28 August 2026
For a wallbox on common property in condominium ownership, the double majority (Art. 647d ZGB) usually applies — and, separately from that, there is a notification duty of its own towards the grid operator.
For a wallbox on common property in condominium ownership (Stockwerkeigentum, STWE), the decision as a rule lies with the community of owners, by double majority (Art. 647d ZGB, the Swiss Civil Code), because the installation counts as a useful building measure. If the charging station stands in a separate unit of its own, entered in the land register, that resolution is not needed. Separately from this, the electrical contractor has a notification duty of its own towards the grid operator, before the first cable is laid.
The customer wants the wallbox in the underground car park, the quote is written, the appointment is booked — and then it turns out that the car park belongs to the whole community and nobody has obtained a resolution. For the electrical contractor these are two separate questions, which this article answers in turn: who has to decide, and what has to be notified regardless.
Building measures in condominium ownership are governed by the provisions on co-ownership (Art. 712g para. 1 ZGB). These distinguish two categories with different thresholds:
The double majority is a voting threshold that demands two things at once: a majority of heads and a majority of ownership quotas. It therefore sits above a simple majority, but does not require unanimity.
In the legal literature, installing a charging station is regularly treated as a useful building measure — it neither directly adds to the substance of the property nor is it needed to preserve it; it improves its usability. The double majority is therefore the rule, not the simple majority.
Two protective clauses go with it, and both affect the contractor building the installation: a change that makes it considerably and permanently more difficult for a co-owner to use the property as before, or makes that use uneconomic, requires that owner's own consent, regardless of the majority resolution (Art. 647d para. 2 ZGB). And if the measure would impose on a co-owner a share of the costs that cannot reasonably be expected of him, it can be carried out without his consent only if the other co-owners take over the excess (Art. 647d para. 3 ZGB). These two clauses are why an approving resolution by the community does not automatically mean that everyone pays their share.
Whether a resolution of the community is needed at all depends on who owns the space the charging station stands on — not on who uses it. A parking space in a shared underground car park remains common property, even if one condominium owner has an exclusive right of use over it; a building measure there needs the community's resolution. A garage box entered in the land register as a separate unit, by contrast, belongs to its owner alone, who can build in it as in any other part held under a special right — without asking the other condominium owners.
The community can moreover replace the statutory rules with regulations of its own, contained in the deed of constitution or adopted by unanimous resolution of all condominium owners (Art. 712g para. 2 ZGB). A contractor writing a quote for common property therefore first checks whether such regulations exist and what they say about charging infrastructure — before relying on the statutory majority rule.
The contractor does not decide whether a valid resolution exists — that is a matter for the property management and, in a dispute, for the community itself. But it carries the risk if it builds on common property without such a resolution: installed correctly from a technical point of view but without a valid basis, an installation can be ordered removed in a dispute. In practice this means: before work starts, ask for the minutes of the owners' meeting or the circular resolution, not after the complaint arrives.
Whether the charging station stands on its own or on common property: the installation must be notified in every case. The VSE (Association of Swiss Electricity Companies) states in its information sheet «Elektromobilität — Ladestationen» (electric mobility — charging stations) that every charging station — including one connected via a socket — must be notified to the distribution network operator, because the operator needs to know the locations and technical specifications of all charging stations in its supply area for network planning and operation.
Notification is the electrical installer's job, not the owner's: before work starts, the installer submits the technical connection request (TAG, cf. Art. 12 of the Werkvorschriften CH, the network operators' technical connection rules) and notifies the installation to the grid operator before it is carried out (Art. 23 NIV, the Low-Voltage Installation Ordinance). Two further technical points from the same VSE information sheet that should appear in a quote:
A load management system is a control that distributes the power drawn by several charging stations at one building connection point so that the permitted connection capacity is not exceeded. Several charging stations on the same building connection — the normal case in an apartment building — can, according to the same VSE information sheet, put a heavy load on the grid; such a system prevents that. For the requirements, the distribution network operator must be contacted before installation, not afterwards, when the charging stations are already mounted.
The information sheet names two technical approaches: an integrated dynamic phase-balancing system that continuously spreads the load across the three line conductors, or rolling phase connection, which for vehicles charging on a single phase switches the phase from one charge to the next, so that the draw is spread symmetrically across several charging stations. For the quote this means: an installation with more than one charging station on the same building connection needs controllable charging stations or prior consultation with the grid operator before the price is fixed — and a controllable charger also saves the customer the fee for an increase in connection capacity.
A charging station is an electrical installation like any other and is subject to the same final inspection and safety certificate (SiNa) duty — how to tell the three inspections apart is set out in the article «Initial verification, final inspection, acceptance inspection». Which inspection period applies in a given case is shown by the inspection period calculator.
If there is a photovoltaic system on the same roof, the connection capacity is the decisive figure twice over — once for load management, once for the 10 percent threshold of a ZEV (self-consumption community). What applies there is set out in the article «ZEV: the 10 percent, the timing and the costs», and how a new wallbox can actually shift that threshold in the article «Wallbox and ZEV on the same building connection».
Then it is not the law of co-ownership that applies but the tenancy law of the OR (Swiss Code of Obligations) — a different consent, with different consequences for removal when the tenant moves out. See the article «A wallbox in a rented flat».
On 19 June 2026 the Federal Council opened a consultation on an amendment to the Energy Act that would oblige owners, at the request of tenants or condominium owners, to provide the basic installation for charging infrastructure — the connection of the parking space concerned, a system for allocating the electricity drawn and, where necessary, load management. It is based on motion 23.3936 (Grossen), which Parliament adopted in June 2025. The consultation runs until 12 October 2026 — this is a draft, not law in force, and until it enters into force the majority rule of Art. 647d ZGB continues to apply.
Does every wallbox have to be notified to the grid operator, even one on an ordinary socket? Yes. The VSE information sheet «Elektromobilität — Ladestationen» requires notification of every charging station, whatever the type of connection, because the distribution network operator needs to know all locations for network planning.
Who decides if the wallbox stands on common property? The community of condominium owners, by double majority under Art. 647d ZGB — a majority of heads and at the same time a majority of ownership quotas. A separate unit entered in the land register, by contrast, needs no resolution of the community.
What happens if work goes ahead without a valid resolution? The electrical contractor carries the risk: an installation that is technically correct but built without a valid basis can be ordered removed in a dispute. Before work starts, the minutes of the owners' meeting or the circular resolution should therefore be checked.
When does an installation need load management? As soon as several charging stations hang off the same building connection point — the normal case in an apartment building. According to the VSE information sheet, the grid can otherwise be put under heavy load; the distribution network operator sets the requirements before installation.
Sources: Swiss Civil Code (ZGB, SR 210), Art. 647c, 647d and 712g, fedlex.admin.ch. Association of Swiss Electricity Companies (VSE/AES), information sheet «Elektromobilität — Ladestationen», strom.ch, on the technical connection request, the notification duty for several charging stations and load management. Low-Voltage Installation Ordinance (NIV, SR 734.27), Art. 23, fedlex.admin.ch, on the duty to notify the grid operator. Swiss Federal Office of Energy SFOE (BFE), press release «Bundesrat will Zugang zu Ladeinfrastruktur zu Hause verbessern» of 19 June 2026, bfe.admin.ch. Geissmann Rechtsanwälte, «Ladestation für Elektrofahrzeuge im Stockwerkeigentum», geissmannlegal.ch, on the classification as a useful building measure. This article is not legal advice; in a dispute, the community of condominium owners decides, or where in doubt the court.
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