter, or a sub-meter) must be made a condition.

4. Record the resolution and collect signatures. The wording should be explicit on four points: where the unit goes, its power rating, who bears the cost, and how the electricity consumption will be measured.

5. Use a qualified installer. The circuit feeding the unit matters as much as the unit itself: a dedicated supply, correctly sized cable, the right type of residual current protection, and a documented earth resistance measurement.

Technical rules: what can the building actually carry?

Home AC charging units typically come in these power ratings:

Unit / Method	Power	10%→100% on a 60 kWh battery	Range added overnight (8 hours)*	Load on the building
Standard socket (not recommended)	~2.3 kW	~24 hours	~90–110 km	Low but continuous; the socket heats up
Single-phase wallbox	3.7 kW	~15 hours	~150–180 km	Fine in most buildings
Single-phase wallbox	7.4 kW	~7.5 hours	Full charge anyway	Needs capacity on the main board
Three-phase wallbox	11 kW	~5 hours	Full charge anyway	Three-phase supply + capacity required
Three-phase wallbox	22 kW	~2.5 hours	Full charge anyway	Rarely feasible in an apartment building

*Based on an average consumption of 16–18 kWh/100 km and roughly 10% charging losses. If your car's on-board charger is rated at 7.4 kW, it will draw 7.4 kW even from an 11 kW unit.

Three technical points to watch:

Charging from a standard socket is not a solution. Household sockets aren't designed for hours of continuous full load; over time they carry a real overheating and fire risk. A fixed Mode 3 unit with a Type 2 socket is the standard.
Load management (dynamic load balancing) shouldn't be negotiable. A system that monitors the building's total draw and automatically throttles charging power eliminates the "three neighbours charged at once and the main breaker tripped" scenario entirely. If more than one unit is planned, treat it as mandatory.
Protection devices must be correctly specified. The charging circuit needs protection capable of detecting DC residual current (a Type B RCD, or a Type A device combined with 6 mA DC detection in the unit) plus a dedicated circuit breaker. Earth resistance must be measured and reported.

Where several flats are interested, choosing units that support the OCPP protocol keeps the door open for per-user metering, RFID authorisation and reporting later on.

Costs: who pays what?

As of 2026, a home or apartment AC charging installation in Türkiye involves three cost items — and it's usually the second one that determines the total:

The unit itself: A wide band depending on brand, power rating and smart features (metering, app, load management). For smart 3.7–11 kW units, an approximate range of TRY 20,000–50,000 is realistic.
Wiring and labour: The distance from the meter to the parking space changes everything. There's a several-fold difference between a 10-metre run and a 60-metre cable tray to the far end of the basement.
Board and connection upgrades: If a capacity increase or a switch to three-phase is needed, that's a separate process and fee on the distribution company's side.

How do you calculate the electricity cost? A simple formula: Monthly cost = (monthly km ÷ 100) × 17 kWh × your kWh unit price × 1.1

A driver covering 1,500 km a month uses roughly 255 kWh; with charging losses, around 280 kWh actually passes through the meter. Multiply that by the kWh unit price on your residential tariff (including distribution charges and taxes — check the bottom line of your bill) and you have your real cost. That's where home charging's clear advantage over public stations comes from. On the other hand, public DC stations get the job done in 20–40 minutes, while home charging takes a night. The two aren't competitors; they complement each other.

The 5 most common mistakes building managements make

Installing a one-off solution for a single resident. The second electric car arrives within six months. Design the infrastructure for multiple units from the start.
Feeding the unit from the common meter with no metering. This is the fastest route to a dispute with the neighbours.
Treating load management as an unnecessary expense. Adding it later costs more than specifying it up front.
Not recording the resolution in the minute book. When the management changes, removal of the unit can end up on the table.
Running the billing off the books. If residents are being charged, a compliant operating model is needed.

Frequently asked questions

If my neighbours object, can I still install a charger? Condominium law doesn't require unanimity; a majority in both number and land share is enough. If you can't reach that majority, you can apply to the courts for permission — but in practice, demonstrating with a technical report that you'll bear the full cost and won't overload the building resolves most objections in the meeting itself.

Does the electricity go on the common expenses? It shouldn't. The cleanest approach is feeding the unit from your own flat's meter. If the common meter must be used, the resolution should state explicitly that consumption will be billed to the relevant flat based on the unit's own kWh metering.

I'm a tenant — can I have a charger installed? The resolution requires a request and consent from the owner (your landlord). As a tenant you can drive the process, but the application is made in the owner's name. Given that you may move, agree up front on the split between a removable unit and the fixed wiring that stays behind.

Does an enclosed car park need extra fire precautions? Enclosed car parks are already required to comply with existing rules on ventilation, fire detection and suppression. Adding a charging unit doesn't change those requirements, but having an accessible isolator that can cut power to the unit in an emergency — and notifying your building's insurer of the installation — are strong precautions.

Conclusion

EV charging in apartment buildings is a solved problem legally: condominium law opens the way, and all it takes is doing things in the right order. First the technical survey, then a properly agendised owners' resolution, then a proper installation with a dedicated circuit and load management. Buildings that do all three don't run into trouble as the number of electric cars grows; the ones that skip a step end up redoing the whole thing two years later.

If you're considering a metered, multi-resident solution for your complex that someone else operates for you, get in touch via adze.com to talk through the installation and operating model we run across our network of more than 50 locations.

EV Charging in Apartment Buildings: Rules, Approval Process and Costs (2026 Guide)